The Troublemaker, the second in Rexanne Becnel’s “Maker” series introduces us to Marshall MacDougal and Sarah Palmer. Sarah, the youngest of the 3 half-siblings we were introduced to in The Matchmaker. I should admit up front that I had trouble warming up to this book!

Sarah is a conflicted, spoiled girl who seems to attract trouble. She tries to elope with a fortune hunter at the beginning of the book. Her brother stops the elopement and her family send her to Scotland to spend some time with her sister and wait out the scandal. When she arrives in Scotland she discovers that her sister and family are away for a month but she decides to stay by herself at the house. The long-time servants apparently decide to do nothing about this situation.

Marshall (Marsh) MacDougal was born in American and grows up thinking that his father is dead. He finds out upon his mother’s death that he may have a father alive and well in Kelso, Scotland and he heads off to find him. Marsh is determined to make his father pay for all the years of abandonment. When he arrives in Scotland, he discovers his father is long dead and turns his anger to trying to prove he is the true heir.

Although I liked the end of this story there were too many problems with the actual story line. Sarah starts the story as a spoiled little brat, but quickly does an about face and decides to put her family first and protect them against Marsh’s efforts. Marsh is too full of angst. He is rude and overbearing. Not a particularly appealing hero. The conflict between Marsh and Sarah seem to just go away when he discovers that he really is the true heir and he isn’t going to tell anyone. Maybe Sarah just saw positive things in Marsh that the rest of us didn’t! In future books he is an appealing character, I just didn’t find him to be so in this book - too conflicted.

Not a total loss of a book! Just not my cup of tea! ( )

If you enjoyed Rexanne's other Regency-set book (see above), you'll love these, too. They're not your average family series. The heroines of the first and second books are half-sisters. The hero of the third book is the illegitimate nephew of the hero of the first book. And the upcoming fourth book features the two half-sisters' half-brother. It's less complicated than it sounds, and oh, are these books delicious! ( )

From BackCover:
Troublemaker: one who makes mischief, who torments; a malcontent; a provoker; a firebrand. Someone to avoid at all costs.

A WOMAN RUNNING FROM TROUBLE
Sarah Palmer, a reckless beauty with a penchant for trouble, has enraged her family for the last time with her foiled plan to elope with a fortune hunter. Sent to stay with her married half-sister in the Scottish countryside, Sarah arrives there only to learn that her sister has gone away to Glasgow. With no one to chaperone her, she is immensely relieved at her newfound freedom and vows to redeem herself in the eyes of her family by behaving for once. But she hasn't reckoned on Marshall MacDougal, the most irresistible and troublesome man she has ever met...

A MAN LOOKING FOR TROUBLE
An American surrounded in mystery, Marshall MacDougal has come to Scotland searching for justice--and vengeance. He is captivated by Sarah and she by him, though she tries to resist. But then Sarah discovers that her own mother and half-sister are the targets of Marsh's vengeance. Old secrets, new scandals, and shocking revelations turn seduction into a devious game, where passion has a price... ( )