Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage by J. Ashley

Having read and LOVED The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, I thought I’d go crazy waiting for this book to come out, and at times I nearly did. But let me just say, it was well worth the wait!

Lady Isabella’s Scandalous Marriage is, of course, Roland “Mac” and Isabella Mackenzie’s story. From the first book in the Highland Pleasures series, we learned that they had married under unconventional, AKA scandalous, circumstances, then separated a few years later. It was clear that their relationship had been intense, a roller coaster ride of epic proportions, and that there were still deep, unresolved feelings between them. This book gives us a much closer look into their relationship and what went wrong.

I’ll start off by saying that while I love this book, I mean really love it, it still didn’t quite compare to my absolutely-over-the-top-bordering-on-unhealthy-adoration of Ian’s book, The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie and honestly, I’m not terribly surprised. I’m only mentioning this to you, dear readers of this review, because in most series, the first book is the weakest and the others just get better and better. In this case, I found the first book to be incredibly phenomenal and the second book merely wonderfully splendid!!!

That said, here’s what I loved about Lady Isabella’s Scandalous Marriage :

Jennifer Ashley has the Mackenzie family down to an art. Each brother has his very own quirks and peculiarities, which was quite fashionable during that time period which means that while in some circles they were merely tolerated, in others they were nearly worshipped. While Ian’s “madness” wasn’t something he could control, it made him such an endearing character, and some of the highpoints of Lady Isabella’s Scandalous Marriage were the times we spent with him.

Mac is an artist, and like most artists are, he’s quite eccentric. But what I adored about him was that he was so willing and able to accept the blame for what went wrong in his marriage, and he believes that most, if not all, of their problems were his fault. He makes no excuses for his behaviors and is willing to do whatever it takes to win Isabella’s heart again. The thing is, and what Mac doesn’t understand is that he hasn’t really lost it, not yet anyway. But we can’t mistake his acceptance of blame for playing the martyr, which he did not. My grandmother, on the other hand, was the queen of disingenuous martyrdom! She was someone who didn’t like to accept blame. She had this act she’d fall into whenever someone accused her of something that she knew darn well she was guilty of. “Go ahead, heap it on! Blame me, my shoulders are wide,” she’d say, slapping herself on the shoulders, “I can take it!” The thing was, we all knew she was in the wrong and knew that she knew she was wrong, but she played that part to get everyone to shut up. LOL!!! Ummm… yeah, so, where was I? Oh, yes! There was nothing like this about Mac. He was actually very straightforward about what blame he’d take as his own and what he would not, which is why I believe that he meant what he said when he said he was the one who had ultimately driven Isabella away. Wow! How refreshing is it to find that in a man?!?

Isabella was so, so young when they met and married. There was no way she would have the “tools” or the experience to deal with a man like Mac, yet she fell in love with him anyway. I have to admire the way she tried and tried and then when she finally what her entire life would be if she didn’t do something, she finally left him. For one so young, she was amazingly insightful. Thankfully for her, and for us, Ian had been there for her over the years of her and Mac’s separation. All of the Mackenzie brothers were. They adored her and still saw her as a member of their family. They watched out for her, protected her, and loved her every bit as much as they ever had – in fact, even though blood is thicker than water, I think if they had had to choose between Mac and Isabella, they would have chosen her. Their unfailing devotion to her was a brilliant bit of storytelling because it allowed us to accept her easy, believable return to the family when it happened.

With the exception of a subplot used to help propel the reuniting of Mac and Isabella that I thought was rather weak and didn’t really “grab” me, I adored every minute of this book. And while, as I said, I didn’t care for that subplot, I loved the outcome, for what it means for Mac and Isabella. And of course, the high points of the book were Ian’s appearances. I’m thinking that once this series is through, Jennifer Ashley should just write a series based solely on Ian – perhaps he’d make a great investigator with his eye for detail and being able to read even the most subtle of nuances. And I’ll be the heroine **big grin**

Now, I have a question/thought for those of you who have read both books - Spoiler Why do you suppose Inspector Fellows, who was revealed to be a ½ brother to the Mackenzies, is never mentioned as such, either in character dialog or in author narrative, in this book? I found that odd and it had me questioning whether or not I was remembering correctly exactly who Inspector Fellows was.End Spoilers

Well, I’m going to stop here because I’m just rambling anyway and honestly, I could go on for pages and pages about the Mackenzies and yet never do them justice. I just adore them, each and every one of them, but the truth of the matter is that I’m not eloquent enough a speaker or writer to express in words how much I feel for this incredible family. I’ll just say this; Jennifer Ashley, with the help of Clan Mackenzie, has created another masterpiece with Lady Isabella’s Scandalous Marriage.

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley

Edited to add a note from the author which can be found at the end of this review.

