Caught by the Scot by Karen Hawkins

Caught by the Scot by Karen HawkinsNarrated by Gary Furlong

Caught by the Scot is the first book in a new series from Karen Hawkins and in it, we meet the three Douglas brothers, Declan, Conner and Jack, who are told they have to marry within a few months or forfeit the inheritance due to them as part of their late sister’s will. It’s an enjoyable friends-to-lovers romance that, while not offering anything new, is nonetheless very well-written; and the hero’s journey, as he comes to realise what is really important to him, is nicely done.

Having lost their parents when they were quite young, the Douglas brothers were more or less brought up by their older sister, Anna, who has just died giving birth to a son, her husband’s heir. The Duke of Hamilton is devastated by his wife’s death and is in no mood for argument from his brothers-in-law; Anna desperately wanted to see them all settled with wives and families, and to honour her memory that’s what is going to happen. If the men don’t marry within four months, the considerable legacy left them by Anna will be given to the Campbells, sworn enemies of the Douglas clan.

None of the brothers is happy, but agree that they will try to fulfil the terms of the bequest – and Conner announces that he has the ideal candidate. Theodora Cumberbatch-Snowe is one of his oldest friends; she’s sensible, demure, biddable and, given her experience as the daughter of an ambassador, will be more than capable of running his household while he is away at sea pursuing his profession as a privateer. She’s also on the shelf and is thus sure to be extremely grateful for his offer of marriage – the perfect solution to his problem. Declan and Jack are a bit surprised when Conner doesn’t make plans to offer for Thea immediately, but reasoning she’ll be ready and willing whenever he deigns to turn up, Conner instead heads to London where he embarks upon a month long carouse to mark the end of his bachelorhood.

Unfortunately for Conner, he’s made a major miscalculation. When he finally arrives – somewhat the worse for wear – to pop the question, it’s to find Cumberbatch House in uproar following Thea’s elopement with a local squire. Conner is furious – how dare she not be sitting there waiting for him, and how dare she run off with someone else? He sets off in pursuit, determined to make Thea see sense and get her to marry him instead.

At twenty-seven, Thea is fed up with waiting for her life to start. She has spent most of the past decade travelling the world with her parents and acting as their general factotum; she has made travel arrangements, organised their accommodation, arranged decoration and furnishings, employed servants… in short, she’s tired of living for her family and wants to have an adventure and life of her own. When the very handsome, very eligible Squire Lancelot Fox started showing an interest and courting her, Thea accepted his proposal immediately and agreed to elope with him.

But Thea’s adventure quickly comes unstuck when Lance’s less than top notch driving skills send their carriage careening into a ditch, necessitating a stop at the nearest inn for repairs. Knowing that she’s by far the better driver frustrates Thea no end, but Lance has very set ideas about what proper ladies should do – and driving a gentleman’s equipage is not one of them. The unexpected arrival of Conner Douglas at the same inn does nothing to stem Thea’s irritation. At first, she thinks he has come after her at her family’s behest – an idea which is quickly laid to rest when Conner makes her probably the least enticing proposal of marriage ever. Not surprisingly, on being told that she should marry Conner because they’ll be comfortable together and it will help him to claim his inheritance, Thea turns him down flat, leaving Conner bewildered, yet intent on changing her mind.

Thea has been in love with Conner ever since she was fourteen, but knows he sees her as a sister. His first love is – and always will be – the sea, and Thea is well aware of how he would hate to be tied to just one place, especially after Conner shows how badly he misunderstands her desire for a home and family of her own when he suggests she must want a change from being with the same people all the time. Thea stands fast in the face of Conner’s insistence that she marry him; he tries showing her the depth of the passion that lies between them, but no matter how knee-weakening Conner’s kisses, Thea knows they want different things from life and that marriage to him would be a disaster.

While it’s fair to say that the storyline itself offers nothing new, Ms. Hawkins nonetheless crafts an enjoyable tale which is amusing, poignant, tender and sensual by turns. The central characters have great chemistry and are attractive and engaging; even though Conner starts out as something of an arrogant git, it says much that Thea is the first – and only – woman that comes to mind when he’s told he must marry, and while he does have his own agenda to start with, it gradually fades into the background as his concern for her happiness comes to the fore. Thea is a spirited, intelligent and very capable heroine, who comes to realise that no matter how much she loves Conner, she deserves someone who will love her for herself and not because she is the means to an end. The central conflict that lies between them – that they want different things from life – feels very real, and it’s clear that they are both going to have to make compromises if they want to make a life together.

I’ve listened to Gary Furlong a few times now, and he’s rapidly making himself a place on my “narrators to trust” list. In fact, it was seeing his name attached to this project that made me request a review copy of the audiobook, and I’m pleased to report that he acquits himself very well indeed. His slightly husky voice is easy on the ear, his pacing in both narrative and dialogue is excellent, all the characters are clearly differentiated and his female voices are extremely good. I’ve only heard him so far in m/m historical romances in which the female roles have been secondary characters who don’t appear often, so I was keen to hear how he would portray the heroine in an m/f romance. And he does it very well, adopting a softer timbre and a slight raise in pitch, both of them quite subtle but enough to convey femininity. His portrayal of Conner, however, is the real star-turn; his gentle Scottish burr is accurate, consistent and very sexy, and he has also chosen to perform the narrative using a Scottish accent, which again, he maintains very well.

I do have a couple of minor quibbles though, one being that although the story obviously takes place in the north of England/south of Scotland, the servants almost all have bog-standard, “ooh-aar” West Country accents. Mr. Furlong isn’t alone in doing this, but it’s pretty clear that British accents are something of a speciality of his, and I just wondered why he hadn’t employed northern accents instead. The other thing is something I’ve mentioned before, which is that he does tend to perform the narrative in a very… low key way, and I sometimes wish he’d inject a little more expression into it. That said, it’s not something that bothers me to any great extent and didn’t impact on my enjoyment of the audiobook as a whole. Also, it’s not an issue with the dialogue, which is suitably nuanced and adroitly delivered.

Caught by the Scot is one of those cases in which the narration elevated the story into something I enjoyed much more in audio than in print. I really hope Mr. Furlong returns to narrate future instalments in the series, and if he does, I’ll be picking them up for sure.

Caz


 

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