Elaine CoffmanCritiques

8467122471

I would have only given the book 3.5 stars if the choice was available. I loved the storyline but there was a lot of conversations that didn't happen that I feel needed to happen. I just finished the book so the first one that comes to mind is the fact that Elisabeth never once had a conversation with Ronan while she was staying in his home.

This is book 3..but not really book 3. Since it's all about book 2 and 3. Book 1 is about a distant ancestor. Those are connected, but book 3 can still be read as a stand alone. We hear that Elizabeth has been brought back in time and her story to love begin. Book 2 was about her sister and Elizabeth wasn't really in it as she had been kidnapped. But this then is her book.

A highlander book, do I need to say more? A hot hunky highlander who wants to sweep our heroine off her feet. He is a bit brooding too as he has to take over as Earl. the heroine is totally different, but then she is a modern woman who wants to practice medicine just as she did back home. And she speaks her mind, she is also a bit heartbroken, but then the best cure for that is of course said hunky highlander.

The lovestory does not happen at once, it actually has to grow a bit first (even if he totally wants her from day 1 ;) But she takes her time.

If I have to say anything negative it would be that sometimes she thought too much, and I did not need to know about the proverb in her head right now, or that she has no antibiotics, yeah, we get that. But that is not much in the end.

Conclusion:
All in all a good lovestory about a modern woman and a 16th century Highlander. They clash, and there is passion.

This one turned out okay for me, but there were moments in the first third of the book where some of the conversations seemed rushed, corny, cringe-worthy, and unbelievable for the amount of time these two knew each other. It was awkward at times. Another factor that bothered me a little but I let it go because it didn't happen all that often and the personalities of the characters were very different, was there were striking similarities to Gabaldon's Outlander series: the main character is named Jamie, he gets his left hand crushed by a mallet in prison, there's an evil English dude who captures the heroine, there's a lot of talk of Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Jacobite cause, etc. It was distracting because this book was published after the other very successful book series, so similarities seem more glaring. Coffman did a good job tying up the pieces at the end and finished the story off strong.

rabck from Valentina1209; in Playing with Fire, Susan's friends take her to a ranch for her 40th birthday and she accidentally lights up neighbor Wyatt's ranch with fireworks; In Summer Fling, Anne and Adam have loved each other since college, but then during one shared vacation, the embers burn into passion; In One Star Spangled Night, Alison on vacation in Yorktowne finds herself back in a Colonial battle with handsome Richard; In Showers and Sparks, GJ gets ticketed and appears in Zach's court, and he starts pursuing the lovely lady.

rabck from Valentina1209; Good for this month's release challenge, but stories really written poorly and trying to push the envelope to make them relate to Christmas (although they don't really relate to Santa, Holidays or Babies). Not a very good anthology

Liked it a lot

AUTHOR: I found Elaine Coffman a long winded writer. Too much description slows down a book when there is very little dialogue and interaction between characters.

SETTING: 18th century, Northumberland England, Beloyn Castle Scotland

GENRE: Historical romance

CENTRAL FEMALE CHARACTERS: Meleri has a temper. She speaks her mind and maybe criticizes too much. She sees and hears things that no one else can see or hear.
CENTRAL MALE CHARACTER: Robert is a man of very few words and blames the English for his misery and the death of his beloved sister.

SYNOPSIS: She is engaged to Phillip, a man she does not want due to his violent tendencies. She must escape before he gets a hold of her dowry. The King of England has given Robert little time to find an English wife. She stumbles over him while making her escape and he realizes that she will resolve his dilemma. She is taken to his castle in Scotland where she meets one of his haunting relatives. Phillip is hunting her down.

WHAT I LIKED: The plot would have made a great story if there was more interaction between characters.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE: Boring reading. By the time that I got to page 192 I thought to myself, “Please hurry up and get married and put me out of my misery”. Marriage issue was overkill

I give this book (2) stars for author effort.

To review

To review

I have always loved a good timetravel story, sometimes time travel stories can be so predictable but The Return of Black Douglas by Elaine Coffman was different. For starters, not only was Isobella sent back in time but so was her sister Elizabeth with the help of the ghost of Black Douglas who is a matchmaking ghost. The story was a fun and easy read and the characters so real that they could have stepped right out of a portrait...oops that is what happened to Black Douglas. The setting was in the 16th century between two clans who have their own conflicts with each other and the arrival of the sisters only enhance the conflicts. This is a great romance story, sure to make you smile at the end. If you love a great well told story than you will love this one. Full of handsome Highlanders, including the brogue, a pure escapist story. I enjoyed it..

I would like to start by saying that I love time travel books. To love time travel books one has to be able to let reality go. 'Cause time travel just doesn't happen. Nor do paintings come to life or any of the other things that tend to happen in this genre of novel. But that doesn't mean that the book can't still be grounded in some semblance of its own reality. The world outside of the time travel still has to make sense for the book to work. And that is where this book let me down.

