Scotland – 1752
Lottie Livingstone has taken on the leadership of her clan, in not so subtle ways. Well aware that her happy-go-lucky father has frittered away their inheritance and that the Livingstone clan has nothing left for their survival, she concocts a daring escapade to get them out of debt. The only thing her father has contributed is organizing his men to distill illegal whisky, but they must find a way to sell it or their efforts are all for naught.
Captain Aulay MacKenzie, skipper of the Reulag Balhaire relishes his time at sea. The second son of the chief of Clan MacKenzie, Aulay chafes to prove himself, and is not happy doing nothing on land. His life is the sea. Leaving Scotland with a load of wool and salted beef, Aulay and his crew see a ship aflame and heave to aid them. But when the men, and one woman, from the other ship board the Reulag Balhaire, they overcome Aulay’s crew and take over the vessel. It seems the young woman is in charge, and she sets the crew to sail for Denmark.
Unfortunately, Lottie’s father is badly injured in the original fracas with a royal ship, and Lottie must help him as well as keeping an eye on Captain MacKenzie, trussed up in his cabin. Having some of the original crew help her non-seagoing clan members, they set the sails for Denmark to sell the casks of whisky.
Aulay is furious at himself for falling for the lovely pirate’s lies when she boarded the ship. Now he is a captive in his own cabin, most of his crew below in the same straits, and his beloved craft heading the wrong way. He senses immediately, however, that Lottie is not happy about the entire episode, and realizes that her father lives in a fantasy world where everything will be all right. Lottie is the grounded person forced into a situation that she is obviously uncomfortable with.
DEVIL IN TARTAN continues the Highland Grooms series. Aulay I torn between wanting Lottie to pay for her antics and his feelings of awe of her beauty and bravery. Lottie bears the brunt of her clan’s pain, while trying to console her father and brothers as they sail. Will everything come to fruition for her and her men? And what will Aulay do about Lottie?
Beautifully written with terrific, well rounded characters, DEVIL IN TARTAN can be read alone, but I recommend reading the entire Highland Grooms series.

It’s been a long while since I have read Historical Fiction/Romance, so when the chance came up to be in this blog tour; I took it up, especially considering that I have heard a whole lot about Julia London but have never read her books.

But I do believe that my expectations about Julia London and her books were unrealistic

Devil In Tartan caught my eye because it talked about female pirate and that honestly is the magic word for the reader in me.

Lottie Livingston is trying to save her family’s (illegal) business; and yet she seemed more manipulative than I would have expected from a heroine and one that purports to be doing good for the family. I tried liking her, and maybe I would have but I couldn’t reconcile with the kind of methods and neither does justice to what her goals were.

Aulay Mackenzie feels more of a 2 – dimensional than I would have expected of a hero – he is a son who doesn’t feel like he fits anywhere in the family. There could have been more of a depth in the character more than what I actually got.

There were numerous minor characters as well, and it became difficult for me to keep track of all of them; and I kept having to go back to find out whether I was getting the characters right.


The writing of the author took me time to get used to, but I liked her writing style; but it really kills me when the author is trying really hard yet the characters refuse to cooperate with her and that’s exactly what happened here.

I will still be going through Julia London’s backlist, mostly ‘cause there is something hypnotic in her writing style and I really hope that the characters have supported her in her other ventures!

Devil In Tartan is the fourth installment of the Highland Groom series and like the books before it I’m in love.
Both Lottie Livingston and Aulay Mackenzie are trying, in different ways, to earn and maintain their place in their family. Lottie needs to sell her clans illegal whiskey and Aulay needs to establish a trade route for his family. But much like the sea, nothing ever goes quite according to plan.
Julia London is an amazing author and she once again delivers a beautiful parity. There is humor, conflict, love, and ultimately joy. I cannot wait to read the next books.

I am rather sorry that I didn't particularly enjoy this installment of the series. And while there are good parts, I have quite a bit of issue with others.