Minor Plot Spoilers

This is my first read of any of Jennifer Ashley’s works and I was not disappointed, in fact, I was very, very pleased. I found her writing style to be flowing and well thought out, and her ability to weave a tale that kept me wondering, *sighing* and hopeful through the entire novel made this, for me, a story that was “un-put-downable” (Yep, I made up that word. ) *grins*
...moreMinor Plot Spoilers

This is my first read of any of Jennifer Ashley’s works and I was not disappointed, in fact, I was very, very pleased. I found her writing style to be flowing and well thought out, and her ability to weave a tale that kept me wondering, *sighing* and hopeful through the entire novel made this, for me, a story that was “un-put-downable” (Yep, I made up that word. ) *grins*

This is one of those times that, even though much of the story is based on Ian’s past, we didn’t need to have it all laid out in a prologue. Instead, we learn through flashbacks told from his brothers’ points of view, as well as Ian’s, about the youngest Mackenzie being institutionalized and subjected to all manner of horrible experiments performed under the guise of "treatments." Jennifer Ashley did an excellent job of giving us just enough details of his dismal existence for us to really understand what Ian had been subjected to, without going into so much detail as to make this an uncomfortable read.

From what I understand from reading other reviews, Ian’s “madness” is a form of autism, Aperger's Syndrome, though I don’t remember anywhere in the book where they gave it any specific medical name, not even one accepted during the time of this story. “Madness” is such an all encompassing word, but I suppose with the way the characteristics of his condition manifested themselves, “madness” would have summed it all up quite well.

I loved that we were introduced to Ian right away, and got a glimpse of one of his “quirks” – his passion for Ming vases – early on. A man of complex contradictions, Ian is often withdrawn, yet easily enraged. He has a childlike honesty about him – he literally doesn’t know how to lie – yet understands that he can avoid telling the truth by withholding it. If I were a licensed psychiatrist/psychologist, I would likely still be on page 1 trying to unravel the complex and intricate weave that makes Ian, Ian – a hero unlike any other hero I have ever read about, and I can’t tell you how refreshing that is.

Beth, a compassionate, nurturing woman unconcerned with society’s ideas of propriety and morals spent most of her life giving service to those in need. She had cared for her alcoholic mother until she passed, then as the wife of Thomas, the vicar, she cared for those in his flock. When, after only a year of marriage he became ill, Beth cared for him until he passed. She was fortunate enough to then become the companion of an wealthy, opinionated old woman with whom she spent many years, and when the woman became ill, Beth cared for her, too, until she died. Care, care, care…caring for people who were unable do so for themselves was something Beth was all too familiar with. Only a person who had walked in Beth’s shoes could see past the rumors and the lies which shroud the Mackenzie family. She was able to peel away the layers and see that there was much more to them than they allowed people to see. It took very little time for her to realize how much Ian needed her, but knowing what I did about Ian, I had expected that this would turn out to be a story of unrequited love. I believed that Beth would care for him, maybe even grow to love him, in spite of his madness – or perhaps because of it – yet never feel his love in return. Nor would she expect it because he had made it clear to her that he couldn’t… literally could not, love her.

I found it interesting that Ian believed he couldn’t feel a person’s love for him, nor could he return that love and yet, he felt and reacted to fear, anger, disgust, compassion, lust… so this didn’t make a lot of sense to me. When he first met Beth, he had to have felt something for her or he wouldn’t have been compelled to help her. As the story progressed and situations came about, he reacted much the way a man in love would; he became protective, possessive, domineering and demanding. So, I found myself thinking that perhaps because he had never felt this kind of love for someone, he didn’t know what to label these new emotions, or how to express them. Thankfully this issue was resolved to my satisfaction towards the end of the book.

I would love to go on and on, dissecting each little nuance of both Ian and Beth, but there are so many *sigh* moments and subtle things to love about them both that it would take pages and pages - and honestly, I don’t want to deprive you of finding them yourself because it’s those moments that make this, for me, a truly great story.

Ian’s 3 brothers, Hart, Mac and Cameron, played big parts in this book and their characters, as well as their checkered pasts, were so well developed that I am already impatiently awaiting their stories.

While The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie is not exactly what I had anticipated, it turned out to be more than I had hoped for. By page 5 I was completely captivated by Ian and by page 13, I wanted to bring him home with me and love him forever. *sigh* But I will have to be content in knowing that he has his Beth to love him like no one else ever could.

Update: There have been many discussion about Ian's "madness," and what it is exactly. I sent Ms. Ashley an email today and asked her if she would share with us some insight into writing Ian, his "madness," and her research. I was thrilled to have gotten an answer right away and with her permission, I'm posting her reply:

"Ian has Asperger's (which, as you say, is high-functioning autism). I wanted to explore what it would be like to have Asperger's before it or autism was recognized or even had a name.

People with Asperger's can have a variety of traits, and not every person has the same (e.g., some are fine with looking into other people's eyes, some have a great sense of humor, while others are painfully shy and take everything literally). So Ian has Asperger's and a little OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). A great memory for certain things, usually very focused on details.

I did a ton of research on Asperger's and autism (heartbreaking stuff), and then started writing. Once I was writing, though, I totally fell in love with Ian! He was the toughest hero I've ever written, but he was worth the pain. :-)

Jennifer Ashley"

My sincere thanks to Ms. Ashley for sharing that information with us, and for giving us Ian, a truly *sigh* worthy hero.