Too Scot to handle

As Burrowes continues her Windham Brides series, following The Trouble with Dukes (2016), Anwen Windham is volunteering at a boys' orphanage and cares passionately for her charges. She knows operating funds are dwindling and wishes she could convince the wealthy board members to contribute. Colin MacHugh is eager to spend more time with the fiery redhead, the sister of his brother Hamish's bride. He helps corral the boys and redirect their energies when they want to return to being thieves on the streets, and even though he runs into all kinds of trouble, he attempts to both raise funds and court Anwen. The talented Burrowes creates a smart, appealing couple in another of her socially conscious, splendidly sexy romances.--Alessio, Amy Copyright 2017 Booklist

Burrowes's second Windham Brides historical (after The Trouble with Dukes) isn't quite Pride and Prejudice, but her bold riff on Jane Austen's famous opening line declares her intent to come close, and she certainly has the pitch just right for a humorous Regency-era novel. Miss Anwen Windham, an Englishwoman who is fiercely protective of those she loves, and Lord Colin MacHugh, a wealthy Scottish distillery owner who's a fish out of water in London, are both do-gooders whose current project is trying to save the House of Wayward Urchins and its incorrigible occupants. Anwen's uncle's sly matchmaking is all the funnier for its subtlety, and Burrowes cleverly hides clues in plain sight that indicate Colin's mentor will become his enemy. But the romance lacks emotional friction between the leads, and no amount of purple prose about Anwen's pink flesh can make up for its absence. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

All former army captain Colin MacHugh wants is to go home to Scotland and his flourishing whiskey business. However, with his brother a newly minted duke, -Colin is now a courtesy lord and expected to take his place in the ton. If only he'd known how tedious simpering, marriageable misses and their predatory mothers and the heedless, unproductive lives of the younger bachelor set could be. Yet Anwen Windham, his new sister-in-law, is anything but boring. She asks for his help in keeping the House of Urchins, an orphanage for disadvantaged boys, from closing, and he agrees-and ends up as intrigued by the savvy, street-wise youngsters as he is by the surprisingly fierce Anwen. Danger from an unexpected source adds an edge of mystery to a romance that pokes fun at the stilted, often frivolous values of society and highlights social issues of the time. VERDICT A take-charge hero and a flame-haired heroine with the gumption to match see that justice is done in this well-plotted, beautifully written story made all the more satisfying by its delightful secondary characters (the urchins are marvelous). Burrowes (The Trouble with Dukes) lives in rural Maryland. © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.