The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie

I'll say for the record that if Ian is considered insane then I shudder to think how his family would receive my peculiar moments. In a lot of ways I think The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (hereby shortened to Lord Ian) is a very refreshing novel to read in the genre. I can't think of too many heroes, offhand at least, who were out and out crazy. You'd see fiancees, ex-lovers, brothers, fathers, Uncles, cousins, jilted lovers--all of them would be varying degrees of crazed, but I haven't seen any true romantic leads who were insane.

Though I'm not convinced that what was wrong with Ian was insanity. It felt more like the poor man started out with ADD and a social anxiety problem (small wonder given his father) which only got worse with show more his father's barbaric treatment, the sorry excuse for help the asylum offered and society's overall treatment of him and his family. I'll lay some blame on Hart's doorstep too because he was a right bastard on occasion too.

I liked Ian a lot and despite things I could never see him capable of harm. I'll amend--unprovoked harm. I have no doubt that if a person hurt one of his family he'd come after them with murderous rage. I wasn't keen on Hart, but he wasn't really portrayed as being a guy you want to have around for a laugh. I was mightily interested Cameron and his son Daniel though, they seemed like awfully fun guys. Mac I was indifferent to by in large. I liked his estranged wife Isabella quite a bit, though she seemed flighty as all get. Incidentally each brother gets their own book (Book 2: Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage (Mac), Book 3: The Many Sins of Lord Cameron (Cam), Book 4: The Duke Takes a Wife (Hart) as taken from author's website).

Beth was sometimes very fun to read and get to know and other times a little too stereotypical. I feel she gave in to Ian a little too easily and made too much of her need for intimacy with a man again. It was delightful to read whenever she'd make a joke, or sarcastic comment and Ian would either take her at face value (bless his soul) or just stare at her until she explained herself. Her confrontation later with Hart is pretty interesting too! He had no idea what to do with the spitfire his little brother was interested in. Her backstory, retold a couple times by a couple people, was just a shade too dramatic. Disgraceful French alleged aristocrat who frank a lot Father deceased when she's young, fragile beautiful frail Mother who died when she was young, the horror of a Workhouse and facing an unknown future, romantic clergyman sweeps her off her feet (very little is said of their courtship by the by so I was surprised when no one thought to bring up that maybe it wasn't all consuming love she felt, but relief and infatuation), he dies and she's taken in by a kindly gossipy old woman with no relatives who leaves her everything. Beset by fortune hunters! Despicable indebted society man calmly asks for her hand (and newfound fortune) in marriage.

And that's all before she meets Ian!

The subplot of Detective Inspector Fellows is sometimes annoying and sometimes menacing. He pushes too hard at times and comes off as a comical foil to the better prepared Mackenzies who can guess and thwart his moves. I didn't see the revelation coming though, but I paid him very little heed overall.

The romance elements were high, though unique in a lot of ways. Ian, being rather awkward with society's rules and courting practices, pretty much meets Beth and tells her flat out 'You're too high class for me to just make a mistress--so marry me so I can tumble you in bed all the time'. He's blunt to the point of brutalness at times, but which works well with Beth who has lived so long with people looking down on her or treating her as invisible. He does court her--its not a courtship for marriage (that's an already foregone conclusion in his mind), its a courtship to explore pleasure with her however. Something Beth very much enjoys and participates in.

Overall I really enjoyed the book and shall be giving the next three a look. I'm not certain I'll care much about Mac's estrangement and reconciliation with his wife, but I'm interested to see how Cam fares and what Hart's mysterious Lady Eleanor Ramsay--a lady who jilted him originally--is like. show less