This is the fourth in a series I have come to enjoy and like. I love Julia London's writing style.
However, sometimes the brogue was a bit distracting. I am not sure if I am ever going to like people writing out accents in dialogues. For me, it's about readability rather than authenticity. Also, I keep thinking if they all speak to the same way, why highlight it?
I should mention that if I would have listened to the audiobook, I would have loved the fact that the dialogues were written in Scottish brogue.

The storyline was entertaining. I enjoyed the ups and downs of this adventure. Maybe we should call it a misadventure?
Now the romance is a whole other cattle of fish. I mean, it's not really terrible I guess. But I just didn't get where they were coming from. I get there was sexual attraction. But how on earth did this shift from it to the big L?
I just don't get it. It's way to insta for me. It just doesn't work for me.
Then add to it that some of it was just too generic and we have a big no-no for me.

At least I felt like that until Auley declared his feelings. And let's just say someone might have or might not have been all gooey. He had me at my inner sea turned over ...

The character building left me divided. I love the supporting cast. Most of them anyway. I am not a huge fan of the villains. They feel a bit generic. The rest of the support cast is vivid, unique and interesting. A great backdrop for the MCs
I adore Auley. I loved him from the get-go. I could relate to him ( hello! middle child over here!)
I got his worries, his thought process, I got it all except how or why he fell for Lottie. Except for the superficial that is.
Lottie, well, let's just say she grew on me. I didn't care much for her for most of the book. I found her really immature and fullish most of it. I guess she is quite young, but some of the things she did were annoyingly childish.
Then I found the way Aulay saw her didn't really correlate with the way I see her. And somehow that made it worse, it felt inconsistent. She did towards the end grow on me, not as much as her merry band or Aulay, but still enough.

All in all, this isn't bad. It's entertaining, but not captivating. Great storyline, fab support cast but the romance wasn't for me.
2.5 Stars

Julia London is amazing. I haven't read a book of here's that I didn't like. I also enjoy that these books aren't technically a series and can stand in their own.

I really enjoyed the story of Aulay and Lottie. I really liked Aulay. He was an honest man who was more himself at sea and it took meeting the right woman to realize that he could be that man he could be proud of without setting foot off land. Though the title refers to him as a devil in tartan I do believe he was more of an angel. He rescued our heroine when he didn't need to because of early events in the story.
Lottie was a strong woman. She has lived the life where she is one who sometimes has to be the leader and make crucial decisions for her family. She seams to always carry the worry of the world on her shoulders. It was heartbreaking to read that she was willing to sacrifice herself so her family wouldn't suffer the consequences of their ill plans. She was the unofficial leader of her family. I sometimes felt frustrated for and just wanted for someone to give her a helping hand.
I'm glad these two found each other. The each offered what the other needed. Their HEA was a nice one to read.
I will look forwards to the next in the series.

I had so much fun with this book. I loved the heroine, Lottie. Her spirit and courage are unstoppable and so refreshing. She is the epitome of what I expect a Highland Lass to be, or at least the one that I would hope I would have been. When you are the only hope to save your family, your clans fortunes then wouldn't you go to any lengths? This is exactly what Lottie does when faced with challenges, quick thinking and a desire only to keep those she loves safe may send Lottie down a path she never expected and into the 'clutches' of a righteous man, but those choices also lead her down a path she could have never expected and her family and clan into a content and happy future. I loved watching Aulay's little safe bubble of the sea explode around him as he comes to terms with his self imposed solitude and his true desires.

I really enjoyed this couple. I loved the give and take between the two of them. I loved Aulay's indignation in the beginning, his disbelief that he let himself be broadsided by Lottie, and finally the knowledge that his righteousness is nothing in the face of his attraction to Lottie. I loved Lottie's courage, her refusal to back down, and her acceptance of the future she believes is before her. One of my favorite things and that I found most enjoyable is the 'fighting' between these two. The storyline itself;f could actually be pretty heavy and tense if it wasn't for these moments of levity brought about by the bickering between these two.

