When a Scot Loves a Lady is the first book in Katharine Ashe’s new Falcon Club series, and it introduces us to an exciting, passionate tale of a Scotsman who must return home, and the lady he needs to make it there. The title alone makes me wonder what being a Scot has to do with loving a lady, and whether it’s forbidden or not. In 1816 London, though, English ladies loving Scottish Lords was still a fact that set society atwitter. But it’s another veiled convention that sets this tale apart. Plus there’s intrigue, missing people, French aggression, Scottish rebels, and revenge.

We learn early on that Kitty is no wilting, twenty-two year old English violet. Because even though she’s got a noble family, she’s already managed to develop a tarnished reputation—with a bad man to whom she lost her virtue in his bid to insult her brothers, and “subsequently set her course upon revenge.”

I love revenge tales. And I love revenge tales where the “bad man” gets what’s coming to him. And I especially love revenge tales where the bad man gets what’s coming to him and our heroine gets to claim true love with a worthy rogue of a man who says to hell with your tarnished reputation!

Enter Lord Leam Blackwood—dangerous, seasoned agent of the Falcon Club, who’s just returned from the East Indies—who gives Kitty great advice one evening at a costume ball, when she finds herself snared in the attention of the foul lord who she’s trying to destroy.

It would seem that this story of revenge is also a cautionary tale against taking things at face value. Good advice for a man who’s served so long as a secret agent, with a constant façade that’s hard to shake.

He said things weren’t always what they seemed. And he meant it. The Falcon Club is on the level, I promise, but it definitely operates underground. And hidden things, secret clubs and private societies always draw the ire of the uninformed—and nosy ladies who are also trying to pick their way along the rocky path of life.

My advice in this story is the same advice I would offer face to face: when the masks come off, the truth comes out.

*This review was originally published at Heroes & Heartbreakers: https://www.heroesandheartbreakers.com/blogs/2012/02/fresh-meat-katharine-ashe-when-a-scot-loves-a-lady