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie is the first book in Jennifer Ashley’s Mackenzies & McBrides series and the first full-length novel by her that I’ve read. It begins the saga of the four Mackenzie brothers, all of whom are scandalous in one way or another. Each of them is a tortured genius but all sorts of rumors follow them regarding their shocking mistresses, dark sensual appetites, and (gasp!) even tales of murder. In this installment, we have Ian, the youngest Mackenzie brother, who spent years in an asylum until his oldest brother, Hart, a duke, finally released him. Now he puts his unusual talents to work helping Hart with investments and political matters. Ian chances to meet Beth, a woman from the opposite side of the show more tracks, who unexpectedly became an heiress and who is engaged to a man Ian knows is not on the up and up, so he informs Beth of this fact and then offers to marry her himself. She politely refuses, but they meet up again in Paris, where Beth can no longer resist Ian’s charms. However, they’ve also been followed to France by Detective Inspector Lloyd Fellows who is convinced that Ian has committed two murders. Fellows believes that Ian got off the first time because of his powerful brother, but now that there’s a fresh corpse that’s linked to Ian, he’s not about to let it happen again and wants Beth to be his informant. With the threat of prison or worse yet, execution, hanging over their heads, it’s all but impossible for Ian and Beth to truly find their happy ending until the mystery is solved, and Beth won’t stop until she figures it all out and clears her new husband’s name.

Ian is a genius in more ways than one, but most people have never seen or accepted him for what he truly is. Instead, he was declared insane when he was just a boy and thrown into an asylum by his abusive father where he was basically tortured for years in the name of so-called doctors trying to “cure” him. When his father finally passed on and his beloved oldest brother, Hart, became the duke, Hart immediately had Ian released. Out of gratitude, he uses his unique mind to help Hart with his work. Ian is also a collector of Ming bowls, and when he discovers that a rival collector, who he knows has money problems and deviant sexual appetites is about to marry a vulnerable widow who just came into a fortune, he can’t let it rest, especially after he sees the lovely woman in question. Instead, he tells her everything, and in his usual direct way, asks her to marry him. He desperately wants her in his bed, and because Beth is a respectable lady, he believes it’s the honorable thing to do. After she refuses, he follows her to Paris, where he continues trying to persuade her, eventually winning her over, but when Fellows shows up, the man’s vendetta against the Mackenzies may ruin everything. Beth wants the truth about the murders, but believing he’s protecting someone he loves and also not wanting to taint the beauty of their burgeoning relationship, Ian refuses to tell her anything, which sends Beth down a dangerous rabbit hole that could end in Ian’s worst fears coming true.

I absolutely fell for Ian and loved the uniqueness of his character as the first neurodivergent romance hero I’ve ever read. He reminds of a hybrid between Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory), Sherlock Holmes (Elementary), and Shaun Murphy (The Good Doctor) with his own individual personality. It was utterly heartbreaking to think of how people with autism were treated in years past and how they were often declared insane just like Ian was. Because of the different way in which he experiences emotions, he treats the whole incident of being locked away in a rather matter-of-fact manner, but there are hints throughout of just how much it truly affected him. In reality, he’s a genius with a photographic memory. He can instantly memorize almost anything: books, documents, pieces of music, etc. He’s refreshingly direct, but at the same time, he can be very sweet and charming. His exquisite memory paired with his love of the fairer sex makes him a very adept lover who can pleasure a woman until she can’t see straight, and his candor makes him great at naughty talk, too. He’s also loyal to a fault when it comes to his older brothers, all of whom he adores, even though they don’t always agree or get along, and that devotion extends to Beth from the moment he meets her.

Beth was the daughter of a gentlewoman, but after her abusive, con artist father ruined them, she grew up in the slums and spent years in the workhouse. Although unable to find much respectable work, she finally met and married her beloved husband who was a kind, forward-thinking minister. The two shared a great love, but it was all cut short when he died of a fever less than a year later. After that, Beth became a companion to a wealthy older woman who had no family, so when she passed on, she left her entire fortune to Beth, who has spent so many years living frugally, she hardly knows what to do with it all. Wanting a quiet life, she accepted a marriage proposal from the son of a friend of the woman for whom she used to work, but when Ian makes his revelation, she immediately breaks it off. Equal parts shocked and amused by his instant marriage proposal, she politely declines, but when she meets up with him again in Paris, he proves to be irresistible. She’d very much enjoyed the pleasures of the marriage bed and misses that intimacy, so thinking that perhaps she can indulge a little in being a worldly woman, she propositions Ian who eagerly accepts, beginning a passionate affair. But when Fellows comes sniffing around, wanting Beth to be his spy, she refuses, and Ian finally persuades her to marry him to protect her from Fellows’s inquiry. She desperately wants to clear her new husband’s name, though, so when Ian refuses to tell her what really happened, she decides to take matters into her own hands and investigate for herself. I loved Beth just as much as Ian and think that she was the perfect match for him. She’s completely accepting of Ian’s quirks and oddities right from the start, always treating him like a normal person, and seeing the beauty in his “madness.” I adored her for never losing faith in his innocence even when Fellows pressed hard and tried to turn her. She’s a smart woman in her own right, solving a case that had stumped others for a long time, and she was brave to set out on her own to do it. I also liked how loving, giving, and loyal she is to Ian, never holding back any part of herself from him.