This book is one adventure after another, each one flowing easily into the other. This is one of those books that in my mind I can watch play out as if it was on a movie screen as I read. Julia does a beautiful job of setting the scene and making the story flow easily from one page to the next. I even loved that while this is a romance it isn't all about the romance. This is a story of finding your place in the world and being lucky enough to find it with some one you love.

This is the first book I have read from Ms. London and I throughly enjoyed it. This is also the 4th book in this series but as you can see it can clearly be read as a standalone within the series. I will most assuredly be going back and reading the first three and I am quiet eager to get the stories that belong to secondary characters in Devil in Tartan.


~ HAPPY READING ~

Review of Devil in Tartan

Four Stars

“She thought of the way he looked at her as if he meant to put her on a spit and roast her. Was it a sign of depravity that she wanted to be roasted by him?”

Lottie Livingstone
Devil in Tartan
Kindle Loc 872 of 4750

Let’s just cut to the quick here. If you are a fan of the Highland/Scotland romance genre, you will be entertained by Julia London’s Devil in Tartan.

There’s nothing quite like a brooding, misunderstood Scotsman discovering his reason for existence happens to be the ditzy blonde lassie who just pirated his ship.

Captain Aulay Mackenzie spends quite a bit of this story trying to wrap his head around the mindset of the lovely Lottie Livingstone, and he’s not alone. It’s bad enough that Auley is suffering the ignored, middle-child syndrome, but having his ship commandeered by a woman best described by this reader as a bit of Lucy Ricardo mixed in with Phoebe Buffay and, well, you just kinda feel for poor Auley … .

Devil in Tartan is book four in author Julia London’s Highland Groom series, but you do not have to be familiar with the series to enjoy this read. Devil in Tartan was my introduction to the series, and after an initial bumpy chapter or two, I found myself enjoying Lottie’s nonsensical behavior, right along with Auley. The romance between these two heats up rapidly and does not disappoint.

It’s apparent that author London enjoys this genre—the writing flows and the attention to historical details, along with the constancy of dialect, reflect her mastery of the genre.

The plot itself is a bit far-fetched (the behavior of both protagonists had me scratching my head at times), and contains more action than angst as a good part of the story takes place on the seas, but overall the romance between Lottie and Auley won me over.

Kudos and four stars to Julia London for Devil in Tartan.

I ended up enjoying this story over all, but it was very wrenching reading all the tragic events the hero and heroine suffer through, some of which are their own fault, but others are just bad luck.

Devil in Tartan is set in Scotland, 1752. Lottie Livingstone is forced to take charge at sea when her ship is damaged. She has an illegal load of whiskey on board and if she can’t get to Denmark to sell it, then she and her clan will lose their home on Lismore Island. She uses her beauty as a distraction to capture the ship of Captain Aulay Mackenzie, who should have been armed to prevent a siege but was too taken with Lottie to think rationally.
The novel fills all the requirements of the romance but empathizing with the hero and heroine was an issue. Lottie started off smart and strong, then became juvenile and then just too morally righteous. Aulay was interesting when he was bound and subject to Lottie’s demands. When he was overcome with lust and then love, he went from tough to soft and lost his appeal.
Devil in Tartan was a fun nautical adventure except for the hero and heroine, who became too cardboard for me to care about them as individuals and in their romance.
Reviewed for Historical Novels Society

Whiskey and piracy--a troubling mixture! ____ 3.5 stars

Lively story with a quirky young highland girl left to do the hard thinking and planning as her dreamer Laird father whittles away the family purse.
Aulay Mackenzie never suspected that his new trade venture and his clan's livelihood would be rudely interrupted by a beguiling white haired young woman with a head full of mad schemes.
When Lottie Livingston turns to piracy and captures the darkly handsome Auley she didn't know the fate that awaited them both.
A madcap read!

A NetGalley ARC

I've enjoyed other Julia London books, but this one was not for me. I had trouble getting into the story line and I didn't find the characters as compelling as some of her other romances--both contemporary and historical.

