This unfortunately wasn’t for me. It’s definitely a case of “it’s not you, it’s me”. I honestly just couldn’t get to grips with these characters and found myself disliking Alisdair, even though there were definitely parts about him that I really liked. I also didn’t much care for Isabel — all in all, the whole spectrum of characters just fell really flat for me and I’m immensely sad about it.

I do love the addition of Scottish heritage and little Scottish elements here and there - I really loved that about this book! That was definitely a lot of fun.

I found that the plot was intricate and interesting enough to keep me hooked which is also a winner. I finished this book relatively quickly because the plot was tugging me in and refusing to release me. It was a captivating plot and really fascinating to read — it was just the characters that missed the mark unfortunately!

Some more points:
— the writing was great. Not too descriptive or flowery, but not too basic. Definitely didn’t suffer with short sentence syndrome.
— interesting mother daughter dynamic
— fantastic setting!
— brilliant pacing; definitely kept the story moving quickly
— amazingly funny, these two characters get themselves in some fabulous situations and some of the things that happen are laugh out loud worthy!

Overall this was a good read — the writing was great, the plot was good, but the characters were what sank this for me!

I would definitely read something else from this author in the future though and definitely think it’s worth a go. I really do believe that the characters are a personal preference and that others will like them! I feel like I’m missing out on the party but I’m glad to have read this book.

I discovered something about myself while reading this book. I don’t remember which story sometime in the last year had me realizing I don’t enjoy stories with huge lies between the hero and heroine anymore. This story helped me to understand why. There is something Alasdair is keeping from Izzy which has the potential to explode like an atomic bomb. Every time it came up in this story, I would get butterflies…the bad kind. The dread kind. And I just don’t enjoy that feeling at all.

There is a lot about this story that I like. Izzy and Alasdair are both wonderful characters, as are her mom and his uncle. Nobody is malicious in any way. But it’s obvious pretty early on where the biggest conflict will be and it was an annoyance for me. I enjoyed the awkward flirting and sweet relationship Alasdair and Isabel had between them. Then that pesky secret would rear its head and upset me. On one hand, I know there has to be some sort of conflict. On the other hand, I thought there was enough conflict with the smaller secret Alasdair was keeping for his uncle, and the potential of any relationship having to be long distance.

The townspeople are just the right blend of fun, quirky, and nosy. At times I found the world building to be spot on, at others I was wondering if more information would have been a good thing. While I would fall into the story every time I picked up the book, I was drawn to pick up the book when I was doing other things. Yet, overall, I did like this story.

You can find more of my reviews at All In Good Time.