Tag: Eliza Knight

Truly Madly Plaid by Eliza Knight

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Georgian Era (1714-1837), Scottish/HighlanderLeave a comment

Truly Madly Plaid (Prince Charlie's Angels, #2)
Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Prince Charlie’s Angels
Publication Date: 12/29/20
Number of Pages: 384

We are all aware of the atrocities committed against Scotland by the English. Even though some Scots were in support of the English crown, every Scot was treated as less than human. It was a grim, gruesome, terrible, stressful time for Scotland, and the Scottish population was decimated. Life expectancy was very short and losing friends and family members to a violent death were the norm rather than the exception. Women or children – it didn’t matter – everyone was maimed, murdered, executed, tortured, imprisoned. That grim time is the setting for this series. It isn’t just an ‘in the background’ thing. The strife – particularly Culloden – is heavily featured in the series. In this book, the battle at Culloden is front and center – as a matter of fact, it takes up about the first 60-70% of the story. The author’s research into the subject is thorough and deep and she shares a lot of that in the first half of the book. This is not a lighthearted romance, it is very dark and tense, but it is an EXCELLENT story.

We met Annie MacPherson along with her close friends, Jenny and Fiona in the first book of the series, The Rebel Wears Plaid. The three friends are devoted to Prince Charles and have vowed to do all within their power in support of him gaining the throne. Each of them has a particular skill to lend to the cause – Jenny is an extraordinary warrior, Annie is a superb healer, and Fiona is a messenger who has the stealth of a ghost.

Annie travels with the Prince’s troops from battle to battle and acts as Prince Charles’s nurse and healer for all of the wounded. Without her extraordinary gifts, they would have lost many more men than they have so far. Even her younger brother, Logan, was wounded and lost his foot – but he survived – and that was what was important. Everyone knows of Dr. Annie and everyone loves and respects her.

Lieutenant Craig MacLean is a member of Prince Charles’s army and is a staunch supporter of Charles and the Jacobite movement. He learned his fighting skills from his father who threw him into untenable situations from a very young age and Craig had to fight to save himself. Craig is a skilled warrior, a hero, and a consummate leader. He is also best friends with Graham MacPherson, Laird of the MacPherson clan, and Annie’s brother.

Craig and Annie had a bit of animosity between them at first and neither was sure why. That quickly became an attraction that both of them denied – until they couldn’t deny it any longer. Things really blossomed after Culloden where Craig was gravely injured and Annie dragged him and several others from the battlefield and nursed them back to health.

Times were tense because the Redcoats were hunting all of the survivors and putting them to death immediately. They were burning the cottages, destroying the contents, stealing the livestock, etc. of anyone they came across whether they were aiding the battle survivors or not. Craig and Annie knew the Redcoats were after them and that they had to leave the small cottage in which they were hiding. They also finally both realized their feelings for each other and acknowledged those feelings to themselves.

Annie is one of the strongest and bravest heroines I’ve ever read. She’s smart, determined, cunning, and so very, very brave. I absolutely loved her character. Craig is one of the most honorable and brave heroes I’ve read. I loved both of the characters very, very much and it really saddened me to feel that their romance was sort of lost in the background of the battle story. I had expected it to be the other way around – with the battle and strife in the background and the romance front-and-center, but, to me, that wasn’t the case. I would have much preferred a lot less of a history lesson and a lot more of the romance. Were I to be categorizing this book, I would categorize it as Historical Fiction rather than Historical Romance.

I also have to take a bit of an issue with the book’s title. I know most people love it, but, again, to me, it seems inappropriate. The title makes me think of lighthearted romps through the heather and thistle, and there was absolutely nothing happy or lighthearted about this story. I also mourned the death of a favorite character that I had hoped would be featured in his own book. That came out of left-field and I put the book down for a bit before continuing with the story. Yes, given the times it was expected, but I didn’t want to see it. Announcing the deaths of people I hadn’t met and liked is fine, but don’t let me become attached to a character and then kill them off.

This was an excellently written book. It was well-researched and the characters were compelling. I’m so glad I got to meet Craig and Annie and will be looking forward to seeing what has happened to them when the next book is released. I will tell you, quite honestly, I would not purchase or recommend this as something for my really soft-hearted friend to read, but I would recommend it for other friends.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Rebel Wears Plaid by Eliza Knight

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Jacobean/Stuart Era (1603-1714), Scottish/Highlander, Tracy's Reviews1 Comment

The Rebel Wears Plaid (Prince Charlie's Angels, #1)The Rebel Wears Plaid by Eliza Knight

Tracy’s rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Series: Prince Charlie’s Angels, #1

Release Date: June 30, 2020

Jenny Mackintosh is a fierce supporter of Prince Charles Stuart and leader in the Jacobite cause. Known only as Mistress J, she is amassing troops and supplies for the Prince’s return, which is no small feat as her brother Hamish is a staunch supporter of the English King George. She walks a fine line of discovery between obedient sister to an Englisher support and Jacobite rebel – but so far, she has successfully been able to keep her secrets. She is out on a recruiting mission when she comes upon two men and offers them aid.

Toran Fraser is aiding the English commander Boyd with capturing rebels when he realizes his cousin Archie is among the men and that Boyd plans to kill them. He makes a choice and saves his cousin, but in the process makes Boyd his enemy. He is a man on a mission, he sided with the English in an effort to bring down the rebel known as Mistress J who killed his mother. But when he meets Jenny, he is not sure if he believes her capable of the horrific murder of his mother. He leaves Archie in her care and flees the safe house and returns to his uncle’s home – where he learns his uncle, the chief of the clan Fraser AKA the Fox has once again changed sides – now he says he is on the side of the rebels. Toran takes his cousin Simon, his younger brother Camdyn and little sister Isla and returns to find that the safe house is no more, but he finds one of her men and convinces him to take them to Jenny. The more time he spends with Jenny the more he can’t believe she killed him mom. And when he learns the truth, he will do whatever is necessary to gain her trust.

Jenny is attracted to Toran, but she isn’t sure she can trust him, even when he time and again proves himself worthy. She tries to ignore what is happening between them, but when he saves her from a fate worse than death, she can no longer deny her feelings or her faith in him. But Jenny is a woman in power and she isn’t sure she can have it all – will Toran be a true partner or will he try to control her?

I have read almost all of Ms. Knight’s Indy publications and love her work, so I was super excited for her first big publishing house offering, but sadly, this book just wasn’t what I was hoping for. She picked a very hard era and setting for a HEA and I truly wish she had added an epilogue set years later – because I know how the return of Bonnie Prince Charlie is going to play out and as a Jacobite – a long-lasting HEA is not likely! I liked the story and the historical facts were well researched and incorporated well – but I did have a bit of a hard time with Jenny’s character – she came across as a very strong woman, but a bit power-hungry and not willing share her power with a partner, it was almost like she wanted a consort, which would have been fine, but to make it work, Toran had to conform, so he went from being a strong warrior to her lap dog – I just wish there had been a better balance of power between them. Overall, the writing is good, the story is interesting and well-paced, but most of the “romance” and the mild /warmish love scenes don’t take place until almost the end of the book, so the romance did take a back seat to the historical fiction. This is the first book in the series and we are introduced to the other two “angels”, but this book stays completely on point and doesn’t even hint at Annie & Fiona’s stories.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher.*