This Scot of Mine (The Rogue Files: # 4)

This Scot of Mine by Sophie Jordan
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book through Edelweiss.
I have read other books by this author and so was looking forward to reading this book. I was very disappointed, however. The story was disjointed, the characters were flat, and the plot was weak. I almost did not finish it, but plowed on.
The story begins with Clara headed to Scotland after fleeing London from the scandal of informing her betrothed that she is pregnant with another man's baby. On her way she encounters a Scottish laird to fascinates her. Upon arriving at her brother's house she discovers that this mysterious man is a friend to her brother. The laird, Hunt MacLarin, has refused to marry because his family has been cursed--each laird will die before his first-born child takes its first breath. Hunt decides Clara will be the perfect wife because she is already with child. So he proposes. She eventually accepts...
This book had problems for me from the very beginning. The whole backstory of Clara leaving London because of her nefarious fiancé was glossed over, yet a great deal of the machinery of the plot was devoted to it. Clara's actions in London with regards to her mother and fiancé either needed to be shown (and not told), or much less emphasis should have been placed upon it. I kept waiting for matters to be explained, elaborated upon, or cleared up. But none of that happened.
There were also numerous continuity errors that an editor should have spotted. I am hoping that this is just due to the fact that this was an ARC and the book has not been published yet. Surely these matter will be cleaned up before publication. (But I have read countless ARCs that had no mistakes.) There were times when I wasn't sure if it was morning or night, if people had been introduced to each other or not, or why certain things were even happening.
I also wasn't sure why the hero and heroine had taken each other into dislike after the first few chapters. I didn't get it, and it wasn't explained well.
The pacing was strange, as well. At one point, after about a week had taken place in the book, I thought to myself, "Okay, now the story is really starting. I am ready!" And then I checked and there were only about 60 pages left in the book. I was stupefied. And then a period of six months or more was completely glossed over and took place off of the page. I was stupefied again.
This book was full of missed opportunities. The story needed to be tightened up and the plot was full of holes. I did not enjoy it at all. I would not recommend it unless an editor can get in there and fix the problems.


View all my reviews