Caroline Linden, $7.99, ISBN 978-0-9971494-4
Historical Romance, 2021
How the Scot Was Won costs $7.99, but note that this is not a full length novel, more of a series length-ish story. I paid $7.99 for this because, even in the current year, I am not allowed to purchase the digital edition from Amazon. I have to pay for the print version instead, on top of shipping fees. Oh well, I suppose my money is going to Jeff Bezos’s alimony payments, so it’s somewhat of a good cause.
Also, this is described as a “companion novel” to Caroline Linden’s A Scot to the Heart, and yes, this story takes place shortly before and concurrently with that story. It shares the main plot threads of that longer story (neighborhood break-ins), so I suspect that folks that have not read that longer story may not be able to fully appreciate this one.
Well, I’ve read that one and I’m not able to fully appreciate this one, sigh, but that’s because of the heroine.
Yes, I made it clear in my review of that other story that I don’t think much of Agnes St James, and even when she gets her own story here, she doesn’t succeed in elevating my opinion of her.
Her story begins shortly before A Scot to the Heart, when she is reunited with her childhood friend Felix Duncan.
A few drinks at a party turns this daddy’s girl into a give-it-to-me-daddy type; she ends up going to second base with Felix. Or is that two-point-five base? I’m not good at keeping scores when it comes to these things, so I don’t know whether I’m supposed to cheer or cringe when our heroine bares her headlights for a polish or two while begging for a full body check-up.
Felix believes that he should do the proper thing and marry Agnes, once he’s sober. Marrying her isn’t a bad idea at all, despite her lack of money. He has always liked her.
I’m sure folks can imagine Agnes’s response to his proposal. The rest of the story is basically a series of cut scenes from the longer story, as Felix and Agnes take what seems like forever to get married.
I have no issues with Felix. He’s cute, he’s nice, and while he may not be the deepest pond in the county, he’s charming enough to be a hero of a story of this length.
Agnes, however, feels like a poorly drawn character. For a long time, she waffles and dawdles, often in a bitchy way, because she doesn’t know what she wants at all. She wants him. No, wait, she shouldn’t. She doesn’t believe in love, but she wants him to love her, or maybe she doesn’t after all. Sure, her reaction isn’t completely unreasonable, as people in love can be such silly geese at times, but it doesn’t make for an interesting character or story.
One thing she is clear about, though, is that her daddy is forever. When her father dies and everyone is worried about the fact that the daddy as expected left behind nothing but debts for the whole family to enjoy, Agnes is far more concerned about the fact that the shop is her link to the useless dead man’s corpse, so it must never leave the family. Okay, she was a brat then, maybe that’s understandable. However, at the grand moment of this story, when she gains her epiphany, she announces that she wants to take over the family business… because she thinks that is what her father would want.
So, what does Agnes want then? If the author wanted me to view this heroine as a person in her own right, and not a one-dimensional daddy’s little puppet with a perpetual resting bitch face, well, that mission hasn’t been accomplished.
I have no idea why Felix will be in love with her, as she’s been nothing but a high-maintenance hag that pushes him away and pulls him back again because she can’t make up her mind about anything other than her father is forever.
I don’t know whether the heroine has any ambition, thought, or desire that isn’t shaped by her obsession with being her dead father’s perfect little daughter.
Because the heroine is such a non-character, and the story hinges a lot on her taking her own sweet time to get over her nonsense… well, the title suggests that Felix was won, but I think I’m the one worn out here.
