About the Book:

The first in a wickedly seductive new Scottish historical romance series from New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Enoch!

HAPPILY-EVER-AFTER
London socialite Amelia-Rose Baxter is nobody’s fool. Her parents may want her to catch a title, but she will never change who she is for the promise of marriage. Her husband will be a man who can appreciate her sharp mind as well as her body. A sophisticated man who loves life in London. A man who considers her his equal—and won’t try to tame her wild heart…

IN THE HIGHLANDS
Rough, rugged Highlander Niall MacTaggert and his brothers know the rules: the eldest must marry or lose the ancestral estate, period. But Niall’s eldest brother just isn’t interested in the lady his mother selected. Is it because Amelia-Rose is just too. . . Free-spirited? Yes. Brazen? Aye. Surely Niall can find a way to soften up the whip-smart lass and make her the perfect match for his brother for the sake of the family.

JUST GOT A WHOLE LOT HOTTER.
Instead it’s Niall who tempts Amelia-Rose, despite her reservations about barbarian Highlanders. Niall finds the lass nigh irresistible as well, but he won’t make the mistake his father did in marrying an Englishwoman who doesn’t like the Highlands. Does he have what it takes to win her heart? There is only one way to find out…

Click on title below for direct Amazon buy link:                                            It’s Getting Scot in Here (The Wild Wicked Highlanders Book 1)

About the Author: 

A native and current resident of Southern California, Suzanne Enoch loves movies almost as much as she loves books, with a special place in her heart for anything Star Wars. She has written more than forty Regency novels and historical romances, which are regularly found on the New York Times bestseller list. When she is not busily working on her next book, Suzanne likes to contemplate interesting phenomena, like how the three guppies in her aquarium became 161 guppies in five months.

Read an Excerpt:

Once upon a time—in May 1785, to be exact— Angus MacTaggert, Earl Aldriss, traveled from the middle of the Scottish Highlands to London in search of a wealthy bride to save his well- loved but crumbling estate. Aldriss Park had been in the MacTaggert family since the time of Henry VIII, when Domhnall MacTaggert, despite being Catholic and married, declared publicly that Henry should be able to wed as many lasses as he wanted until one of them got him a son. Aldriss Park was the newly minted earl’s reward for his support and understanding. For the next two hundred years Aldriss thrived, until the weight of poor harvests, the ever- intruding, rule- making Sassenach, and the MacTaggerts’ own fondness for drinking, gambling, and wild investments (including an early bicycle design wherein the driver sat between two wheels; sadly, it had no braking mechanism and after a series of accidents nearly began a war within the MacTaggerts’ clan Ross) began to sink it into disrepair. When Angus inherited the title in 1783, he realized the old castle needed far more than a fresh coat of paint to keep it from both physical collapse and bankruptcy. And so he determined to go down among the enemy Sassenach and win himself a wealthy bride. The English had made enough trouble for him and his over the centuries, so they could bloody well help him set things right. On his second day in London, he met the stunning Francesca Oswell, the only offspring of James and Mary Oswell, Viscount and Viscountess of Hornford— who had more money than Midas and a bevy of very fine solicitors—at a masked ball where he dressed as a bull, and she as a swan. Despite the misgivings of nearly everyone in Mayfair, Angus and Francesca immediately fell madly in love, and married with a special license ten days later. A week after that, Angus took Francesca back to Aldriss Park and the Highlands, where she found very little civilization, a great many sheep, and a husband who preferred brawling to dancing, and he discovered that her father’s solicitors had arranged to keep the Oswell family money in Francesca’s hands. This made for some very spectacular arguments, because there is nothing more combustible in the world than an impoverished Highlands laird in disagreement with an independently wealthy English lady about his own ancestral lands. Over the next thirteen turbulent years the estate prospered, and Francesca gave Angus three sons— Coll, Aden, and Niall— and with each one became more concerned that this was not a life for any civilized person. She wanted to bring the boys back to London for proper educations and to live proper lives, but Angus refused, stating that what had been good enough for him would be good enough for his lads. When a fourth child, a daughter, arrived in 1798, Francesca reached her breaking point. No daughter of hers was going to be raised with an uncivilized accent in a rough country where she would be ridiculed by proper Society and unfit to marry anyone but a shepherd or a peat cutter. Angus refused to let his lads go, but he allowed Francesca to take young Eloise and return to London—on the condition that she continue providing for the maintenance of the estate. Francesca reluctantly agreed, but given that she controlled the purse strings, she had her own conditions to try to keep some influence with her wild sons: All three boys must marry before their sister, they must wed proper Englishwomen, and at least one of them must marry someone of her choosing. She knew Angus would raise them as he pleased, but they were her children, too, by God, and she meant to see to it that they had some semblance of propriety in their lives— she was a viscount’s daughter, after all, and certain things would be expected of her offspring. She refused to allow them to be viewed as unsophisticated wild men by her London neighbors, and she remained determined to have a presence in their lives. To enforce her will, she convinced (or rather, coerced) Angus to put his signature to the agreement, which contained this provision: If young Eloise MacTaggert did marry before any of the boys, Francesca would cut off all funds to the estate. If they were to insist on defiance, they would have a heavy price to pay for it— one they and their tenants could not afford. Angus had no choice but to agree, and considering that Coll, the oldest, was only twelve at the time of Francesca’s departure and Eloise was but a wee bairn, he was willing to wager that he would have time to renegotiate. Angus and Francesca remained married, but neither would bend enough to visit the other ever again. As far as the lads were concerned, their mother had abandoned them. In the spring of 1816 Angus received a letter from Francesca announcing their daughter’s engagement, and he promptly collapsed. He’d hoped his sons would have found themselves Scottish lasses by now and shown their mother she couldn’t control their lives after all, but the lads were defiant and wouldn’t be rushed. Now it appeared to be too late. He summoned his sons to his apparent deathbed and confessed all— Francesca funding the estate, the pernicious agreement, and their mother’s grasping claws, which he explained was a symptom of all Englishwomen and their weak, clinging, cloying ways. For the sake of the property and their tenants the young men must go to London. At once. No sense even taking time to put him in the ground, much less mourn him, because Francesca wouldn’t excuse the loss of time, and they needed to marry before their sister. The lads— grown men, now— were not at all happy suddenly to learn about the responsibilities and rules foisted upon them by a woman they barely remembered. Being wily, freehearted, and exceptionally handsome men accustomed to doing things their way and certainly not bowing to the demands of a demented Englishwoman, they determined to go down to London not to comply, but to outwit their mother and upend any plans she had for them. And thus, dear reader, begins our story.

