Reviewer: Tracy A Devil in Scotland by Suzanne Enoch
Series: No Ordinary Hero #3
Also in this series: Hero in the Highlands, My One True Highlander
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: January 30th 2018
Genres: Historical Romance
Pages: 320
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
Series Rating:
The dawning of desire...
1806, Scotland: Wild, reckless Callum MacCreath is in no hurry to become someone’s husband. But when his responsible, steady older brother Ian announces his engagement to their childhood friend Rebecca, Callum makes a startling discovery: he wants the lovely young lass for himself. But it’s too late, and when Ian banishes him for his duplicity, he’s only too happy to leave Scotland forever…
...is delicious and dangerous.
1816: Marrying Ian was the practical, logical thing for Becca to do. But once Callum sailed away to America, she missed his rakish charm and lust for life. Now, ten years later, Becca is a widow when a much-changed Callum returns to his Scottish homeland. Will he remember their spirited, fiery connection, or does he blame her for his brother’s unexpected death? This time neither of them can deny their scorching attraction, but will their hearts be burned in the blazing heat of scandal?
Callum is a young 20-year-old man and enjoying his drink and his women. His best friend, besides his brother Ian, is Becca. When he finds out that she’s agreed to marry Ian, he’s despondent and says some mean things. He also finds out that night that his brother and Becca’s father are going into business with the Duke of Dunncraigh and his son, and Callum warns Ian that it won’t turn out well as he knows that Dunncraigh and Stapp are not good men. Ian tells Callum to leave and never return. Callum takes him at his word and leaves not only his home, but Scotland.
Ten years later Callum is a man who is nothing like the youngster he was. He has grown emotionally and physical and has stayed away from alcohol. He has his own distillery and it’s becoming well known. He’s a rich man in his own right and needs nothing from anyone. When one of his workers comes across a newspaper stating that Ian drowned the previous year, Callum immediately sets sail for Scotland.
Becca is shocked to see Callum and wants him gone. She is being courted by the Duke of Dunncraigh’s son, Lord Stapp, and has a good life which she doesn’t need interrupted. She is just coming out of mourning for her husband and her father, who died not long after Ian, and wants nothing to do with Callum. Of course, that’s what she says but down deep she’s a little bit thrilled that he’s there. There were always feelings that she harbored for Callum but she knew even ten years earlier that he wasn’t the steady man she needed. Now Callum is in MacCreath house and making accusations – saying that Dunncraigh and Stapp killed both Ian and her father. On top of that he has claimed guardianship of Becca’s 6-year-old daughter, Maggie, and refuses to let her leave with Becca. Not about to leave her daughter, Becca stays. She must prove to Callum that she had nothing to do with the deaths in her family. She also starts to believe Callum when he says that the deaths weren’t accidents.
I really love Enoch’s books and this one is another great one. Callum, when he returns to Scotland, is such a different man than when he left. Although we only saw him in one scene before the time jump I could tell he was a bit of a rogue. Ten years later he is a man of action and is not afraid to step on toes to get what he wants. I normally don’t care for men like that, but Enoch wrote Callum in a way that I couldn’t help but like him. He was so determined to find his brother’s killer. He felt guilty that he had ignored his brother’s letters when he was alive and even had them burned. It was a bit heartbreaking to see his guilt but I thought he avenged his brother beautifully.
With Becca it took me some time to like her. I couldn’t get a grasp on her personality in the short scene at the beginning of the book. When we see her again she’s so determined to get Callum gone that I couldn’t help but think there was something going on with her. There was – her repressed feelings for him. As the story moved on I could see the person she had become and I liked her a lot. She was a great match for Callum and I liked them together.
Overall the story was a good one. Of course Enoch added the cute when she wrote in Maggie, her dog Reginald and Callum’s wolf, Waya. Those three had me smiling a bunch of times during the course of the book and I loved it. If you read the other two books in the series you won’t want to miss this one. If you haven’t started the series, it’s one I recommend.
Rating: 4 out of 5
No Ordinary Hero Series
