By Meghan Mazzaferro
Content warning: Trauma-induced flashbacks
Portrait of a Scotsman is the third book in Evie Dunmore’s A League of Extraordinary Women series. These books follow female suffragists in England during the fight for women’s right to vote, and each woman’s struggle to find the balance between their feminism, freedom, and their individual quests for love.
Hattie Greenfield’s only goals in life are to be taken seriously as an artist and to have an epic and tender romance. Unfortunately, her art is constantly dubbed “lovely,” and she finds herself tricked into marriage to Lucian Blackstone, a ruthless financier who seems hell-bent on destroying the peerage. To make matters worse, Lucian is the opposite of the romantic gentleman Hattie always imagined. Suddenly, all her dreams are disappearing in front of her eyes, and Hattie is powerless to stop them.
Hattie doesn’t exactly meet Lucian’s standards either. She’s spoiled, entitled, and naive. But as the daughter of Lucian’s business rival, Hattie is the key to opening doors in upper-class British society that Lucian’s humble upbringing has kept locked until now. Unfortunately, in spite of all the ways these two don’t fit, they can’t seem to resist being drawn to each other, to want each other in ways that are dangerous to both of their goals. Now, forced to spend time together in the Scottish Lowlands, they might have to face the fact that opposites do attract, and passion can sometimes be better than a fairytale.
I don’t know why historical romance books keep surprising me, because all the ones I’ve read so far this year have been amazing! This book is romantic and sexy, but it is also witty and critical, taking the time to develop both the romance between the characters and the political climate and struggles that they exist in. Both Hattie and Lucian have causes they fight for, and they educate each other, and the reader, about the problems that were prevalent in Europe during this period. The book is particularly critical about the Suffragist movement and addresses some of the problems with first-wave feminism. Hattie comes to learn that while her suffragists are doing good work fighting for a women’s right to vote, they need to be conscious of the needs of not just upper-class women, but also the working class, and those minorities who do not have the same goals that the upper-class suffragists initially fought for.
Now, onto the actual plot of the book. While this book isn’t free of the tropes of the romance genre, Portrait of a Scotsman executes the conventions of the genre well. The enemies-to-lovers romance is full of angst, banter, and a gradual growing of trust, all of which are well-explained and justified by the plot. The romance is steamy and passionate, while still respecting the boundaries of the characters; they don’t know if they can trust each other, they’re practically strangers, and in Hattie’s case, she has to unlearn years of conditioning defining what a “proper” lady is and how she should behave. This book takes the time to explore all of that, allowing for a romantic and gradual development of trust and feeling between two polar opposite characters.
If you’re looking for a historical romance book that is angsty and passionate, while also being feminist and progressive, this is definitely the series for you. Portrait of a Scotsman is the first book in the League of Extraordinary Women series that I’ve read, and while I can say that the book is enjoyable to read as a standalone, the cameos of the rest of the League have me convinced that this series will be even more impactful when read in order. I, for one, am on my way to pick up the first two books in the series, and I encourage you to add all three to your TBR if you haven’t already.