So I'm newer to pirate books. In fact, Laura introduced me to them and got me somewhat hooked. So when I saw this blurb I was definitely intrigued and wanted to give it a try. Overall, I did wind up enjoying it.

I came into this book not having read the others in the series-and that was ok. I was still able to follow the plot and the characters (ok, mostly on the characters, I did wish for a diagram at one point). So if you haven't read the other books in this series you can absolutely still enjoy this book as I did.

The problem for me was that I had a hard time liking Lottie for a long time. Now, I'm used to not loving every character right away in every book. But there was just a little something extra with Lottie that had me taking a little bit more time. So it was difficult for me to want her to be with Aulay-because I did like Aulay. I felt he was a bit more relatable than Lottie, which is unusual for me. But I did truly come to like them together. I believed in the struggles of their relationship and how things were resolved. I truly liked where we ended with them.

This story had a lot going on, more than just romance. I thought it was well written and the pacing mostly worked. I wish I had liked Lottie a little sooner than I did, but that could very well just be my take. Overall I liked this book and would recommend it.

Peril and passion on enemy seas…

Lottie Livingstone bears the weight of an island on her shoulders. Under threat of losing their home, she and her clan take to the seas to sell a shipload of illegal whiskey. When an attack leaves them vulnerable, she transforms from a maiden daughter to a clever warrior. For survival, she orchestrates the siege of a rival’s ship and now holds the devilish Scottish captain Aulay Mackenzie under her command.

Tied, captive and forced to watch a stunning siren commandeer the Mackenzie ship, Aulay burns with the desire to seize control—of the ship and Lottie. He has resigned himself to a life of solitude on the open seas, but her beauty tantalizes him like nothing has before. As authorities and enemies close in, he is torn between surrendering her to justice and defending her from assailants. He’ll lose her forever, unless he’s willing to sacrifice the unimaginable…

* * * * *

Another winner for Julia London! This is one author that has never failed to sweep me away with her men in kilts and the women who catch their attention with their strength and uniqueness. And did I mention kilts?

I thought that Lottie was fascinating. She would be a woman that I would love to be friends with. She is caring, willing to do what is needed to protect and nurture her family and clan including becoming a pirate and the one that everyone turns to for answers. And some of those questions lead to intriguing circumstances.

I really felt for Auley. He had decided on a path and was completely derailed by Lottie and the Livingstones. He really had to look deep within himself to find answers to some of those intriguing circumstances.

I really enjoyed DEVIL IN TARTAN. Ms. London brings the characters and the era to life through her words. It is a wonderful way to step back into Scotland and meet some hot, and some not so hot, men in kilts. The perfect way to wile away a rainy spring afternoon.

***I received this book for free from Net Galley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own and not influenced by the publisher or au

Devil in Tartan, the 4th book in the Highland Grooms series, took a while for me to really get into. Lottie, the heroine, is pretty prickly from the start, and Aulay, the hero, has a massive chip on his shoulder due to what he sees his place in his family as. The romance is slooooooow moving--mostly due to everything else that is going on in the book--and that "everything else" is, at times, pretty complicated and involved.

But...

I'm not even sure at what point I was in the book--30%? 40%--but I suddenly realized that the story had me in its grip. Lottie and Aulay had drawn me into their world, and by the time we got to the end where everything looked bleak and nothing could possibly be done to make it right again, I think I was possibly more upset even than the characters. For sure I was trying just as hard to figure out how to fix it (I failed. Thankfully, they didn't--phew!) and I finished the book with a great big smile on my face.

Devil in Tartan should work fine as a standalone if you haven't read the other books in the series (the only one I have so far is Daisy and Cailean's-- Sinful Scottish Laird --and of course they're the only couple who doesn't show up in person here). You won't know the family dynamics going in, but Aulay gives you all the information you need on that front anyway. More than half of the book has our hero and heroine out on the water, far removed from the rest of the Mackenzie clan, stewing over their problems and gradually falling for each other.

