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The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (Mackenzies & McBrides, #1)

Jennifer Ashley

Start date: February 1, 2011

Finish date: February 28, 2011

Discussion: Group Reads

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What Members Thought

Jan 13, 2011 Lisa Kay rated it it was amazing

Shelves: series-h, amazing-secondary-characters, authors-j, reviewed-by-me, character-widow, all-time-favorites, genre-romance-historical, character-scottish-hero, theme-mrs-robinson, theme-tortured-hero

Wow! How can I rate a book more than five stars? Even after all the hype, this book still held up. I guess all I can do is put it on my “all-time-favorites” bookshelf.

Lord Ian is intense and he leaped off the pages and into my arms. I wondered how Jennifer Ashley was going to present his POV, since he has Asperger syndrome, and at times it was almost as if it was written by someone else, the tone is so substantially different.

Here is a scene, from the heroine’s POV, from early in the book wh Wow! How can I rate a book more than five stars? Even after all the hype, this book still held up. I guess all I can do is put it on my “all-time-favorites” bookshelf.

Lord Ian is intense and he leaped off the pages and into my arms. I wondered how Jennifer Ashley was going to present his POV, since he has Asperger syndrome, and at times it was almost as if it was written by someone else, the tone is so substantially different.

Here is a scene, from the heroine’s POV, from early in the book when the hero, Ian, has just met the heroine, Beth, at the opera for the first time. You can see she is attracted to him, yet he is disconcerting her; while Ian doesn’t know how to take her teasing:

Lord Ian drew a thin curl between his fingers, straightening it. He let it go, his eyes flickering as it bounced against her forehead. He drew the curl out again, watching it bounce back, and again. His concentration unnerved her; the closeness of his body unnerved her more. At the same time, her own wanton body was responding.

“You shall take all the spring out of it,” she said. “My maid will be so disappointed.”

Ian blinked, then returned his hand to the arm of his chair as though having to force it.

I liked the humor in the heroine, Beth; it is delicious when she finally makes Ian laugh out loud, something he never does. Still, she is also a tenacious woman out to solve a mystery. It is nice to see a heroine worthy of the hero.

The three brothers, Isabella, and the servants were very, very real; their dialogues believable. I found the relationship between Ian and Hart thought-provoking. Each brother thinks the other is guilty of something. I loved that Hart, the Duke, was earthy - but also so arrogantly rude to Beth - believing her to be not good enough for his brother, only worried about her safety with regards to how it would affect Ian; conversely, at the same time rude and dismissive toward Ian feelings, while still relying on him for his abilities. On second thought, Hart is rude to everyone. Ms. Ashley has created complex characterizations here and they are fun, intense, emotional and subsequently button-pushing. A wonderful love story about a woman learning to love again and a man, who thinks he can’t, learning to love for the first time!

Ms. Ashley is a new-to-me-author and I will definitely be purchasing, not borrowing, more of her works.
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Mar 06, 2010 K. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: on-my-kindle, 5-keepers, available-on-kindle

Every once in a while you happen on a romance that is completely "different" than anything else you're reading in the normal course. That's particularly nice when you read as many romances as I have ... and a HUGE bonus when a favorite genre is historical romance as mine is!! Jennifer Ashley may have had some exposure to a particularly awesome man who happened to be troubled by the fact he grew up with Autisim in any particular degree. I can't think of any other scenario for such a "deeply feeli Every once in a while you happen on a romance that is completely "different" than anything else you're reading in the normal course. That's particularly nice when you read as many romances as I have ... and a HUGE bonus when a favorite genre is historical romance as mine is!! Jennifer Ashley may have had some exposure to a particularly awesome man who happened to be troubled by the fact he grew up with Autisim in any particular degree. I can't think of any other scenario for such a "deeply feeling" ability to have written this book, other than perhaps she's just so talented she is an EXCEPTIONAL researcher. I thought the same thing when I read Lisa Kleypas' book "Blue Eyed Devil" because her relation of an abused marriage was so "spot on" that it seemed she'd taken "words and feelings" from enough actual experiences of others she could relate them "verbatim" ... or alternatively, she'd lived it. That's a pretty exceptional rendition for either of them as talent in an author goes! As for my own experiences, I'll just say I've been close enough to either to see a phoney if it was poorly written ... both authors pass the authenticity test for the level they've written their books at!

