I loved Lottie and Aulay's story!!

Both Lottie and Aulay were determined to save their clans by selling their cargo, it is too bad that they ended up having to go head to head with each other trying to accomplish their own tasks.

I loved that Lottie was going to do everything in her power to get the money that her clan needed, even doing things that she knew were wrong and wouldn't normally do. Aulay had his own code of honor. Even after falling for Lottie, he knew that he had to take them to his father to be punished for their crimes.

Can these two get past this and find happiness together?

Devil in Tartan (Highland Grooms #4) by Julia London.... I've loved this series and this one was great...Aulay..the youngest son...not a warrior like his two older brothers...he loves the sea and to paint... Lottie...the daughter ...and caretaker of her father and brothers since her mothers death. I enjoyed reading about her brother Drustan who was born with disabilities and it was great seeing him come into his own. There is plenty of adventure, laughs, love and some tears...Thank you Julia for letting preview this book. I hoping there is a next book and that it is Catriona's story.

Devil in Tartan is book #4 in Julia London’s Highland Grooms series. Although part of a series, this can be read on its own, however, it helps to be familiar with the Mackenzie clan. I found this installment to be a refreshing change of pace for the author. This story takes place mainly on the high seas on the ship of Aulay Mackenzie, where he is trying to help his clan financially after they lost so much in the Uprising, as did many Highlanders. Unfortunately for Aulay, his ship is deceitfully taken over by a group of “sailors” led by Lottie Livingstone. She only wants to borrow his ship as her ship has been fired upon and has sunk. What develops is such a confusing relationship between the two main characters. Aulay is torn between his distrust for Lottie and his physical attraction towards her. He wants to get his revenge for her piracy, but somehow feels that he must help her and her family. The confusing relationship worked itself out perfectly for me by the end of the story.
Thanks to Netgalley and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Lottie Livingstone has a very big problem. Her ship is sinking and her father is injured, leaving everything in her hands. In order to save their shipment and her crew, Lottie and her shipmates devise a plan to overtake the ship coming to their aid. Lottie just wants to "borrow" Captain Aulay Mackenzie's ship, then she'll be on her way. They must get their shipment to Aalborg or they will lose their homes.

Aulay is irate when he is tricked by a conniving, yet beautiful woman. He means to have his revenge as soon as he escapes captivity. Aulay will stop at nothing to receive justice, but the longer he is around Lottie and gets to know her, the harder that idea becomes. Someone has to be held responsible in the end, but how can Aulay let the woman he has come to love, Lottie, suffer?

DEVIL IN TARTAN... another spectacularly written historical romance by author Julia London, who has long been a favorite of mine. Lottie is an obedient daughter albeit a little willful at times. When her father is injured, she has to do things she never thought she'd do, but she doesn't back down from the challenge. Unfortunately, things do not go as planned, but Lottie learns to adapt to her situation. Aulay, on the other hand, has a hard time. He is a proud, arrogant man who doesn't take the situation he's been forced into so easily. I very much enjoyed watching these two butt heads. DEVIL IN TARTAN is the fourth book in Ms. London's HIGHLAND GROOMS series and I cannot wait to read the next installment.

This is a great adventure story, with Lottie and her strength was so wonderful! Auley and Lottie together were too great. Very entertaining and fun to read

I received an eARC at no cost from the author.

Devil in Tartan is the fourth book on the Highland Grooms series, by Julia London.

Having read the first three books, it’s impossible not to make comparisons between them. Sadly, for me, this was my least favourite book.

It had an interesting premise, and I liked Aulay, but I just couldn’t connect with Lottie.

Lottie is described as strong, courageous, fearsome woman, but even if she was trying to do her best to save the (illegal) family business, she just didn’t act nor did justice to her descriptions. She was, no doubt, intelligent enough to use her pretty face to fool men, but that didn’t make me like her more – it actually made me like her less.

And Aulay, although I did like him more than Lottie, he too was a bit of an empty character. He was a painter, which I liked, but felt it wasn’t explored enough. I liked that Julia London mentioned his role in the family, how he felt, because that made me connect with him more, but it just felt like it was lacking something.

I liked revisiting characters from the previous books, but it was for such a short while that it wasn’t enough to save the book from a simple 3 star rating.

I just couldn’t connect with the characters as much as in the previous books, and I felt that with both Lottie’s crew and Aulay’s crew always around it felt a bit too crowded and there were too many characters (and sometimes I even got confused with who was whom – and I read the book in just two days, and rarely get lost in these books, but with this one it was hard to remember all the minor characters).

Julia London’s writing isn’t being put in question here, she was as good as always, I just felt like she tried to put too much in one book and ended up not focusing enough on what was really necessary. Still, it was a different read, and I managed to enjoy parts of it.

Devil in Tartan is set up to be a great Scottish romance, but with all the characters it left my head spinning. I wanted to like Lottie, but I didn't feel like her character developed the way I had expected. I need to read the other books in the series to see if I like the development better.

Devil in Tartan (Highland Grooms #4)
by Julia London
Anna Swedenmom's review Jan 08, 2018 · edit
really liked it

A buy book. A good read.
Now having said that let me explain the four instead of five stars. I absolutely positively love this authors writing. However, in this particular book. I felt like it was not her best work. It is not the oh my goodness I cannot wait to turn the page type she normally writes. Having said this, I will say this book has a way of creeping up on the reader, it is not usual. The setting is not the normal ton setting and mix that with the characters and the plot line and you still have a good read. I enjoyed the book even though the pace was not fast, it was steady at the most part. There were some traveling times of back and forth with not a lot of action. All in all the adventure and the romance makes it a good read, not to mention you have a wonderful author that is able to paint the pictures in your mind as you are reading the story. I was given this book free in return for an honest review via netgalley. Regards, Anna

When I saw a book by Julia London available on Netgalley I was thrilled. London wrote one of my top ten favorite historical romances, The Devil Takes a Bride. She is one of the few authors whose books I frequently re-read.

