High 3. Liked the spirit of the FMC. Villains aplenty but none are cartoony. The MMC’s emotional growth was good. Epilogue was a bit sad but true to the times. ( )

This wasn't written poorly, it just ended up kind of average for me. I think it might have improved with a little more editing. ( )

3.3 stars

Cailean fumed on the long walk to Arrandale, exasperated he'd been put on his heels by the Englishwoman, astounded that it had happened before he knew it, and amazed by her cheek. Och, she was barmy, that was what. And bonny. A barmy, bonny woman---the worst sort to have underfoot.

Second in the Highland Grooms series, the author has the son of the previous couple as the hero. I enjoyed this jump as I really liked the couple from the first and it felt like a fresh move. In fact, what I enjoyed the most from this story was the flip-the-script direction the author decided to take not only with the time jump but especially the heroine's personality.

Daisy, our heroine, is English, a widow, a self-proclaimed middling mother, and trying to avoid another unwanted marriage. She's almost thirty and when she sees our hero Cailean, mama want. Usually, in romance books, the pursuer is the hero while the heroine maidenly shies away, not so here. Daisy finds Cailean a lusty piece of man meat and with the confidence and drive of a woman almost thirty, she flirts, provokes, and is not shy about her attraction to him. I loved it, so few times do we get to see heroines like this (probably due to heroine's younger ages).

"You shouldn't come in."
"No," he agreed. "I shouldna kiss you, either."
She stepped back again, so that she was now very much in her room. "You keep saying that," she said and lifted her arms, pulling the pins from her hair.
Cailean watched her hair tumble down around her shoulders. "I keep meaning it," he said quietly.

Cailean I had a harder time connecting with. He was our burned once a billion times shy hero, and with my not feeling like his personality and soul of character was flushed out, it made his reluctance for angst sake denying Daisy pretty annoying. These two were really still at the starting line around the 50% mark, which made the story drag a bit for me.

The sort of villain felt a bit too done with his poopy personality and he fizzed out at the end; I like a little dedication from my villains, at least an attempted child kidnapping to get his way or something. The secondary character of Daisy's cousin Belinda was a bit uneven, but Daisy's son Ellis wonderfully stayed away from being overly cute or butting into my romance. The author did a great job with trying new things here and I greatly appreciated it, books in series should follow a connecting thread but not feel like the same story written over and over just with different names in the leads.

Our heroine Daisy was a breath of fresh air but I had problems connecting with our hero Cailean. Their romance took too long to get going causing the story to drag a bit and their declarations of love didn't feel like they had a solid foundation. The next book in the series is about Cailean's brother and I'm definitely going to read it and see what fresh new turn the author has in store while hoping some of the magic from the first in the series makes a return appearance.

"In the Highlands, if you want something, you reach for it."
( )

I've received this eArc in exchange for an honest review

review in Portuguese: http://pepitamagica.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/livro-sinful-scottish-laird-de-julia....

In the second book of the Highland Grooms series, Julia London takes us back to Scotland. In the first book, the main characters were Margot Armstrong and Arran McKenzie. Now, this is the story of their son, Cailean Mackenzie, and an English lady, Lady Daisy Bristol.

Daisy is a widower with a young son. When she discovers that he has a small property in Scotland, she decides to take him there, to be away from all her suitors, but also to try and improve the boy’s health.

The attraction between Daisy and Cailean is almost instantaneous, but what I really liked was that although that attraction was there, it was more than that. Their relationship was a mix of friendship, love and support. Cailean is great with Daisy’s son, and he really likes him, independently of who his mother is.

The possible relationship between Daisy and Cailean is threatened by the Scottish rising (the Jacobites) and the English, which makes it hard for them to be friends, even harder to be more than that. But both Cailean and Daisy are stubborn and know how to fight for what they want. How they manage it, you’ll have to read the book to find out. And believe me, you’re going to like it.

Romance, friendship, some passion and lust – these are the perfect ingredients that make the book so easy and pleasant to read. I like Julia London’s books more and more every day. ( )

A Brawny Highlander, a flirtatious Sassenach, smuggling, and kilts. Rawr! Julia London has cornered the market on sexy in Sinful Scottish Laird.

Daisy, Lady Chatwick, is a widow with a young son. Her late husband's will says that Daisy must remarry in three years or forfeit her son's inheritance. Having married for duty once, Daisy is hoping that this time she can marry for love so she packs up her household and heads to the impossibly remote Scottish Highlands, ostensibly to check on Ellis' Scottish hunting lodge but really to escape the fortune hunting men in London clamoring for her large purse as she waits for her first love, Captain Robert Spivey, to return from his latest voyage and rescue her. As Daisy, Ellis, her gloomy, catastrophizing cousin Belinda, and the rest of the household travel north, their carriage runs into trouble and they meet the rugged, imposing Cailean, Laird of Arrandale. He is not best pleased to see a Sassenach in the valley but finds himself intrigued by the beautiful widow. Daisy, for her part, is immediately struck with lustful thoughts for this man who will turn out to be her nearest neighbor.

Daisy, like the flower she's named for, is a pretty hardy and cheery character. She's a hard worker, helping put the neglected hunting lodge and its environs to rights without benefit of a huge staff doing it for her. She's discovered the power of being free to direct her own life in the past two plus years and she's not looking forward to ceding her rights to a husband again. She's never been the stereotypical "merry widow" but she acknowledges and embraces herself as a sexual human being, which allows her to flirt with and tempt Cailean, a man who has good reasons for trying to resist her. He is set to take over as laird of his clan now that his father is slowing down. He and his brother run a smuggling operation to help keep their people afloat and prosperous in a time of crippling taxes. That the delectable Daisy is waiting for her Rob, a captain of the Royal Navy, and the man who has been chasing Cailean and his men forever, does not go down well. Daisy and Cailean waffle between fighting their attraction and giving in to it as they come to know each other better. Young Ellis comes to revere the brawny Scot and Cailean is wonderful in his interactions with the boy. When Rob shows up in the Highlands, the antagonism between he and Cailean is palpable, even if Cailean doesn't think he Cailean is competing for Daisy's hand.

The chemistry between Daisy and Cailean is steamy and development of their love story is quite satisfying. The historical aspects of the novel are well researched and form a nice framework for the story. But the best part of the novel is Daisy's awakening to her own strength and worth. She is intelligent but unfortunately constrained by the times. Her love for Cailean is hampered by practical roadblocks on both sides, a situation that is rather refreshing and one that can be overcome with work and ingenuity. This is the second of the Highland Grooms books but it stands entirely on its own. Readers who like a heroine with a little more agency than usual and a thoughtful, loyal hero in a kilt will enjoy this one quite a bit. ( )