Title: Surprises on the Scottish Isle
Author: Lilac Mills
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Source: Rachel’s Random Resources
Blurb: Will they get a second chance at first love? When newly divorced Tara McTaigh spots an advert for a studio to let in Castle Coorie’s craft centre, she packs up her Edinburgh life and moves to the Isle of Skye, eager for a fresh start.
Little does she know that the castle’s estate manager, single dad Calan Fraser, is the man who broke her heart back at university.
Thoroughly done with romance, Tara decides to ignore Cal and focus on building her business – creating dollhouses to commission. But Duncoorie is a small community, and the two keep bumping into each other…
Just as she is starting to open her heart once more to Cal, a change in his life puts everything on the line. When a surprise storm threatens Tara’s safety, will Cal realise in time that love is worth the risk?
Review: Fairly standard contemporary romance: two divorced people who, having previously been in a relationship, meet up years later. Her, bitter and childless, him with a kid and a nasty ex-wife. Lots of misunderstandings, nasty wife being nasty, and so on. What lifts this a little is the drop-dead gorgeous setting – who could resist a craft emporium set in a Scottish castle?
I really loved the secondary characters in this story; Mhairi and Jinny at the craft centre, and Calan’s daughter, Bonnie. They were varied and individual, and brought so much life to the pages. I found Tara very relatable as well and, as a divorced woman, I loved how she grabbed the reins of her life.
Cal, though. Good grief, I wanted to shake some sense into him! And his flaming ex-wife! Honestly, if the nasty ex-wife trope was yeeted into the sun tomorrow, it wouldn’t be a day too soon. I am SO over it, and I suppose that my dislike does colour this review somewhat.
However, that isn’t my biggest peeve. There is so, SO much tell in this story that it drags the pacing down. It was a struggle to get through all the paragraphs of it, and I kept putting the book down out of boredom.
Which is a real shame, as I think there is a great tale in here somewhere. The settings are beautifully wrought and the secondary characters give great depth. It’s just the telling that bogs everything down.
Thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources, and to the author, for the opportunity to read and review this.
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