The tale starts with the visit of twins Isobella and Elizabeth Douglas to Scotland to explore their ancestors. One of them is the famous "Black Douglas." Isobella has studied Celtic history and she wanted to know more about the past of her family. She had also just been dumped by her fiance; he ran off with their dance instructor! She wanted a Darcy but didn't think she'd ever find one in modern times. She felt she was born hundreds of years too late.

Erm, we all know what happens next, right? Both Isobella and Elizabeth are sent back into the past by their ancestor The Black Douglas to the 16th century. A bit before Mr. Darcy to say the least.

While I liked the characters and I enjoyed Ms. Coffman's writing there were just too many stupid plot points that spoiled the book for me. I don't want to go into them in detail because I don't want to ruin the book for anyone that reads it. Things that were obvious to the reader that just were ignored by the characters. Again, I realize that these books are inherently fantastic but there must be some sense of protocol. For example: The hero finds the two girls from the future in a field wearing 21st century clothing. He captures one of them but doesn't search her bag even though he thinks her a spy? Makes no sense...

This is just one of many small little things that helped to distract me from totally enjoying the story.

THE RETURN OF BLACK DOUGLAS by Elaine Coffman is an exciting time-travel romance set present day and 151 Scotland.What a delightful story of old and new mixing,ghosts of old,and finding your soul mate even if it is three hundred year in the making. When Isobella Douglas visit old Scotland with her twin sister,Elisabeth they are transported to 16th century Scotland by the mischievous Black Douglas' ghost. While Black Douglas are Isobella and Elisbeth ancient ancestors he is also devious,believes in love,fate and determined the girls will be happy in their new surroundings. When Isobella and Elisabeth are dropped in the middle of a clan skimish,Isobella is saved by Alysandir,the clan Mackinnon chief,while Elizabeth is carted off by the Maclean clan.Alysandir has harden his heart by a marriage gone wrong,and rules his clan with an iron fist.He suspects Isobella is a spy,for she is not only in strange clothes but also speaks strangely. As Alysandir's heart softens toward Isobella,for she is intriguing,infuriating,sexy,beautiful, and intelligent,he is also dealing with the fact of a son he does not
acknowlege,from is annuled marriage and hurt of so long ago.In the meantime Isobella has fallen head over heels in love with him not knowing her future or her sister's future.The more Alysandir and Isobella are together the more they become attached.Isobella will realize this is her future as will Alysandir realize that this strange,adorable woman is his future.This is a fast paced story of time-travel full of romance,sweet sensuality,learning from the past,finding the future in the strangest places and true love.This is a must read for all time-travel,romance,and historical readers.There is a little something for everyone.I can hardly wait for the next installment,for we still have to find out what happens to Elisabeth.This book was received for the purpose of review from the publisher and details can be found at Sourcebooks,Casablanca,a imprint of Sourcebooks,Inc. and My Book Addiction Reviews.

My thoughts:

Sometimes the Scottish accent works and sometimes not. This time it worked for me and I do think I know the reason. The Hero had his accent, the heroine not, so it was never too much. Which I am glad for since it can be pretty hard sometimes to understand.

To the book then, it was sweet and fun. Isobella Douglas is visiting Scotland and soon she and her sister stands in a battlefield. Ok at the side, and they watch some handsome, really handsome highlanders fight each other. Every woman's dream (the hunky guys in kilts, not the fighting). Elizabeth is soon gone and then we have our hero and heroine, Isobella is a modern woman and she will let no man tell her what to do. But she is falling for Alysandir who do not want a woman again after being hurt. And Elizabeth knows that a mistress is of no worth. Alysandir did have some moments where I just shook my head. But then you saw it so much better in this book because they were from different times. But I was also sure that the heroine could transform him.

These two are slowly falling in love, Isobella wants help getting her sister back, and then she discovers a neglected child and takes the child under her wings. There is also a big question hanging in the air, will The Black Douglas suddenly come and take her back home, what if she wants to stay?



And the best of all, I know I always come back to my oh no! She is ruined bit, but here I did not care since this was a modern woman, so she could just do as she pleased ;)

Conclusion:

I finished this book rather fast because it was easy and fun. A good highland romance with a couple that is nothing alike.

Rating:

A fast read

I have to say, that I liked 3 out of 4 of these, even though they we very different. I had a lot of trouble with the one where the single mom moves in next to the psychiatrist. I didn’t buy the characters, and the way they got together in the end made if feel forced. Over all it was good light reading that passed the time quickly and pleasantly.½

Well, this is the first Coffman book I've read and it will be absolutely be the last. I can't stress enough how bad it is.

Badly plotted -- the clues were dropped like anvils.
(I wanted to be sure they weren't red herrings, so when I gave up halfway through the book I checked before I threw it away. Yep. "Clues.")

Badly written -- fiction isn't expository writing. USE A CONTRACTION ONCE IN A WHILE! The writing was so stilted it was almost unreadable. Especially when it came to conversations. Who says "when one finds one's self in a hole, one should stop digging?" No one. (I don't remember if this was the expression, but numerous times in places where a real person would say "you", her characters said "one.")

Whatever you do, don't waste your money on this book.½