books like the madness of lord ian mackenzie

I gave this four stars originally, but it's been half a year and this book is still coming to mind fairly frequently (and I've read dozens and dozens of HR novels since then, so I feel like that's quite notable), the characters are just etched into my brain apparently. Their story was interesting, I found the hero very endearing (he gets 5 stars as a character), and it was all-around enjoyable. It introduced a whole host of intriguing characters but kept the story firmly focused on the main couple.

This was my first from this author, and I quite liked it. I really enjoyed the writing and the characters and I’m eager to see what happens next! ( ) I will definitely read on with this series. There’s not too much actual detective work or crime solving but it does add an interesting element to the plot and gives a central thread for the story to center around. There is also a murder mystery element to this book. I did feel like there was a bit too much attention given to that relationship at times but generally I enjoyed how this book set up the family and future relationships for the brothers. We do get quite a bit of set up for the next book between Isabella and Mac. To me, that’s a mark of a good romance book. I enjoyed seeing how he changed Beth and how Beth changed him. He is also very headstrong and I liked seeing him and Beth play off each other. His general personality is also very good. There is a part where he’ll force himself to look Beth in the eye even though that makes him very uncomfortable as a way to show he loves her and I didn’t love that but otherwise, it seemed okay to me as a very uninformed person. I am not autistic and honestly don’t have too much familiarity with all the ways autism can appear so I won’t try to speak to the representation but to me, it never felt horribly offensive in any way I can recognize. It’s clear he is written as some who is autistic before that was an understood diagnosis. I really enjoyed her as a character and if I have one complaint it’s that I wish we got a bit more of her background. I always understood her motivations whenever she did something Ian didn’t want her to do.

Sometimes, those characters can be frustrating if they’re too stubborn but I never felt that way with Beth. I love a romance novel with a headstrong heroine and you definitely get that with Beth. Maybe not quite a full five stars because there were parts I didn’t love as much but overall this is a fantastic romance and I really enjoyed it and absolutely flew through.

Books like the madness of lord ian mackenzie