Elina Emerald, $0.99, ISBN 978-0648970507
Historical Romance, 2020
Elina Emerald’s Betrothed to the Beast is the first entry in the Reformed Rogues series.
Don’t be fooled by the price tag, as this isn’t a tiny story. Think of the price as an introductory offer, with the author charging a higher price for subsequent titles once the reader is hooked. Hey, I’m not judging, as I bought all three titles in the series based on the covers alone. I know, I’m so easy when it comes to beefcake covers.
This one introduces Beiste MacGregor. Ugh, let’s just call him Beastie so that I don’t have to worry about getting the spelling correct each time I type out his name.
He’s the chieftain, and his sequel baits are the head-guardsman, Brodie Fletcher the horny one, and Beastie’s second in command Dalziel Robertson the serious one. Actually, I’m not sure if Danny Boy is Beastie’s or Brodie’s second in command, as the author just says “his Second-in-Command” here, but who cares? Just buy all these books, or the author will come over to your place and force feed you some haggis.
Beastie still mourns his late wife, which means he’s all for hook-ups but not long-term commitments with other women, and that’s totally not an excuse to avoid such commitment. As it is in such stories, he is ordered by the king to marry some woman or lose his lands.
This woman is Amelia, the illegitimate daughter of the Earl of Dunbar that is also a super healer. She is also determined never to marry, because her father was a horny adulterous toad with her mother, and she spends all her time healing the sick because that’s what every heroine in a Highland romance does.
Because we can’t forget this is a Highland romance, she is soon abducted by Beastie and his men. She is brought to his place, which comes with a coterie of characters that seem to populate castles in such stories: the old woman that is protective over the heroine at first sight, the silly lovelorn young lass, suspicious superstitious folks that would be won over when the heroine does her dances with herbs thing…
He is naturally charmed by her feisty ability to stand up against him in her quest to automatically and instinctively seek out the sick and the wounded in his place to heal, heal, heal, but no, he will never succumb to finer feelings… or will he?
Well, this one doesn’t bring much that is new or innovative to the table, so I will have to go with how the author puts her own twists to the familiar tropes when it comes to being entertained. Sadly, this one leaves a lot to be desired in that respect.
The biggest issue here is the author’s technique.
Let me use an example. The story opens with the heroine’s mother giving her final speech to Amelia.
“Use your gift. Your healing skills will see you through.” Iona’s breathing became labored, but she pushed on between breaths. “I’ve left you my notes. Tell no one you can read, you ken?” She coughed.
Amelia motioned as if to get water.
“No.” Iona clutched Amelia’s arm. “There is a letter in my notes and a box for you in the woods. You will need the contents to find your kin. Show it only to them.”
“What do you mean? You are my only kin.”
“No lass, Highland blood flows through your veins.” Iona was wheezing now and gasping for air. “Promise me, you’ll find them, tis my gift to you.”
In the next transition, however, the author skips to three years later. Amelia fails to find her kin; instead she is stuck in her father’s place and the man wants to marry her off to some farmer.
By doing this, the author renders any momentum built in her opening scene null and void. I will also never discover how Amelia is going to explain to people how she knows where her kin is when she supposedly can’t read the notes in the box, which is a bummer.
This is a trend in this story. The author will build up the story to hint at some dramatic moment or even a fight scene, but she will then make an abrupt jump to gloss over most of the drama that could have made things livelier.
Instead, the characters talk a lot. Talk is fine, but in this case, conversations are used as information dump, so we have characters explaining events and incidents instead of the author playing out these things in her story, explaining in great length to one another about their feelings and motivations as if everyone were sitting in some recovery group, and so forth.
Such technique may work in some “talkier” genre like traditional Regency romance, but for a Highland romance marketed using buzzwords such as “fearsome warriors”, “the Beast”, and “alpha males”, I am led to expect something with more action and drama. The author’s style feels like a gross mismatch with this story, therefore, because the style doesn’t generate much tension and excitement promised by the premise.
A smaller issue that may annoy some readers is how the authors capitalize words in an unnecessary manner. Amelia is a Healer, for example, and Brodie is the Head-Guardsman while Dalziel is the Second-in-Command.
Then, some items are italicized for some reason.
Amelia had lived fifteen summers and knew that nothing, not the yarrow nor the crushed bog myrtle, could staunch the bleeding.
Why italicize those things?
The capitalization of characters’ jobs and classes as well as italicization of items have a home in tabletop RPG splatbooks, but in a romance story, these fripperies just end up being distracting.
At any rate, this one is a pretty dull yet simultaneously perplexing read, with it being perplexing because I spend quite some time trying to figure out why the author would do the things she does here. I certainly don’t enjoy this one much because of the author’s technique.
Given that my heart now sinks as I remember that I’ve bought two more titles in this series, I can only hope those two are done better.
