Sweet Revenge
Grade : D+

The Scotland of Lynsay Sands' Sweet Revenge bears about as much relation to real Scottish geography, history, and dialect as the Greece of Xena, the Warrior Princess does to actual ancient Greece. Like Xena, when this setting and the characters within it are used for laughs and very light entertainment, it can work. Unfortunately, the author can't sustain the airy and humorous elements, and destroys the atmosphere at the end of the book by focusing on several disgusting yet ludicrous villains.

Sweet Revenge gets off to a good start. Lady Kyla (and that name clues you in right from the start that we are in historical romance fantasyland, not anything resembling actual historical Scotland, right?) comes slowly to consciousness in a wagon heading somewhere (where?). She is in pain from a grievous injury (what?) and wakes up to find her traveling party under attack (who?). I was hooked by the action and the questions and whipped through the first few chapters.

It turns out that Kyla is being kidnapped for a forced marriage to Galen, leader of clan MacDonald. She was being sent to marry another clan leader, who had killed Galen's first wife, and this is Galen's revenge. Fortunately for Kyla, Galen turns out to be a much better husband than the other clan leader would have been.

The best parts of this book are during Kyla's early days with Galen and his people. Through a misunderstanding, they all think that she is somewhat touched in the head, and her confusion about her situation leads to her inadvertently confirming these suspicions over and over again. Yet Galen's men all adore her and don't want her to crazy so they keep looking for evidence that she isn't. All of this stirs up a light and frothy mix of humorous misunderstandings which come to a head in a laugh-out-loud funny scene where Kyla, afraid to consummate her marriage, deliberately acts crazy to keep her husband from bedding her.

If the author had been able to keep the light touch and carry the novel through with this tone, Sweet Revenge would be entertaining if not necessarily a keeper. But she doesn't seem to know what to do with the characters once they get over their initial misconceptions. The second half of the book is taken up with an endless action plot involving attempted kidnapping by the rival clan leader, a tedious and unbelievable journey from Scotland to England to visit Kyla's brother, and a less-than-climactic run-in with the clan leader and the brother's evil scheming wife. This all culminates in a pointless skanky villain sex scene consummated in front of Kyla, that added nothing to the story but had the book close to hitting the wall.

Once the fun elements disappeared from the story, the historical never-never land where Sweet Revenge takes place became more annoying than entertaining. There is no indication when this story occurs-1400s? 1600s? 1800s? (We've classified it as a medieval because that's how it's listed in BYRON.) This affects the believability of the backbreaking yet quick journey undertaken by Kyla and company from the Scottish highlands to somewhere in the middle of England (near as I could tell). In the 18th century it could be barely conceivable; in the 15th it's completely implausible. The "Scottish lite" dialect grew more irritating too, and by the end of the book I was rolling my eyes at sentences like "I didn't lose me heart to ye because of yer fair looks and yer hot body in me bed." Lynsay Sands' strength lies in creating very light entertainment with elements of comedy. If she had kept the focus on that all the way through Sweet Revenge, it would be a much more enjoyable book.

Reviewed by Colleen McMahon
Grade : D+

Sensuality: Hot

Review Date : February 20, 2000

Publication Date: 2000

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Colleen McMahon

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