Twelve Nights by Hope Tarr

Good romance, bad research
3 stars

Ever since his betrothal to the lovely Alys, seven months before, Callum has yearned to have her in his bed. But Alys wants to be sure that they are meant for each other by waiting until they are wed before being together.

So as a present to his Christmastime bride, Callum plans for 12 nights of sinful decadence as soon as they pair are married. But secrets from the past have a way of finding people and changing what the future may hold for the pair.


This book follows on from Bound to Please, another Harlequin Blaze Historical that focuses on Callum’s twin brother, Ewan. All the characters appear to have featured in the first novel and make an appearance in this one but you don’t have to have read the first to totally understand the story or characters in this.

I’ll start off with the good… Both Alys and Callum were likeable and realistic characters. Callum was strong but with a real weakness for Alys and Alys, a girl with a past, was still relatable and someone to root for. The pair had good chemistry and a very real love for each other even if the sex scenes weren’t particularly hot or plentiful.

The plot was interesting and kept me interested and I really did enjoy Father Fearghas’s journey and the things he encountered.

Now onto the bad.,, This book is set in Scotland in the 1400s but I was constantly thumping my head against the table while reading the book as the language, spelling and context of the words used was abominable. The characters “spoke” in an accent I’ve never heard anyone of the islands (or anywhere else in Scotland) speak and with words that I’ve never heard of and it was cringeworthy in the extreme. It’s like the author thought to throw in a few “ochs”, “ayes” and “the noos” and she’s got herself a Scottish novel. I’m not expecting complete historical accuracy but a little research really wouldn’t go amiss. Just because people say a word differently doesn’t mean you have to spell them all differently! And some actually have proper spellings which the author completely disregards. Add to that the smattering of Americanisms and I was constantly jarred from the novel as I was reading.

I feel like I’m being extremely generous in giving this book 3 stars when I had so many bad things to say about it. However, I have to say that I liked the story, had no problem finishing it and that’s despite all the flaws which is saying something! I’ll admit that perhaps I shouldn’t read novels set in Scotland as something invariably annoys me. If you’re like me then perhaps I would pass on this book but if you’re not bothered by things like that then I would recommend this book to you. The story’s good and you can escape for a couple of hours.

The Tutor by Hope Tarr

Romance with no spark

2 Stars

Lady Beatrice Lindsey has just become engaged to a very respectable, if somewhat dull man. She knows that if she wants to have any sort of joy in her marriage bed then she’s going to have to be the one to take the lead. If only she knew what to do.

Sexy rogue, Ralph Sylvester, knows that Bea is too far above his station to bother about him. But when she requests that he teaches her the basics of love-making he can’t help but agree. But he has one condition – for the next seven days and seven nights Bea must submit to him and no pleasure will be off-limits. But what happens when the week is over?

Set in Scotland in 1891, this is the follow on from a trilogy of books by Hope Tarr (Vanquished, Enslaved and Untamed) – a fact I wasn’t aware of when I bought the book. Although I suppose this book can stand alone, I think those people who have read the previous books (or at the least Untamed) will have had a much better understanding of the characters and back stories. As it was, I felt I had started to read in the middle of a story and my lack of knowledge about the characters made them lack chemistry and depth.

Although the story was primarily set in Scotland, luckily only one character was written with a “Scottish accent” which was a blessing because the accent bore no resemblance to the way anyone in any part of Scotland actually speaks and was entirely too cringe-worthy to be taken seriously.

When I read a Blaze novel I’m looking for a blend of romance, love and steamy sex. This one had the sex in spades but it didn’t achieve the other two to any satisfying degree which, in my opinion, made the sex a little too emotionless and sordid.

The whole story lacked depth and, while the writing was fairly engaging, it felt that we never really got to know the characters, making them hard to know and root for. Both Bea and Ralph could have been really engaging but it was never pulled off.

I really was looking forward to this story but in the end I was left extremely disappointed. I’m not sure if it was because it was a sequel and I hadn’t read the previous books but the book just didn’t have any spark for me. 2 stars.