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Book Review of The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie (Highland Pleasures, Bk 1)

The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie (Highland Pleasures, Bk 1)
reviewed on + 503 more book reviews


Wow. A sensual and emotional book laced with mystery and thoughtful prose.

Jennifer Ashley writes of Ian MacKenzie, the youngest of the MacKenzie brothers who was institutionalized in childhood due to his "madness". Today we would say he has Asperger's Syndrome. He's unable to look people in the eye, he doesn't like crowds, he's almost an idiot savant with photographic memory and brilliance with numbers.

His counterpart is Beth, a woman widowed just a year into her marriage, who has known no man in nine years. She's a fantastic, strong female lead in a category of romances where women seldom have a personality outside of their relationship with the men.

Jennifer Ashley brings these very different people together and makes the pages sizzle. The point of view of Ian, his inability to deal with emotion, groups of people talking, noise, his intense focus - it is so well thought out and imaginative.

A truly wonderful historical romance that I'll read over and over.