Jennifer Ashley started the Mackenzies & McBrides over a decade ago, and since then, it’s grown into a long-running series with plenty of cross-over characters, some of whom are introduced in this volume. Ian’s next-youngest brother, Mac, and his wife, Isabella, have been estranged for three years. Mac, it seems, never stopped loving Isabella, and although she was the one to walk away from the marriage, she now seems to regret it on some level. We don’t learn exactly why they parted ways, so I’m looking forward to finding out their story in the next book, Lady Isabella’s Scandalous Marriage. Cam, the second-oldest Mackenzie brother has a scandalous story of his own, having had a wife who purportedly went mad and tried to kill him and their infant son before committing suicide. He becomes the hero of the third book, The Many Sins of Lord Cameron. Then there’s oldest brother, Hart, Duke of Kilmorgan, who also lost a wife and who’s harboring some shocking secrets of his own. It’s hinted that he once shared a great love with a woman who left him, and they’ll be reunited in the fourth book, The Duke’s Perfect Wife. Detective Inspector Fellows frustrated me at times with his seemingly irrational hatred of the Mackenzies, but we learn things about him that make his feelings more understandable and that make him redeemable. He becomes the hero of the novella, The Untamed Mackenzie. Then there’s Cam’s charming, mischievous son, Daniel, who appeared to be a teenager in this volume, although his exact age was never mentioned. He will be the hero of Book #6, The Wicked Deeds of Daniel Mackenzie. There will also be several between-the-books novellas that revisit all of the characters.

Years ago, when I put The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie on my TBR list, I’d heard lots of good things about it, and I’m happy to say that it definitely lived up to the hype for me. It can be tiring to read the same character tropes all the time, so it’s fun to periodically mix things up. Ian is a character who definitely fit the bill for that. I don’t know of a lot of romances that have autistic main characters, and as I mentioned before, this is the first one I’ve read. His unique, out-of-the-ordinary persona was a refreshing change that in no way made him unappealing. Maybe it’s because I’m a bit of an oddball myself, but I found myself relating to him very well. I think Beth was the perfect foil for him, as someone who saw him as a whole person in spite of his disability and who loved him anyway. These two just fit together like two peas in a pod, complimenting each other superbly. The love scenes are deliciously steamy. The mystery surrounding the murders was very well done, keeping me guessing as to what really happened. I enjoyed how all the Mackenzie brothers pull together and look out for one another even though they don’t always get along. I also liked learning a little about each of them and their scandalous backgrounds and look forward to reading more about them in the books to come. But for now, I’m very impressed with this first foray into Jennifer Ashley’s full-length historicals. I couldn’t have asked for a more romantic, sexy, entertaining, and perfect read. show less

THE MADNESS OF LORD IAN MACKENZIE by Jennifer Ashley

Ashley has written a truly unique romantic hero. Lord Ian Mackenzie seems to be a high-functioning autistic! Certainly haven’t seen that before. And she does it marvelously well. In spite of his handicaps, Ian is compelling, loveable, and sexy. I don’t know if someone who is autistic can be as passionate as Ian, but I believe this particular one is. Ashley has done her homework – she hits all the characteristics I expect to find in autism. Ian has trouble looking people in the eye, he’s over sensitive to noise and sensation, he’s socially awkward and inappropriate, he has astonishing gifts like being able to beautifully play a piece on the piano after hearing it only once, show more and so on. His heart is true, his loyalties fierce, and his understanding deficient only in reading other people’s emotions. Fortunately, he happens upon a woman capable of seeing past his limitations and finding him fascinating, strong, and in every way admirable. She herself shows uncommon courage in being able to love in the face of profound difficulties.
I don’t like retelling the plot when I review books, so I’ll just say I found both the hero and heroine worthy characters who I very much enjoyed getting to know. Duran has turned this tale of a man extremely damaged by early mistreatment and seriously handicapped by his autism into a fine novel, a great romance. I highly recommend it. show less

