Outlaw

Holy mother of God. This first chapter is how you write an opening to a book. Seriously wow, I actually felt breathless. Detailed, detailed, detailed writing, hot damn this is the amazing hard to find craft I have been missing in books lately!
Oh wow, Elizabeth afraid of Johnnie's reputation as a ladies man says "I don't want to be forgotten" and he responds with "I never forget". What a wickedly charming S.O.B.
Kudos to the author for making what would seem to be a very accurate account of two people who feel in love back in the day and were too passionate to say no.
Wanted more action. Book completely turned out to be something totally different from I what expected, the first chapter I thought there would be battles galore but it was show more more relationship than action. I think readers who like to just read mainly about two characters and want to forgo action or more surrounding plot would love this book.
There is great historical content in this book about the Act of Succession between Scotland and England, but it's a lot of talk which even caused my (I Love history) eyes to glaze over at times. More action less talky please.
I really felt like the book started to drag for me but when Johnnie abducts Elizabeth from her wedding I was excited because it felt like the story was going to pick up again. I was wrong. After Johnnie and Elizabeth are married all they seem to do is spend their days in bed. Elizabeth also turns into a clinging mess, which was a tad disappointing since she was previously portrayed as strong woman; the author tries to play it off giving the excuse of Elizabeth's pregnancy but I was still annoyed.
This book was really well written it just wasn't my cup of juice (I don't like tea). I need more story and my characters to be involved in other things other than in each other and the bedroom. The footnotes were strange for me. Some of them interested my historical self and others were plain silly to have, I can't imagine the average person liking them and in fact I bet most people ignored them. This story was at times boring for me but I can see how others might like it. If you just want to read about two characters who are highly sexual and almost never leave the bedroom then the writing is good enough for you to give this one a go. This book was also at times a "blusher" just saying some scenes might be a bit uncomfortable to read in company.

C: for story/A: for writing style quality show less

Wow! I really enjoyed this book by an author I hadn't read before.

Johnnie Carre, Laird of Ravensby, is a rich, powerful, totally promiscuous, and utterly charming Scotsman. (Nary a kilt in sight; it's only 1704. He wears trewes.) He becomes obsessed with Lady Elizabeth Graham, after he abducts her to hold in exchange for his brother who has been captured by Elizabeth's father. And although she's a respectable widow, she becomes obsessed with him too. He lets her go, but that's just the beginning.

There's steamy sex, political intrigue, an interrupted wedding (and another wedding where the bride and groom are in bed during the ceremony), sword fights, more abductions, and finally, true love. Johnnie is absolutely yummy. It's a fun read!

At first I wasn't sure about this book. There were some pretty racy love scenes right from the start, but it turned out to have a very good story to go along with it. It kept my attention until the very end. This turned out to be one of my favorite books.