Lady Len and the Mysterious Mac by Rose Prendeville

Tracy

Sep 5

Series: Brides of Chattan, #2

Release Date: September 5, 2023

Silas "Si" MacKenzie, son and heir to the Laird Kintail of Castle Leod, is back after being away for 17 years. Silas never wanted to be heir, but then neither did his father, who has been away in France nearly as long as Silas has been away. Alex MacKenzie is back now, but ill and it is clear that all is not well with the clan. The crops are poor, and the crofter's homes are in disrepair as is the castle. Si's father hopes that having Si marry and take his place as heir will improve the clan's morale and hopefully usher them into a more prosperous era. But his bride is not what he expected and his feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness threaten to overwhelm him. His bride is a tiny lass who looks delicate and fragile, making him feel like a huge hulking brute who is bound to break her, as he does everything he touches. But something about this wee lass calls to him and while he knows he should set her free, he can't seem to let her go. Instead, he begins writing to her as a clansman named "Mac", he never meant to deceive her, but when she responds, he finds himself enchanted, making it harder to do what he thinks he must; let her go.

Tiny and delicate in stature, "Wee" Ellen Mackintosh never wanted to marry, she wanted to be a nun, but her father wants an alliance with the MacKenzie clan, and as the eldest, it falls to Ellen to wed the Laird's son. Ellen too suffers from feelings of unworthiness, but Ellen processes her feelings in a far different way, she is quiet barely speaking and she punishes herself for her perceived shortcomings. She feels conflicted in her feelings towards Silas, she wants to leave and become a nun, but at the same time, she is drawn to her giant of a husband. When letters come from a mysterious clan member, that too causes conflict in her. Can this wee lass find her voice and become the brave "Lady Len" or will she let her feelings of worthlessness destroy any chance of a happily ever after?

This was a well-written, nicely-paced story with likable, complex characters. This story is filled with wonderful characters, miscommunication, steamyish love scenes, great secondary characters, nasty villains, new ideas, assassination attempts, stupid decisions, regrets, and finally a hard-won HEA complete with an epilogue. Overall, I liked Si and Len and was rooting for their HEA, but at times I found the story a bit heavy and the repetitive use of miscommunication and misassumption became tiring. This book also has several triggers that might be upsetting to some readers (the publisher does offer content warnings on their website). This is the second book in the series, but I didn't read the first book and had no problems reading this book (although, I now want to read the first book!). Overall, this was a very good, albeit emotional read. This is a book that I am happy to recommend and will be looking forward to reading more by this author.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.*