Ian MacKenzie is one of the most unique heroes I think I’ve ever read. He suffers from what we know is a form of Autism. He had spent many years of his childhood in an insane asylum and as we know – they weren’t very nice places to be. But he was finally rescued by his oldest brother Hart, the very powerful Duke of Kilmorgan.

We first meet Ian when he is purchasing an ancient bowl from an unscrupulous fortune hunter. The dastardly dude goes on to boast about his conquests and his plans to continue despite getting married.

Beth Ackerly is the fiancé and heroine in question and she first meets our hero Ian at the theatre where he slips her a note explaining that her fiancé is Not a Nice Man.

Ian is……..what can I say about him show more that would do him justice? The word Unique works. He is totally and utterly without guile and says what he thinks – exactly what he thinks. He doesn’t know how to hide his thoughts. And he doesn't understand humour - no matter how Beth tries to make him smile. Beth is quite nonplussed by him, yet very attracted at the same time. And though he is very physically attracted to her, he tells Beth that he will never love her, not that he doesn’t want to love her, he is just incapable of it.

Because of his autism, he is unable to look her in the eyes though he wants to. His brain just shuts down when he tries. Although unable to love (or so he says – but this is a romance) he is very possessive of her and once he stakes his claim so to speak, becomes outraged to the point of violence whenever anyone – such as her now former fiancé – dares to try and harm her.

I think the closest I can think of in terms of the kind of hero he makes is Simple Jess by Pamela Morisi. But Ian isn’t simple – not by any means. Instead he borders on brilliant to genius in many areas. He is alternately touchingly naïve and incredibly, sexily experienced. Because he is out of touch with emotions, he uses his senses a lot and in some very inventive ways.

And the heroine Beth; she is an equally incredible heroine. Although she doesn’t understand Ian exactly, she accepts him as he is for all of his oddness. And she is touchingly, wonderfully protective of him – to the point of going toe to toe with his powerful brother the duke when she thinks Hart is just using him for his brilliant math skills and recall abilities. I just loved her to pieces. Although quite wealthy, she came by the wealth in a different kind of way. She started her life in the slums of London and slowly moved her way up in life. So unlike many historical heroines, she is quite savvy and as she is also a widow, she has experienced the pleasures of intimacy. When Ian and Beth are together, the chemistry is combustible. These are two vividly drawn characters. In addition to our main characters, there are also Ian’s brothers. Indulgent, protective, confused – all are ways they relate to their younger, ‘different’ brother, they are equally vivid characters and all the way through the book I kept hoping they would get their own stories and I don’t normally think like that. And I’m very happy to say they are, though it looks like I’ll have to wait for a while until I get to their stories. I was even most impressed with Curry, Ian’s valet and general care-taker and errand runner.

As if to die for hero and heroine and great secondary characters weren’t enough, there is an interesting mystery to boot. There is an Inspector Javert type character who is investigating the murder of a young woman in a brothel a couple of years previously and following the MacKenzie clan. When another young woman related to the original murder is found dead, he is bound and determined that it is young Ian who did the killing and will do just about anything to try and prove it including trying to undermine the budding romance between Ian and Beth.

Heck - I even love the title of this book. It too is different and unique. show less

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Mackenzies and McBrides series. There are currently eleven books in this series, with more to be published. I bought a copy of this book for my Kindle.

Thoughts: While I am not a huge fan of pure historical romance, I enjoyed this. I prefer some fantastical/supernatural/paranormal elements in my historical romance. However, this was a very solid book. I like there is a well done murder mystery plot woven into the romance here. There is also a lot of mystery around the Mackenzie family that I really enjoyed.

