A MacKenzie Clan Gathering (Jennifer Ashley)

Note

So my initial instinct was to read this before reading The Stolen Mackenzie Bride because this was the order in which I had bought the books back in 2015 (and now I feel really guilty because I’ve had The Stolen Mackenzie since September 2015 and I still haven’t read it.) So I know they’re out of order, but this book is the last of the Victorian Mackenzies before Jennifer Ashley published a trilogy about the  Culloden Mackenzies from the 1740s. I’m going to leave my master list order the way it is.

Overall Response

So I recently purchased The Mackenzie Chronicles, which serves as an overview of the series. Each book has some information about the characters and plot, and also a note from Jennifer Ashley about writing the book. it turns out the title was decided upon before she wrote the story, so I’m glad I know that because I was gonna kind read her for not really doing a clan gathering. I’ll set it aside because I get how publishing works and sometimes writing goes in a different direction.

This is relatively good. It’s mostly Ian and Beth–and when I say that, it’s Ian. Beth has kind of stopped being her own character which is kind of sad since I adored her in the The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie. Here, she’s a supporting character whose primary and defining characteristic is being the center of Ian’s world. That’s fine, but now the character is just less interesting.

The story here is a dual one — Ian is at Kilmorgan Castle when Hart’s art collection is stolen, and Beth’s brother-in-law (from her first marriage) arrives, wanting to help Ian with his madness. Both stories are good, even though I think the latter is probably better. The mystery is entertaining, but I felt like the ending was rushed.

The supporting cast is a little easier to take since the Mackenzies don’t show up en masse until the very end of the book, and Daniel’s appearance is at a minimum. I’m probably never going to recover from how much I did not like him in Wicked Deeds, which is a shame since he’s all over this series. This is what happens when you read things with a critical eye. Lloyd is back and I’m happy to see him! I love him getting to deal with his half-brothers and approaching the mystery.

This is a solid book, but it’s not spectacular, and the fact that Ian is really the only character makes it a little less fun for me since I come to romance novels for both sides of the romance. There’s actually…no romance here. We’re not even really revisiting characters–we’re just spending more time with Ian. That’s fine, but it’s not what I’m here for.

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