BookReview: To Scotland with Love by Karen Hawkins

Hi guys,
if you've read my last review then you already know that this one is about the second book in the series of the Maclean curse. I don't know why I decided to read this one since I didn't really like How to Abduct a Highland Lord. Well, in all honesty it was because it was short and really easy to read, and although I'm very much behind with my reading challenge I still haven't given up.

GoodReads Summary:

In this saucy battle of the sexes, bestseller Karen Hawkins pits a hard-headed Scottish lord with an unusual family curse against a headstrong heiress who has a solution for every problem...except her own wayward heart.

When Lord Gregor MacLean learns his childhood friend, Venetia Oglivie, has been abducted by a fortune hunter, he rides off to Scotland in hot -- and very annoyed -- pursuit. Venetia's soft heart has gotten her in major trouble this time: if he doesn't rescue her swiftly, the scandal will ostracize the provocative wench!

The only sensible member of her family, Venetia is sure she can fix any problem, even this one. So when an irate Gregor catches up with her, arrogantly expecting a hero's welcome, the sparks between them begin to fly. Then an unexpected snowstorm traps them at an inn, and Gregor discovers his feelings for the lovely Venetia are far warmer than he realized -- fiery enough to burn down the inn! Now if he can only convince Venetia that his motive for marriage isn't duty... but desire.

Not having high expectation helped but this book still missed somehow to be a pleasant surprise.
In the summary it's mentioned "saucy battle of the sexes", which in my opinion is an exaggeration as I didn't really see such thing, it was more of an argument here and there, but it was driven by Venitia and Gregor's own traits of character and not because it was some universal row between women and men.
Venitia and Gregor have known each other their whole life, which I think was a big plus to the story and it was entertaining to see how Gregor began noticing her as a woman and not as the child she was when they met. This probably wasn't part of the book's theme (actually I don't think romantic novels have themes, I see them more as fun stories) but it made me think how often we remain with the first image of someone, but we fail to notice that they've changed.
The curse in this one is also more present and without it the plot would have been very different. I didn't mention it in the review about the first book, because it didn't feel relevant to the story. Basically, the curse is that if member of the MacLean clan gets angry the weather turns to shit. In Gregor's case it starts snowing. And that's how Venitia, Gregor and a bunch of other characters find themselves snowed in an inn. There were some interesting supporting lines, but the majority of the plot was the sexual tension that was building up between Venitia and Gregor.
Again most of the problem was that Venitia was arrogant, stubborn and someone that could make you scream about the decision she makes. I mean there's the endearing silliness and the "come on, all ready" foolishness, and with Venitia it was the latter. She somehow got it in her head that she had to fix everyone's problems even when she doesn't understand a thing about the situation, which thankfully by the end of the book she realized with Gregor's help.
The book had a lot of potential but again just like the first one it seems the ending isn't Hawkins' strong suit - it was abrupt, everything somehow ended happily and it just wasn't satisfactory.