Review for The Devil’s Heart (The Chattan Curse #3) by Cathy Maxwell

TITLE: The Devi’s Heart
SERIES: The Chattan Curse #3
AUTHOR: Cathy Maxwell
PUBLICATION DATE: April 30, 2013
PUBLISHER: Avon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
PAGES: 384 pages
FORMAT: E-ARC
SOURCE: Edelweiss
RATING: 4 stars

Lady Margaret Chattan is her family’s last hope. Both her brothers are on the cusp of succumbing to the Chattan curse and the is determined to break the curse and save them before it is too late. With this goal in mind, she sets off for Loch Awe, the ancient home of Fenella, the witch that cursed their family. Heath Macnachtan believes Margaret to be crazy, but she offers a fair amount of money for him to assist her and with their dire straits, he cannot refuse. But the more he helps Margaret, the more he sees that maybe she isn’t crazy and there really is the spirit of a witch out to get her family. Are they strong enough to break the curse?

I think this has been the most disappointing historical romance series I have ever read. It isn’t terribly bad, it just isn’t amazing and since I know Cathy Maxwell can write epic love stories, I can’t help but feel overwhelmingly depressed. I guess I can applaud her for trying something new, but this series definitely proves to be that historical romance and paranormal romance just shouldn’t mix. I’m sure there is someone out there who can write amazing paranormal historical romances, but this just wasn’t it.

This novel (this whole series, really) has one shining moment and that is the characters. I genuinely liked all the main characters and despite the whole paranormal nonsense, I wished happy endings for them all. I especially loved Heath, which is why this one gets four stars. Strong and stubborn and trying his damnedest to keep his family feed and out of debtor’s prison, he knows that this farming life wasn’t meant for him but can’t bring himself to give up his birthright. Margaret was an interesting character who I didn’t love, but I liked her well enough and could definitely see why Heath fell for her so hard.

A big part of my issue was the plot. In this book especially, but the whole series in general, it just felt a bit ludicrous with the whole curse. Then end of this book particularly just felt lackluster, like she didn’t know how to end it, so she just wrote the first thing that came to mind and marked it as finished. I think people who enjoy paranormal romance may like this, but for all those Cathy Maxwell fans out there, just beware because this isn’t up to her normal standards.

****Thank you to Avon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, for providing me with an eARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review****

Review for The Scottish Witch (The Chattan Curse #2) by Cathy Maxwell

TITLE: The Devi’s Heart
SERIES: The Chattan Curse #2
AUTHOR: Cathy Maxwell
PUBLICATION DATE: October 30, 2012
PUBLISHER: Avon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
PAGES: 389 pages
FORMAT: E-ARC
SOURCE: Edelweiss
RATING: 3 stars

Portia Mclean is long past the years of debutante balls and searching for marriage. Her time for that has passed and since her father left their small family with absolutely nothing to live on when he died, they have moved to Scotland, where life is a bit cheaper and maybe they can find someone who is willing to marry her beautiful, but penniless, sister. Portia works hard to keep the financially stable, which is a difficult feat when her mother refuses to accept they are too poor to waste money on fancy dresses when the landlord is demanding rent or they’ll be thrown out. Harry Chattan is on a mission. He must find a way to break the Chattan curse and save his brother, who is fading fast. Whenever a Chattan male falls in love, he dies. Not instantly, but usually within 6 months, he is buried and he cannot tolerate the idea of burying his brother. He thinks he has finally found Fenella in Scotland, but later learns it was simply a girl masquerading as her to get money. But he becomes so captivated by this imposter that he can’t leave and he’s convinced that this girl really can help.

It’s as difficult for me to write this review as it was for the first book in this series. Generally, when I read a HR from an author I’ve enjoyed, I love them. There is rarely a case where I just don’t love it and this is the second book in a row that it has happened with. I had so many issues with this. The characters were fine for the first half of the novel and then it’s like when Portia and Harry finally got together, everything went to hell. Portia went from being headstrong to blindly following Harry. Harry went from being a one night stand guy to having multiple clandestine meetings with the same woman. Even Portia’s mother changes, going from a stubborn woman with interests only for herself to appearing to truly care about her children’s happiness.