My Review:

Niall MacTaggert is the youngest of three brothers who were the product of a tempestuous marriage between a Scottish earl and an English noblewoman.  The woman, Francesca, grew tired of the solitude of the highlands and missed her homeland greatly.  Her husband stubbornly refused to ever return to England, and finally Francesca took her infant daughter with her and returned to her home, though she was brokenhearted over leaving her three sons behind.  Francesca’s father was a wily man who had engineered her marriage agreement so that she still retained control of the money.  Now, seventeen years after leaving Scotland, Francesca has summoned her sons to England to choose English wives.  If they don’t comply, she will cut off the flow of money to their Scottish estate.  None of the brothers is ready to wed, especially a Sassenach, but they will do what it takes to save their beloved Aldriss.

Amelia-Rose “Amy” Baxter is now in her second season.  She loves London, with all its entertainments, socializing, and balls.  She is also very anxious to get away from her title-hungry mother and her unhappy home.  If that means entering into a convenient marriage, then she’ll consider it.  Amy’s mother has come to an arrangement with Francesca, in which Amy will marry Coll, Francesca’s oldest son, who is heir to the Scottish earldom.  The couple just has to meet, agree that they are able to tolerate each other, and the arrangements for the marriage will go forward.

The brothers roll into London, eager to meet their younger sister, ready to bite the bullet and find wives, but with a chip on their collective shoulders in regard to their mother.  In their eyes, she abandoned them when they were young boys, and they have no desire to treat her like a mother, in fact, calling her by her first name.  They also have wagonloads of luggage and fixtures, hoping to make some sort of statement to their parent.  (Included in their odds-and-ends is a stuffed stag named Rory, who takes up residence in one of Francesca’s hallways, and becomes quite the fashion plate as the story evolves.)

When hotheaded Coll meets Amy, he only lasts about five minutes before he storms out at one of her impertinent remarks.  If he’s forced to marry an Englishwoman, it will be someone meek and biddable, not a spirited, witty young lady who isn’t afraid to stand up to him.  Niall may be the youngest of the brothers, but he is the most sensible, and the peacemaker of the group.  He immediately moves in to smooth the awkward situation.  The fact that he was smitten on first sight of Amy has nothing to do with it!  Over the next days, Coll is still not to be found, and Niall stands in for him at all the events.  Unlike his brother, Niall loves Amy’s directness, wittiness, and he definitely loves her beauty.  Amy and Niall immediately develop a rapport, and soon they are both wishing that the intended marriage included Niall instead of Coll.

One of my favorite things about IT’S GETTING SCOT IN HERE, is the fact that Coll determines that he will not wed Amy fairly early on.  I really hate reading stories where siblings are in competition for the same love interest.  There is no smooth sailing, however, when Coll bows out and Niall steps up.  Though Amy and Niall are more than eager to explore the possibility of marriage, Amy’s obnoxious mother is not having any of it.  She wants a title for her daughter, and comes up with another scheme which seems to block any chance of Amy and Niall being together.

I found IT’S GETTING SCOT IN HERE to be a genuinely delightful, and sweetly passionate read.  I love the subtle humor, the quirky characters, and the slowly thawing relationship between Francesca and her estranged sons.  I wasn’t prepared to like Francesca at all, but she won me over.  I wonder, if, down the road, there may be a reconciliation with her stubborn husband.  I hope so!  Niall is definitely a hot Scot – though he’s the sensible one, he’s also passionate and giving.  He never wanted to change Amy, and never blamed her for her mother’s machinations.  Both Amy and Niall were willing to take risks, make sacrifices, and compromise so that they could be together.  I greatly enjoyed IT’S GETTING SCOT IN HERE, and highly recommend it for readers who enjoy a feel good and entertaining historical romance with wonderful characters.    ~Rose

ENTER TO WIN A PRINT COPY:  (U.S. ONLY)          Simply Leave a Comment Below to Enter