Book Review: All Scot and Bothered by Kerrigan Byrne

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Want to know if All Scot and Bothered by Kerrigan Byrne is worth the read? Here’s my full review to help you decide

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All Scot and Bothered Info

Author: Kerrigan Byrne

Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks

Published: 29 September 2020

Overall Rating: ⅘

Where to buy All Scot and Bothered

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.Org

All Scot and Bothered Summary

They are a dangerous duke, a fierce lord, and an infamous earl—dark, bold, brave men who know exactly what they want. And there is only one woman who can bring them to their knees…

He is first and foremost—at everything. A man who’s made his own way in the world through ruthless cunning and sheer force of will. A strong and imposing Scot who can turn on the charm but does not suffer fools. His title: Lord Chief Justice of the High Court. His name: Cassius Gerard Ramsay. His mission: To investigate the goings-on at London’s most notorious gaming hell, owned and operated by one of the most intriguing and desirable women he’s ever met.

IN THIS GAME OF LOVE, THE RULES DO NOT APPLY

Cecelia Teague was an orphan facing a rather dire future—until a secret benefactor from her mother’s scandalous past swept into her life. Sent to prestigious boarding school and later to university, Cecelia believed high society was at her fingertips…Then, from out of nowhere, she became the inheritor of a gambling establishment. Now Cecelia must live two lives: one as a proper lady who finds herself undeniably drawn to Lord Ramsay and the other as a savvy gaming hell owner trying to save her business from the very same man. He has no idea she is both women…and Cecelia would like to keep it that way. But what happens when consuming passion and escalating danger threaten to reveal the truth?

All Scot and Bothered Review

I love Kerrigan Byrne. I have read almost all of the books I can get my hands on from this author and this book is also one of the books I DEVOURED so much that it left me with an identity crisis.

If you follow me on my many and any of my social media, you will know that I tend to complain about my reading slump.

This book made me question if I have a reading slump or if my brain cells just refuse to read anything that requires effort and this is due to the fact I finished this book within 2 days (technically speaking it was only 1 day when I started reading this book at midnight and finished it the next afternoon, would’ve finished it faster had I not need to work nor the need to sleep).

Another reason why this book has made me question my identity and beliefs is due to the male lead, he is not the easiest to like or love and All Scot and Bothered has revealed that perhaps my favorite trope is the tsundere trope.

Tsundere for those who are unfamiliar with the term is an anime or manga character that switches from being tough and cold towards a love interest into being soft and sweet, only with said love interest.

On to the review lads!

Okay, I should have written this review the moment I finished the book because it’s hard to remember the details of why I enjoyed the book so much because 90% of my memories are just me squealing over the sexual tension between the two leads.

Talking about our two leads in All Scot and Bothered.

I LOVE the main characters, Cecelia and Ramsay, especially Ramsay. His whole demeanor being cold, exacting, and brutal just made his kinder and softer side even more endearing.

I love me a tsundere character!!!

Ramsay to cut the story short at the start of the novel is a misogynist which stems from him being neglected by his mother at a young age and when he was older he was betrayed by a woman he intended to marry.

So, since the two most traumatizing occurrences in his life were done by women he in turn became a full-blown, albeit respectful to the ladies in his life, misogynist.

This is why I say this book made me have an identity crisis because I am a full-blown feminist, GIRL POWER ALL THE WAY, so seeing how I enjoyed a misogynistic character is quite confusing BUT the plot had me weak in the knees when that man changed his ways for the love of his life.

I am a sucker for that trope especially in historical romance, the whole “I CAN CHANGE HIM!”.

I just really like Ramsay, especially when Cecelia was being attacked by men from the Crimson Council because they thought she knew of the ledger that the previous Scarlet Lady kept that had all the names of important people who went to the gambling den and Ramsay came busting in beating the perpetrators to a pulp to save her.

Apparently, I also enjoy the damsel in distress trope.

The one thing I did wish the author included more was to give more explanation as to how bad his mom was to Ramsay, giving us flashbacks instead of having Ramsay tell us.

Show not tell, ya know?

In terms of Cecelia’s character, I like that she is smart and good with numbers and math because I know I ain’t good in math whatsoever.

Another thing I enjoyed about her character was that she calls Ramsay out on his BS attitude and that she has boundaries even if it’s with the man she loves. She tells Ramsay as it is, if he can’t accept every part of her that is important to her then they might not have a future together. I respect that, most probably because I wish I did that in my own love life.

I can’t say much about the atmosphere of All Scot and Bothered because I was too busy being fully immersed in the tension when Ramsay found out that the Scarlet Lady he was investigating was also Cecelia, the same woman he is interested in romantically.

THE SUSPENSE WAS KILLING ME! I was so glad though it didn’t go on for too long because it would’ve been so much harder for Cecelia to convince him that she does care if the ruse did go on for longer.

Kerrigan Byrne’s writing is once again superb, I mean it is quite obvious I enjoyed this book. It was suspenseful then the dialogue and monologue were witty and funny and the sexual tension, MY GOD!

There’s this one scene in the book that did make me laugh, this was the same day Ramsay met Cecelia as the Scarlet Lady and that night they had dinner with the rest of the friends and family. Ceceli doesn’t want to deal with the anxiety of pretending that she doesn’t know what Ramsay wants and feigns a headache BUT Ramsay helps escort her out next thing ya know they’re kissing.

And I am here like “GWORL DIDN’T YOU JUST SAY YOU WANTED TO ESCAPE RAMSAY??? WHAT IS THIS??? DID YOU MEAN ESCAPE INTO HIS ARMS???”

Plot-wise the book was aight’. It’s a very typical historical romance but what stuck to me was the plot twist at the end (at least the first one not so much the second)! I was shook! I will not put any spoilers here but I enjoyed the first plot twist because it made Ramsay re-think his principles.

Overall, I highly enjoyed the book. Definitely recommend although if you do not like misogynistic men who will change albeit slowly as the male lead then definitely do not recommend it.

Character: 6/10

Atmosphere: 6/10

Writing: 7/10

Plot: 7/10

Intrigue: 9/10

Logic: 8/10

Enjoyment: 10/10

More books by Kerrigan Byrne

About Kerrigan Byrne

Quoted from Kerrigan Byrne’s website:

“Kerrigan Byrne is the UA Today Bestselling and award-winning author of several novels in both the romance and mystery genre.”

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