The Devil Wears Plaid

This week's review is The Devil Wears Plaid, by Teresa Medeiros.

I picked this book up in an airport bookstore, desperate for something to read.  The selections were, for the most part, completely unappealing to me, but the cover of this book popped out.  Looking at the cover, you can tell that it's going to be a romance, but it was much better than many of the romance novels I've read (and believe me, I've read plenty!)

From the back cover:

Emmaline Marlow is about to wed the extremely powerful laird of the Hepburn clan to save her father from debtor's prison when ruffian Jamie Sinclair bursts into the abbey on a magnificent black horse and abducts her in one strong swoop.  Though he is Hepburn's sworn enemy, Emma's mysterious captor is everything her bridegroom is not - handsome, virile, dangerous... and a perilous temptation for her yearning heart.

Jamie expects Emma to be some milksop English miss, not a fiery, defiant beauty whose irresistible charms will tempt him at every turn.  But he cannot allow either of them to forget he is her enemy and she is his pawn in the deadly Highland feud between the clans.  So why does he still want her so badly for himself?  Stealing his enemy's bride was simple, but can he claim her innocence without losing his heart?

My take:

Despite reading the words "laird" and "Highland" on the back of the book, I didn't realize that this would be a historical romance set in Scotland, and I was surprised at the dialects used throughout the book.  The first few chapters were a bit rough, but once I got into it, I stopped noticing the odd spellings (for the most part).

I read the whole book in less than four hours - it was light reading, but it wasn't ridiculous.  The story was solid, and while there were a few odd twists that I hadn't anticipated, it was not hard to follow.  Medeiros wove a tale that kept me interested.  More importantly, she created characters that kept me interested.  There was a lot of travelling and camping, and if Jamie and Emma hadn't been such well-developed characters, I would have become bored very quickly.

The 'fiery redhead' stereotype made me shake my head a bit, but again, Emma was not just a stereotype.  She had a story, and a reason for doing the things that she did - her choices were not always the sort of choices I would make in her situation, but they were choices that made sense given what was revealed of Emma's character.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story.  If you're a fan of historical romance, I would definitely recommend this book - it's a quick, fun read.  If you've never read a historical romance before, this would be a good one to start with.  It's not a full-out bodice-ripper, and aside from one or two scenes, you don't have to be worried about what someone would think if they started reading over your shoulder.

I've already shared it with my mom. :)