Today we are visiting Scotland again in the Scottish Escapes series, A Scottish Country Escape by Julie Shackman. It was published by One More Chapter on March 16th. You can read my reviews of others in the series here: A Secret Scottish Escape. | A Scottish Highland Surprise | The Cottage in the Highlands
Escape to the Scottish Highlands with a brand new spring
romance from bestselling author, Julie Shackman
*Julie Shackman’s brand new romance The Cottage in the
Highlands is exclusively available on First Reads for November*
Determined to overcome a family tragedy, Elle Cassidy
decides to reopen her late mother’s ailing newsagent as a stationery shop in
the quiet Scottish town of Fir Haven.
But when the arrogant yet handsome crime writer Dexter
Grayling almost runs over Elle in his beast of a sports car, the town is thrown
into a tailspin – especially when Dexter claims that local resident Linda
Carlucci has put a curse on him and he is no longer able to write.
Can Elle put aside her dislike for the self-absorbed writer
and help Dexter uncover what is really going on with the Carlucci family? And
in the process will Elle realise that there’s a lot more to her beloved Fir
Haven than she first thought…
For fans of Donna Ashcroft, Jane Linfoot and Rachael Lucas.
My Thoughts
I enjoyed this trip to the Scottish Highlands. The community emerged as a close knit one and it is clear that Elle has got a lot of support from the locals following the tragedy in her family. Although she is grieving, Elle is at the stage where she is ready to start something positive and has decided what she wants to do about the family business. I enjoyed her relationship with her grandmother who has a great sense of mischief but who obviously cares about her granddaughter.
Dexter is a slightly mysterious character at first and he is difficult to work out initially. Although there is always a sense that a romance is brewing, the story is also reminiscent of a cozy crime to me. I think this was not just because of the village setting, but also because of how the characters interacted and the solving of the mystery dominated the story. Friendship and family encourage Elle throughout as she restarts her life.
In short: an uplifting story of romance with a mystery at the centre
About the Author
Julie Shackman is a former journalist from Scotland, who has
always wanted to write feel-good romance. As well as being an author, Julie
also writes verses and captions for greetings card companies.
She admits to having an obsession with stationery and
handbags and has an impressive pile of gorgeous To Be Read novels she is wading
her way through.
She is married, has two sons and a Romanian rescue puppy,
Cooper. A Scottish Country Escape and The Christmas Highland Lodge are Julie’s
eighth and nineth novels respectively.
You can follow Julie here: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Book links: Amazon UK | Amazon US
Thanks to Julie Shackman, One More Chapter and Rachel of Random Things Resources for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.
Check out the rest of the tour!
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