Favorite line (with mild spoiler, so skip if you must): "You are mad if you think I'll never mention the two ships you sank"--just before kissing the aformentioned ship sinker. :)

Rating: 4 stars / A-

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

My Opinion:
I enjoyed this scottish tale. I could almost feel myself at sea with Aulay and Lottie at certain points in the story. I found it adorable how she was with her father and brother. I didn't like how she second guessed herself on several occasion, as we might have all done ourselves, but I thought it was overdone in this book. I didn't like how much Lottie would go back and forth with any decision she made. It seemed to be to much of a tug of war. I can understand the second guessing but not so much that it was the basis of all her decisions.

Lottie has to get rid of a shipment for her family before the owner of the land finds out and they get in trouble. A lot of things happen and her father isn't able to make decisions like he should have been doing all along. He is a poor excuse of a Chief of Lotties family. She has taken charge of the family since his father isn't capable of doing so since his wife passed away (before that even). His late wife was doing it before Lottie. Lottie is used to the role, but feels she is a poor decision maker and everything is her fault. The two are mixed for me and therefore the book is a mix of emotions for me. Lottie did have a good plan but nothing seemed to be on her side and that was sad for her.

The sizzle in the love scenes were ok but didn't make me pant for me. It was more a gloss over for me - i.e. there, but not exciting. Although, I felt they were right for each other, I didn't get into either of their characters nor could really relate to them. I liked that he painted but it wasn't explored or even enticing. Lottie although at first seemed like a strong female character, I didn't feel like she was.

I did however enjoy the writing, it flowed well and I didn't get bored with it. My favorite part was the ending. I like that little twist and how the clan came together to help the family. I enjoyed the book and will get another in this series to see if I like it. You didn't really feel that you missed others stories in this book, there was a small part here and there sprinkled in of others but nothing that made you say "Oh, NO, what am I missing." which I enjoyed. I hate when you feel like you are missing big parts in the backstory and this didn't have that.

I give this book 3.5 of 5 stars!

Such layered characters! Lottie is so strong with such a heart, and the winds of foul luck blow her back and forth in the storms. Yet she bends without breaking. Then there is Aulay whose anger whirls faster and faster like a mixmaster, picking up speed.. But I love how Lottie always turns down the speed. Great plot for these two amazing characters!

3.5 Stars.

Who doesn't like a good highland adventure? This one takes place on the high seas. Lottie, our feisty Scottish heroine uses some fast thinking to save her clan. Pirating a ship to pursue her new career in the illegal whisky trade she seems to have met her match with the Captain who quickly becomes her prisoner.

This story had many great characters, that even managed to make me smile. The descriptions of the sea, the ship, the crew, the countries they visited, the rabbits, the castles were breathtaking. What a memorable world this author placed us in.

I did find it all very predictable though. There were no real surprises or twists. A fairly light, fun read packed full of history and adventure. I will have to read more from this author.

Devil in Tartan by Julia London is book Four in the "Highland Grooms" series. This is the story of Lottie Livingstone and Aulay Mackenzie. I have not yet read the previous book so for me this was a standalone book.
Lottie is trying to keep things going and when she takes to the sea to help gather money for the family whiskey she ends up taken over Aulay ship after he comes to help her out when her smaller boats gets into trouble.
Aulay knew better than to try to help someone now he is finding that he wants his ship back and he wants Lottie too.
Really Great Read...I loved it!

It had been five years since I’d read a historical romance, ones by Sylvia Day and Maya Banks. With an enticing blurb, hot Scottish hero, Scotland setting, and allure of the rich history, I was excited to read new-to-me author Julia London’s romance. Devil in Tartan looked like a good fit.

However, I struggled with Devil in Tartan, a story I tried to read for three days. Unfortunately, I could not finish more than fifteen percent of this story, one that did not resonate nor connect with me. I was a bit lost while reading and could not wrap my head around the writing style nor connect with the characters. This novel seemed to bounce a lot between characters, causing some confusion for me.

I may try re-reading Devil in Tartan in the future after I get accustomed to reading historical romance again. I wanted to like this story—I really did. Disappointingly, it did not work for me at this time.