The characters here are what really make the story. Ian Mackenzie is autistic which has labeled him as “mad” very early in life and he spent a lot of his youth in an asylum because show more of this. He is an intriguing character and I love how Beth learned to work with his peculiarities and see them as strengths in character rather than weaknesses. Beth is a strong character in her own right; she is a vicar’s widow who has come into fortune via an odd route. She is strong, determined, and honorable and I love watching her navigate both Ian and his family.

All of the Mackenzie brothers and the women who love them are intriguing and interesting characters. I mean really, this book is about the intriguing characters that fill it, they are soooo well done. The writing here is also incredibly well done. There is humor, irony, well done romance scenes, and beautiful settings. I love that there is complete mystery story woven through this book too and that the overall mystery of the Mackenzies is going to go over multiple books. This is pretty much everything I expected and more.

This is also one of those books that practically reads itself. I was always excited to sit down and read this and found myself completely absorbed in the story. I kept wandering off to sneak in extra reading time.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I really enjoyed this historical romance novel. The characters are unique and engaging and the book was incredibly engrossing and well written. If you are looking for a good historical romance I would check this one out. This is a wonderful blend of romance, intriguing characters, engaging mystery, beautifully written love scenes, and majestic settings. I will most likely continue the series at some point. I am not huge on straight-up historical romances but there is enough going on here that the next time I am in the mood for a historical romance this is the series I will go to. show less

I don't read many romances, but I bought this for two reasons: one of the agent blogs I follow mentioned it was a good book with an autistic male lead; my son is autistic and I'm always seeking out books with autistic characters. Secondly, I met the author two years ago at a writers' conference (and will see her at the same con next month) and thought she was a very kind person and a good historical fiction writer.

Lord Ian Mackenzie is quite mad. He'd be the first to admit that. It's common knowledge he resided in an insane asylum as a child and as an adult he's an eccentric who doesn't look people in the eye yet is brilliant with numbers and facts. Meanwhile, Beth is a widowed vicar's wife who has recently come into quite an show more inheritance from the estate of an elderly employer. She's newly engaged to Sir Mathers--at least, until Ian meets her for the first time and abruptly informs her that Mathers is a cad who keeps ladies for sordid purposes and only wants her money. The attraction between Ian and Beth is instantaneously, though obstacles quickly present themselves, including two dead prostitutes and a Scotland Yard inspector with believes Ian is to blame.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Victorian romance. Beth (which is my own name!) and Ian have fantastic chemistry. Both characters are fully realized, though I particularly loved Ian. Ashley did a wonderful job of making it clear that Ian is autistic without making him a parody of the disorder. Actually, many of his traits--the good and the bad--reminded me of my own four-year-old son, which is weird since it's a romance book, but at the same time makes me feel more positively about his future relationships.

The only turn-off about the book is the fact that Ian associated with prostitutes in the past. That does squick me a bit, even though I know within the context of the period it would have been the most likely option for him.

That said, I'll be keeping this book on my shelf and I'm reminded I need to read more of Jennifer Ashley's books. I intend to get this copy signed by her next month. show less

It's difficult to categorise this beautifully crafted page-turner.

The love affair between Ian and Beth forms the core of the story, but around it is woven an intricate pattern of mystery and suspense. Not only the mystery of two murders in an exclusive bordello, but the psychological mystery of the pathological behaviour of at least three of the protagonists.

It soon becomes clear that one mystery holds the key to the other, and the refreshingly emancipated heroine's valiant attempt to find that key drives the narrative forward. Even the obligatory sex scenes are skilfully woven into the mystery, providing clues to its solution.

I decided to start with the first in the Highland Pleasure series after glittering reviews of the third show more volume. Not the best of strategies in my case, as I don't like revisiting characters introduced in a previous novel and usually don't follow up.

I'll make an exception in this case and read [b:Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage|9657388|Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage|Jennifer Ashley|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31Y6mmEg+iL._SL75_.jpg|7323377] before proceeding to [b:The Many Sins of Lord Cameron|8563824|The Many Sins of Lord Cameron (Highland Pleasures, #3)|Jennifer Ashley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1300209650s/8563824.jpg|13432297]. show less