The plot was entirely predictable. You could see where it was going from page one, which isn’t normally a complaint for HR because with all of them, you know the hero and the heroine will end up together at the end, that’s always a given, but this one was even more so. Another issue I had was with the first time Harry and Portia have sex. It read less like consensual fornicating and more like rape. They just start making out and then suddenly they are fucking. He gives Portia no real warning and there is barely any foreplay. I mean, I get that Harry felt a sense of need and urgency, but he had to know that Portia was innocent and that she wouldn’t realize the implications of what she was doing or what his intentions were until after the fact. It just felt wrong.

Really, this novel isn’t all that bad, which is why it gets three stars, but I just didn’t love it. I’m going to finish this series, but I don’t have overly high hopes for the final book. Thus far, I am highly disappointed in this series and I cannot believe that cliffhangers are invading this section of fiction. I thought they were better than that…..maybe I was wrong.

****Thank you to Avon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, for providing me with an eARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review****

Review for Lyon’s Bride (The Chattan Curse #1) by Cathy Maxwell

TITLE: Lyon’s Bride
SERIES: The Chattan Curse #1
AUTHOR: Cathy Maxwell
PUBLICATION DATE: April 24, 2012
PUBLISHER: Avon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
PAGES: 372 pages
FORMAT: Paperback
SOURCE: Library
RATING: 3 stars

Neal Chattan, Lord Lyon, is cursed. Centuries ago, his ancestor promised to marry a girl, Rose, then reneged on the promise and the girl committed suicide. As punishment for this crime, the Rose’s mother cursed his family. Whenever a Chattan male falls in love, he dies. Every member of his father’s family has succumbed to this curse and he is determined to never fall prey to it, but he desperately wants kids. Enter Thea Martin, a matchmaker. She is hired to find Chattan a bride that he could never love, but when she sees its Neal she’s to work for, she promptly refuses. Neal had been a childhood friend who walked out on her with no warning. Thea quickly realizes that she has no other choice than to help him because there aren’t many options for respectable work for a widow and her sons must be provided for. She starts the hunt for a respectable bride for Neal and, as you can imagine, the two grow closer. But is Neal willing to risk his life for the possibility of love with Thea?

I really am at a loss for words with this novel. I generally try to keep my historical romances and my paranormal romances separate, so I’m not overly excited about the idea of a mythical curse, but since I’ve read HR with a bit of magic before, I thought why the hell not? I have always loved Cathy Maxwell’s work in the past so this shouldn’t be any different. I was somewhat right. The storyline drew me in pretty quickly, though not the witchy parts. What got me was the childhood friends who were separated and are now reunited. I usually hate drama, but I love the confrontation that comes from childhood separations that leave one or both parties confused. Thea’s back-story especially captivated me because I also love heroines who rebel against their families and she definitely did that when she married far below herself. Even Neal was a sweet and interesting character who’s instantly adoration for Thea’s sons had me falling head over heels.

But I just couldn’t love this novel. Neal jumps too quickly over the fence on the whole “I can’t fall in love or I’ll die” argument. One minute he’s terrified of it and the next he’s throwing caution to the wind and marrying Thea. The romance bits felt a bit rushed. Then there is the cliffhanger.




I have never in my entire goddamn life read a historical romance with a cliffhanger and I can’t say that this came as a pleasant surprise. I spent my entire high school career hiding romance novels in my text books so I could read during class and never once did I stumble upon a fucking cliffhanger, NEVER. Neal and Thea’s story has a sort of ending, but the curse is still looming over Neal’s head so nothing was really solved. This novel definitely would have gotten 4 stars if not for that ending, but I can’t fucking overlook that or forget my complete disappointment. Do I recommend it to historical romance fans? Absolutely, just prepare yourself for the fact that it’s not going to be tied into a nice little bow for you at the end and you’ll need the next two books on hand so you can find out exactly what happens next.