Lord Keeper by Tarah Scott Genres: Fiction, General, Historical, Romance
Published by Etopia Press Publication Date: January 1st 2013
Pages: 332
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No man bargains for war when he chooses a bride, but when he steals her from holy ground, he can expect nothing less. Iain MacPherson swore he was nothing like his father, but his kidnapping of Victoria Hockley, the Countess of Lansbury is the first step toward the same obsessive jealousy that fueled his father's life-long feud against the chief Iain's mother loved. A kiss, a midnight race for freedom, and a royal missive force Victoria into her captor's arms. Hallowed ground can't save her from the devil that followed her from England. Yet the Scottish lord who swears to protect her is far more dangerous.
Michelle’s Thoughts
Victoria Hockley flees her brother-in-law by seeking sanctuary at a church. As she is walking the outside of the church she wanders from holy ground and is abruptly taken by Iain McPherson. Iain is acting on an old edict that allows taking someone if they are not on holy ground. This sounded so romantic to me when I read the blurb for the book, but there was no buildup to the relationship between Victoria and Iain before or after she was taken. Their relationship was awkward and choppy. It never seemed to be a flow from meeting to actually developing a love for each other. Even when Iain finally told Victoria that he loved her it was at the very end and everything had already been resolved by then. I never felt that there was chemistry between the two of them. I never felt like I was drawn into their story and became vested in their happiness. I just muddled through it.
The female lead character, Victoria Hockley, was independent and wickedly smart. I loved that the author allowed this woman in a historic romance to be well versed in math and science. Better still the character was able to solve an engineering dilemma that evaded the men. However, I just didn’t follow the development of this character. One moment she was fighting a former mistress, and the next she was playing childish games by withholding her name. Her actions were so disjointed I just couldn’t get vested in this character.
The male lead character, Iain McPherson, had a boat load of issues. He had daddy issues in every way possible. Unfortunately, the way the author unfolded the issues was so repetitive and convoluted that I lost interest. I don’t know how many times Iain’s character rehearsed the lines that amounted to “I don’t want to be like my father”. It made him seem whiny. He was an otherwise good guy, but this killed the alpha male thing for me.
I love Tarah Scott’s romance novels, but this one is not her best. The story was choppy and didn’t flow well. The characters weren’t well developed and bordered on irritating. I have read previous works, and I am still a Tarah Scott fan. I will continue to read her novels. She is a great novelist.
