The following post includes affiliate links. More details here.  As you’re doing your Amazon shopping, we’d be ever so grateful if you’d use our affiliate link to do so as it helps pay the bills around here!

Fellow readers who love to talk about books! Yes, that’s you. And us! TOMORROW is Virtual Book Club! Join us in discussing  A Perilous Undertaking (Veronica Speedwell #2) by Deanna Raybourn. Sign up here to join us on Friday at 7:30 p.m. CST.

It was way back in November 2020 when we brought you the first two books in the A League of Extraordinary Women Series by Evie Dunmore. After reading Portrait of a Scotsman, which is number three in the series, I can tell you that we’re waiting impatiently for the story of Catriona in number four, The Gentleman’s Gambit! Dunmore is a USA Today Bestselling Author for Bringing Down the Duke and the entire series is an homage to Dunmore’s love of romance, women pioneers, Oxford, and all things Victorian. Outside of being a member of the British Romantic Novelists’ Association, she is a consultant with an M.Sc. in Diplomacy from Oxford and loves Scotland. When she can’t get back up to the Highlands she’s adding to her collection of wooly tartan blankets. I feel like she’s our people.

Now to discuss the story! Oh, darling readers, Portrait of a Scotsman is filled with some of my favorite romance tropes. Enemies to Lovers, arranged marriage, and the sneaky favorite, there’s only one bed available! Mwahahahahaha. Harriett Greenfield, called Hattie, is the middle daughter of a wealthy banking family, an artist, and a suffragist. All of the League of Extraordinary Women are suffragists so that’s not a surprise, but Hattie is a kind soul, the cheerleader of her group, the artist who adores decorating the places and people she loves. In the first two books, you find her helping her friends when they are in need of flattering fashion as well as creating the pamphlets and signs needed for their political meetings. Problematic for me about Hattie is that she is described as the shorter, plump girl, with bright red hair, which makes her stand out from her friends in three different ways. She could have been only one of those things to make her different but does she have to be all three? I suppose we will never know.

She knows of Lucian Blackstone, a business leader from the London Underworld who is richer than Midas, through her family mentioning him as a rival of her father’s business dealings. When they meet in person, it is because she goes to his home for a tour of his art collection, after ditching her protection officer and without a chaperone. They kiss and there are shenanigans, and Hattie makes it home with hatred and desire in conflict inside her. The story does have a bit of a comedy of manners as the rules for young Victorian women make for awkward situations that, thank goodness, modern women don’t have to worry about as much. Being alone with a man who is not a relation doesn’t create social pariahs. But, we learn the underworld leader is more than meets the eye, even though he is very pleasing to the eye. 

I best leave something for Nikki to talk about, so I’ll end how I began and how I am SO READY for Catriona’s story even though that would be the end of the League of Extraordinary Women series by Evie Dunmore. Another solid, 4-star read, and once this series is over, I’ll be putting anything else Dunmore writes on the TBR posthaste!

~Ashley

Readers may wonder how we decide who writes first, and y’all, it’s simple.  Whoever writes first, with very rare and specific exceptions.  Sometimes one of us has words burning to escape about a book, and other times, it’s just joyful adoration, like today.  I’ve been contemplating my feelings about Hattie and Lucian’s story since finishing it (and also trying to keep their escapades separate from Veronica and Stoker’s despite their similar time frame) and now for us all to see where they land as I type, because days later, I’m still all over the place with specifics.  I’ve likely shared before that my favorite type of novel is one that has a story, and if a reader is so inclined, she can read the surface story and move on, or, if she’s so inclined, she can also dive into the layers and the nuances of how the story is told to see the multitude of stories and commentary in a well-plotted work.  Portrait of A Scotsman is one of those layered works, however I will say the layers are a bit blunter than my preference, but that does serve the plot and character development well, so I’ll take it.

Ashley got most of the surface plot summed up for you, but she doesn’t discuss Lucian’s being a self-made man, having pulled himself up with luck, work, grit, and even some nefarious means as well, and he has zero regrets, until the pages of Portrait of A Scotsman, and I do love some good character development.  I wish we could have seen more of Hattie’s character development, but much of it happens off the page, and that would have been so great to tag along for, but alas, it was not to be.  As Ashley listed our assorted romance plots (which made me SO happy to see them add up and then how the story played out), she included one bed and you may be wondering how a banking heiress and a business leader in Victorian era England end up with only one bed, well…when one goes to a remote Scottish mining village, there are limited accommodations available.  This does mean we also get miners, which takes me back to Cornwall, although this is coal not copper, but many of the same issues arise with the age of workers, the working conditions, and the general poverty with a touch of a rich savior who is also one of the people.  This is the blunt part of the layers that I prefer to be a bit more subtle, but in this case, it makes sense why it’s not, and it’s also pretty eye opening for Hattie, despite her knowledge of the plight of women.  

There’s just so much to talk through in Portrait of A Scotsman, so I’m going to wrap up with a few random comments:  

• I’m also convinced Evie Dunmore is our people because she posted an article on social about the origins of author’s notes (because readers didn’t believe female authors *eyeroll*) and then we had an exchange in the comments about how they’re used now and the joy and knowledge they bring to readers (the behind the scenes but also the ability to divulge fact versus fiction in historical fiction works).
• We definitely need Catriona’s story sooner than September.  I’m really interested in her relationship with her father and also who Dunmore has selected for her partner.  Oh and more Lady Lucie too is necessary, because she and her fiancé are fantastic characters.
• If a man is willing to read a manual, then I’m impressed, but when Lucian tells Hattie he likes North and South best, I was cheering him on more than ever because it’s one of my favorites too!  And also, I was left wondering just how much of Portrait of A Scotsman was inspired by Persephone and Hades and how much was inspired by Margaret and John.

Portrait of A Scotsman was a delightful read that I’m emphatically giving four stars, and it’s quite possible I’ll reread it, but not necessarily before reading The Gentleman’s Gambit.  These stories are quick, smart tales of women who are finding ways to come into their own, even as the law tries to keep them down, and the men who love them because of their drive and tenacity.  These men have to come to grips with their partners being independent, and wanting the law to reflect that, as well as their feelings about women being *gasp* people separate from their closest male relation.  As always, if you are questioning if this title is right for you, slide into our DMs and we’ll help!  

What is a book you’ve read that has left you struggling to express your reflections of it?

~Nikki

PLEASE SUPPORT US WHEN YOU SHOP BY FIRST CLICKING ON THE IMAGES BELOW: