Seduced by Destiny
By
Grade : C

If you enjoy wallpaper historicals, especially set in Scotland, then Seduced by Destiny with its feisty heroine and charming hero could actually appeal to you. However, the wallpapery, cutesy feel of it was too much for me, and I had a difficult time staying interested in the book.

In February 1545 after a hard earned victory over the English, three exhausted Scottish soldiers on their way home come across a shocking sight; the body of an lass from their village of Selkirk. Shocked and perturbed by the fact that a woman was fighting in battle and that the English actually killed her, they carry her body home. Not expecting anyone at her cottage, they are astonished when they are greeted by a female toddler Josselin, calling them Da. From that point their fate is sealed, and they end up raising the little one.

Edward Armstrong makes his way home a broken man. He came across a fatally injured woman, pleading with her eyes for a quick death. What he did, while merciful, wasn’t honorable in his eyes. Once home, he is unable to live with his deed and he hangs himself from the rafters, leaving his brothers to raise his six year old son, Andrew Armstrong.

In the main action of the story, Josselin Ancrum dresses as a man like her mother did 16 years earlier and travels from her village to Edinburgh to see the new queen, Mary. Finding the crowd’s bigotry against the queen roused by John Knox and his Reformation teaching, Josselin defends her. This act ultimately leads to her exposure as a female, and brings her to the Queen’s and to Andrew Armstrong's attention. Soon after that, the queen’s secretary Philip de la Fontaine approaches Josselin asking her to help the queen by passing on messages.

Andrew Armstrong, an Englishman, has traveled Scotland while disguised as Drew MacAdams from the Highlands. While his uncles would prefer that he fight the Scots with his sword, he has his own way of balancing the score, by taking their money winning golf competitions. Andrew is not pleased with the queen’s appearance, since it has put his golf games on hiatus, cutting into his earnings. When a young lad takes offense at the derogatory comments about the queen, Drew only thought is to protect her since he has already discerned her masquerade. As they are thrown together more and more, the sexual awareness he felt from the first meeting surges out of control.

The heroine is energetic and spirited after being raised by three soldiers. She can fight as well as a man, but Kate Campbell, her foster mother since she was twelve years old, has had some influence on her and softened out some of the rough edges. The hero is handsome and charismatic with hidden depths. While he is an excellent soldier, like his father he doesn’t have a taste for killing. The book has plenty of Scottish ambiance with words like bollocks, ye, lass, etc. The set-up of the romance is far-fetched, but I've read many a far-fetched plot that worked, so that part of things didn't bother me so much. However, the wallpaper aspect of the history and the feisty heroine did. I had a difficult time staying interested in the book because of these two annoying aspects of it. In fact I put it down at one point and didn't pick it up again for over two weeks.

So with what the author did right, why didn't the book work for me? To be perfectly frank, I just don't enjoy reading overly cutesy books. While I recognize that the book is basically well-written, it never engaged me emotionally. And even though I realize that golf was played in 16th century Scotland, its use in this book just felt out of place. In addition, the Scottish dialect kept bringing me out of the story. Those readers who don't mind their historicals being more on the wallpapery and cute side might enjoy this one a bit more, but for me, Seduced by Destiny ended up being only an average read.

Reviewed by Leigh Davis
Grade : C

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : May 3, 2011

Publication Date: 2011/03

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Recent Comments …

  1. I always admired the US ability to fail and try again. At least, I was told that this is American:…

Leigh Davis

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