Review: To Conquer a Scot by Tamara Gill

To Conquer a Scot
(Time-Traveler’s Highland Love #1)
by Tamara Gill
Publisher: Entangled
Publication Date: Sept. 25, 2017
Genre: Historical Romance
Rating:

Time-traveling isn’t what Abigail Cross had in mind for her Scottish vacation, nor was a potential marriage to the Laird Aedan Macleod. The fact that the obnoxious, yet hot, and definitely sexy Highlander sees the world very differently than she does, is beside the point.

Aedan Macleod knows what he wants in a wife, and Abigail certainly doesn’t meet his Highland standard, even though he must rein in his desire, because beautiful, opinionated Abigail would never suit as a laird’s wife.

Tempers flare yet passion is undeniable, as Abby navigates her way in seventeenth century Scotland—without toilet paper. When two rival clans threaten the maddening twenty-first century minx who’s captured Laird Aedan’s heart, the mighty Highlander is willing to sacrifice everything to keep Abigail safe.

Aedan’s sister has been searching for the perfect match for her stubborn brother. When she stumbles across Abby in the 21st century, she knows she’s the one for her brother. Using her magic, she brings Abby back to their time in the hopes that Abby and Aedan will hit it off and live happily ever after. However, Abby is not happy with being conjured to a different time and Aedan is none too thrilled with his meddling sister. While these two have some chemistry, Abby doesn’t belong in his time, and once she’s able to travel through time again, she will be going back home.

I love time traveling romances, especially when there’s a sexy Highlander involved but this one just didn’t do it for me. It took me a little bit to connect with the characters in the beginning. I was a little surprised that Abby took to her new surroundings so fast. There was no, “I’m dreaming. This isn’t real”, she just knew she’d been pulled back in time. Now, I hate it when a character fights it tooth and nail for pages upon pages, but a little pause from Abby would have been nice. I mean, if I was teleported back or forward in time, my first reaction would not be acceptance. However, once Abby got settled into her role as a distant friend of the Laird’s, I started to connect with the characters a bit. I loved that even though these two had an attraction to each other, they knew nothing could come of it.

However, the conflict that the author brought about was a little annoying and boring at times. Not only did you have the whole time-travel thing, but of course there was a simpering way-too-young girl who was hoping to secure a marriage with Aedan, and to top it off there’s an angry Laird from another area who mistakes Abby as his runaway betrothed. While the simpering girl didn’t bother me, the continuous, “you are her!” “I am not her!” conversation that went around and around and around for chapters was very tiresome. I got it, this guy really thought Abby was his betrothed, but I could have done without the loop of dialog that we seemed to have gotten stuck on. I will admit, I skimmed over all those pages after a while because I was tired of reading the back and forth of it all. Not only did I feel like a lot of that could have been cut out, but the ending was not my cup of tea. I don’t understand what the whole point of it was. I feel like the whole thing could have been scrapped and the story could have ended with their engagement. It just seemed unnecessary and left me, again, a little bored.

While I had some issues with this story, I still enjoyed it. I loved Aedan’s character, even when he was brooding. I loved how he was willing to give up his love for the sake of his people. He was a very strong character and was always looking past his needs and his wants to what those around him needed. I also liked that Abby, while horrible with archery, was able to hold her own among those of Aedan’s time. While I did enjoy my time with this book, I do not plan to continue with the series.

Favorite quote…

“She’d always thought she’d been born under an unlucky star, and now she was damn well positive of it.”