This is my first book in this series, although I've read most of London's other series. For whatever reason, I haven't read many historical romances set in Scotland and this made for a nice change of pace for me. This is not your typical ballroom historical romance and it is an understatement to say Lottie is not a "fresh from the schoolroom chit." I loved Lottie! Her struggle to save her family fortunes leads her to take control of a ship and thrusts her into the role of bootlegging pirate and she fills the role with panache.

Aulay is hot, as are all of London's heroes. I thought his chemistry with Lottie was perfect--just the right amount of astonishment, irritation, disbelief, and lust to start off with, but which grew into something more meaningful as the two get to know each other.

I loved both h&H but really enjoyed Lottie. Oftentimes a hero will "outshine" the heroine in a romance novel, but I felt this book belonged to Lottie.

What more can I say? If you have read London before, you'll be pleased. If you haven't? You're in for a treat!

Highly exciting and energetic story. Unusual and wonderful. I loved the
Characters and the dialogue. Held my attention throughout. Well written.

Wow- Aulay and Lottie had so much trouble and burdens I wondered how they were ever going to manage to get through them. The book shows with love,family and the clan all things are possible.

This is about the third Mackenzie brother, Aulay, who is a sea captain. He's always felt inferior to his two brawnier brothers and his more socially adept sisters, and has never felt his father appreciated him. He's always felt more comfortable at sea, and it's on a voyage to Europe that he and his ship are basically kidnapped by a band of travelers from a small island in Scotland, who are ostensibly travelling to Denmark to sell their cargo of illegal whiskey. Their leader is a stunning white-blonde woman, and their interactions cause danger, loss, and a cause for introspection on Aulay's part. A good addition to the series, I hope that the daughter's are included soon.

I received an ARC for an honest review
.

This is an enjoyable and well written adventure. What makes it stand out from other historical romances that feature Scottish highlanders is the fact that the Devil in Tartan referenced in the title is both a skilled sea captain and a painter. This fourth book of the Highland Grooms series can be read as a standalone, although readers familiar with the previous books will better appreciate the large cast of characters returning from earlier in the series. This one took me several chapters to get settled, but once I did I was intrigued with discovering how things would resolve. I did feel that I was never quite completely emotionally invested in Lottie and Aulay as a couple. I am looking forward to spending time with more books in this series and recommend this one to anyone looking for a unique twist on a Scottish highlander historical romance.

It was hard for me to give this book only 2 stars, because I think Julia London is a very talented writer who has the ability to craft excellent romance novels. Sometimes I'll pick up a romance novel, and I can't finish it because the writing itself isn't very good. That definitely isn't the case with Julia London; I love her writing style.

That being said, I had a lot of issues with this story. First and foremost, the plot felt thin. They travel to Denmark, where nothing really substantial happens. They travel back to Scotland and again, nothing happens. There was no suspense, no excitement. It felt as though the characters were just moving listlessly from one location to the next.

Second, there are so many characters in this book! I'm not someone who enjoys romance series. I find that often the author can get so wrapped up in making sure all her heroes and heroines of romances past make a cameo that it takes away from the current love story. And this was certainly true here. It should never be necessary to include a family tree chart in a romance! I feel very strongly about this. When I settle down with a romance novel, I want to be 100% immersed into the protagonists and their love story. I don't need their entire family tree and the backstory of each parent, sibling, best friend, etc. and their respective love stories. There were way too many Mackenzies and Livingstones running wild and free throughout the pages of this novel, especially when they were on the ship sailing to Denmark. It was dizzying trying to keep everyone and their respective alliances straight. Again, I think this inadvertently served as a sideshow to distract from the relationship between Aulay and Lottie.

And then there is the issue of Lottie herself. I just could not warm up to the woman. Goodness, how I tried! I'll describe my favorite kind of heroine to you: she might not be conventionally beautiful, but she's undeniably alluring and interesting. She's intelligent and kind; she often relies on her wits to get her out of sticky situations. She's not afraid to go toe to toe with the hero and oftentimes, she gets the best of him. Unfortunately for me, Lottie is not this kind of heroine. According to the other characters, she's the most beautiful woman to ever walk this earth. She captures every man's attention not with her kindness, intelligence, or wit, but simply with her long, white-blonde hair. This is where I stopped trying to like Lottie: Another character asks her how she managed to steal a ship. Her answer? She makes a circular motion around her face, meaning she distracted them with her beauty. Really? This is just one of many examples where she's just a bit too aware of her own charms for my liking.

Another thing-- We're constantly told she's unbelievably clever, but there's no real evidence of this. In fact, her one and only plan of action is to roll up her skirt to show a shapely leg and then kick Aulay into unconsciousness while her men steal his ship. After that, she barely takes any initiative at all to get herself and her family out of troubling situations; instead, it is Aulay who must save her every time. Simply put: I didn't have a lot of respect for her, and I thought Aulay deserved a much better love story than the one he was given.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

After having read 2 other books in this series, I was really excited about reading Devil in Tartan. I loved the other 2 books in the series, but I just could not get interested in this one. I have tried to stick with it, thinking it would get better, but I just can not finish it. There was a lack of depth in this story that was present in the other two. I felt as if I already knew Aulay for the other two novels, but in this book his character was never "created". I feel like I know nothing about Lottie other than she doesn't want to marry and she worries all the time about saving the family. The plot has also moved very slowly with a lack of romantic connection between the characters. I was disappointed in this one!