Lord Ian MacKenzie grew up in a time period (London 1881) that had little scientific psychological knowledge to get anywhere near the ability to properly diagnose the nuances of the condition of Autisim in a child (we are just discovering some of the characteristics today for that matter!). Growing up with a father that was more than abusive in a family that every member having bordered on different forms of genious didn't help Ian's not being recognized as that, and then some. His father was prone to outragous behaviors of both control and temper to the extreme, and naturally when Ian didn't "fit in" he was particuarly singled out for abuse. Obviously (for us in today's world anyway) with his inability to conform, he was eventually committed to an asylum for the mentally insane. Naturally, the "science" of the times (cold baths followed by electric shock among other atrocities didn't help his actually "mild" case of Autisim). As a reader, I was IMMEDIATELY captured by Ms. Ashley's "drawing" of this unique "tortured hero."

Beth comes from a life of an aristocratic mother married to a father who "claimed" high birth, but alas was basically a confidence man. Her mother endured hardship until her death, wherein Beth found herself permanently ensconsed in the workhouse in London's East end; not an easy life to say the least. She narrowly avoided prostitution and/or starvation as a child, to survive when the community vicar fell in love with her as a young woman and her particular personality and demeanor, rescuing her from the slums. She loved her life and Thomas, but her destiny didn't lie there when Thomas succombed to an early death and once again fate intervened and she was embraced by a local "lady of means," Mrs. Barrington, as a hired companion. Upon Mrs. Barrington's death, to Beth's great surprise, she was the sole heir to her estate, and Beth was willed Mrs. Barrington's home, servants and a more than comfortable means of support.

At this point it becomes hard to describe all the nuances of how Ian and Beth "collide." Ian's characteristics of Autisim play a huge part in how he relates/finds/rescues Beth from an almost disasterous engagement, and that's where the story really begins. And OH WHAT TRULY A "LOVE" STORY IT IS!

Some reviewers have a bit of trouble "identifying" with a hero like Ian because of his very unconventional inability to "relate" to people (a bit of irony there do you think?!). Granted, I give some readers leeway when it comes to the basic need to psychologically analyze Ian's shortcomings. Some readers will just never be able to "empathize" (NOT "sympathize) with Ian's lack of his own understanding of identifying "emotion." (If you don't readily differentiate between those two words while reading this review ... don't read this book because you probably won't enjoy it.)

Ms. Ashley not only does an extreme justice to the subject matter, but she slowly builds a believeable love story between Ian and Beth, without denegrading or rushing the emotions of the hero (impossible if one would want to pull this off). Beth was his perfect foil in the description of her upbringing and how it may have provided her with unique gifts to be "ABLE" to fall in love with Ian. Conversely, I still had no problems being patient with he hero, only praying as a "romance book" that there wouldn't be any depressing "surprises" at the end to damper the experience. We ALL know that is a great balance of story. I felt she pulled it off seamlessly! :)

The book has wonderful secondary characters (and, like many others have noted, I would be shocked if she wasn't blatantly building a series here). That said, I'm RELIEVED to know I'll be revisiting the MacKenzies, even though Ian and Beth shared perhaps a bit more of the stage with them than others may have wanted. For me, it didn't take away from their love story at all (it was written SO darn well). In fact, I can't wait for Mac and Isabella's book (even though many are on tenterhooks for a love story for the powerful Duke, Hart!) And Cam and his son Daniel ... yes, Ashley deserves credit (not complaints for her ability to engage the reader to an entire cast of characters while maintaining the main protagonists story with so much depth and originality!!

What more can I say?! Read this book for yourself with all the above thoughts to ponder! MOST of you will fall in love and be eagerly anticipating a revisit with the family. This is going to be a future "claim to fame"/breakout novel for Jennifer Ashley!
K.

Solidly R rated to NC-17; graphic love scenes, if less "graphically" worded (basically extremely steamy without crude wording); more than average number of sexual scenes; not recommended for anyone younger than 18 years of age ... yet done with extreme depth of story and class! That's a "first" for me on a "reader advisory! ;)

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Jun 12, 2010 Stacey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

I have to say that I really enjoyed this book. I LOVED the MacKenzie family. Its not always that one of your main characters are so flawed but in this book, I thought that Ian was perfect. I enjoyed the storyline, the attraction both the characters had for one another and the ending i thought was a tear jerker! Even better there was an epilogue that gives us a sneak peak into there future! This book was a good read from start to finish. i would reccommend this book and am definitely going to rea ...more

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Mar 04, 2010 Amelia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-romance, library

Utterly fantastic!

I picked this up right after reading another historical romance (which was blah), thinking it would be mediocre as most of the historicals I've been reading lately...... I was wrong.

This book sucked me in by the first sentence. I was amazed at how different a hero was created with Ian Mackenzie. He goes against the norm, but it only makes me love him all the more! Ian's outlook on the world was humorous and heartbreaking all at once. Seeing him fall in love with Beth was beaut ...more

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