This book was so disappointing! The rest of the series was great, and then it ended with this explosive trash. I don't even know where to begin. It didn't start out bad. Sure, they characters were basically in lust and married in haste, but I assumed the rest of the book would be them finding their groove, falling in love, and truly appreciating each other. James even brought up an interesting conflict - the idea that the hero stinks at sex. This is the case for many couples and was intriguing, but it wasn't handled well. What ended up happening is that both characters, in their quest for better sex, concentrated on their lust for the other person. Even at the end, after their major fall-out, all the hero can think about is how attractive is wife his. Depth and development play second fiddle in this book, and the only thing I learned is that if you say sorry enough times, you'll be forgiven. For the record, that's not how these things work!

My biggest beef with this book is the climax. Their bad sex has reached a boiling point and... the things the hero says to her... are so reprehensible that I can barely wrap my mind around them. No matter how heated the moment, people in love don't say the meanest things they can think of to each other. Yes, you have the power to cut someone down, but name-calling, saying they'd make a terrible parent... I don't want to give too much away, but he says the worst things. There's no coming back from that! No one truly in love says those things! This. Is not. Healthy!

Then, pouty McScotsman runs away and stays away from weeks, but it's okay because after fishing for 3 days, he realizes he still lusts for his wife and calls that love. But then he spends all his time dilly-dallying up north just to build suspense. After the big fight, the obstacles keeping them apart were such laughable straw men. Then, James TELLS us she loves him back. Why? Because she still feels like crap a couple weeks after their fight. That's called grief, lady. It's normal.

Seriously, the hero should've been the villain. It would've been a great setup to showcase a real and true love with the man who wouldn't betray her in a heated argument. Yes, couples can fight and sometimes it feels like it's over, but their marriage is broken. No amount of apologizing or orgasms can change that. But, according to James, that's all it takes. Even though I knew it wasn't going to happen, I wish the heroine ran away to Italy like she said she would. She wasn't entirely blameless in this situation, but she didn't pretend to be someone she wasn't. The one thing the hero was right about was that he put her on a pedestal and fell in love with the woman he imagined her to be. Again, he'd make a great antagonist.

There are so many problems with this book, too many to list here. I don't recommend this book to anyone, unless you want to rant with me. If you want to read about highlanders and couples who struggle through real issues, read Michelle Willingham. Her books are true romance. Not this trash. ( )

I enjoyed this book very much, but I did feel like the tower conceit was an aftermarket add-on -- like she had a great story, great characters and just couldn't figure out how to resolve it without an aritficial nod to fairy tale. It didn't hurt the story significantly, but I can't say that I think it really added to it either. ( )

This story really seemed to focus on the 'struggle' aspect of their relationship. I don't need things to be all smooth sailing, there are definitely hurdles to relationships! But still, the concerns started pretty early in the story and didn't resolve until just before the end. So rather than basking in the flourishing of new love, I instead spent the majority of the time feeling a bit pained for them. I'm totally fine with portrayals of couples who don't hit the ground running their first time, it's a counterpoint to the the many other stories where they have a string of simultaneous orgasms until dawn. =D But I felt sort of cringey in empathy when it continued to be excruciating time after time. Eesh. And then of course emotional turmoil piled onto the physical, so it got worse long before it got better! On the plus side, I was engaged enough to *care* about their turmoil and not just tune it out. I think it was otherwise interesting and well written, (I doubt I'll forget it anytime soon...) but definitely also more stressful (in length rather than depth) than I prefer. ( )

This was a favorite of mine. From the moment Gowan saw Edie at the dance I knew this was going to a fun love story.

Another must read from Eloisa James. ( )

Fabulous, possibly my favorite of the Fairy Tale collection. A must read. ( )