Rating: 4.5/5 Heat Level: 3.5/5 Pub Date: July 21st

My review:

The most sexually-tense, yearning-fueled road trip romance I have EVER read— road trips romances often tend towards wacky shenanigans and hijinks, and while Just A Highland Fling does have its share of sheep roadblocks and car troubles, it's more quiet, gentle... and achingly tender than you'd imagine.

Neelu is back in Scotland to attend her estranged dad's wedding. There was never any blowup or definitive moment of severed ties between them— they just quietly drifted apart, and vaguely came back into each other's lives a few months earlier. That hurt is very much unresolved, and Neelu accidentally lets slip a not-so-flattering character assessment about her father to his wife-to-be.... who runs out on him at church the next day.

Enter Jacob, the hot stranger she hooked up with the night before, except he isn't a stranger, sees Neelu's dad as a father figure, and is QUITE resentful of Neelu for not being involved in her father's life. Here's the thing: Neelu and Jacob didn't just have a quick, fumbling hook-up; you really got the sense these were two touch-starved, emotionally closed-off people connecting (sad but hot, if that makes sense??) on a deeper level, so there is a sense of betrayal on Jacob's side, while Neelu struggles to convey the kind of complicated relationship she and her father had. BUT that doesn't mean the sexual tension disappears! It ratchets up even as they go on a road trip with her dad to find his runaway bride. Like, I genuinely love that these two don't fight the attraction, only refrain from acting on it during the more inappropriate times (see: dad in the next room lol) and Neelu finally gets a chance to slowly connect with her father.

And I do think the execution comes down to the author writing two believably Grown Adult characters in their thirties who aren't paragons—Neelu is impulsive, Jacob is judgemental, and neither of them really let people in, so for the two of them to find this connection.... well, it was bound to be something special from the start, even if they're convinced it's only temporary, or they're afraid to commit to long-distance. Also, I think it's telling I didn't scream earlier about how Jacob is a HOT SCOTTISH-INDIAN KILTED BAGPIPER AND POETRY PROFESSOR WHO WEARS GLASSES AND SWEATERS WITH ELBOW PATCHES.

The sex:

Yeah this shit is hot. Naina Kumar imbues every sex scene with this erotic longing and DRAWS IT OUT, even though Neelu and Jacob don't take very long to get down to business. He's gruff but gentle, a little take-charge, and Neelu discovers just how much she likes being told what to do, and how much she enjoys pushing his boundaries (shoutout to an excellent clothing store changing room scene).

Overall:

Come for the kilt fetishization, stay for a tender love story that will probably end up being my favorite tradpub contemporary romance of 2026!

Thank you to Ballantine and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Rating: 4.5/5 Heat Level: 3.25/5 Pub Date: July 14th

My review:

This is the sexy paranormal romance-slash-thriller I'm HERE for— I'm actually a huge scaredy cat, but the way Julian slowly but surely seduces you as he seduces Sean, was nothing short of MASTERFUL, even as you're scared of what's to come, but like, in a hot way.

Julian seems almost too good to be true when Sean first meets him at her friend's ex-husband's wedding— he's a younger, uber-hot art gallery owner with Money. And look, Sean is a catch-and-a-half herself; this book doesn't suffer from the lack of a strong heroine POV as some single-POV romances are wont to do for self-insert purposes. Sean is in her thirties and is an established surgeon who sees herself as the rational, pragmatic type. Sean's hang-ups about Julian are less based in insecurity (for age reasons or otherwise), and more in the fact that she's had a shitty experience in the past, and she kind of thought herself above going for a younger man in a time when her colleagues are marrying twenty-somethings... until she does.

Julian coaxes Sean out of her shell with an openness and emotional maturity, not to mention the kind of frank sexuality that has her (and you) REELING. It truly is a fantasy that slowly evolves into something dreamier... and hazier, as Sean starts to forget certain interactions. The eroticism of this unknown, the niggling sense of doubt... and eventually fear, this invokes is stunningly-written by Shirlene Obuobi.

I won't spoil too much, but you can probably guess the flavor of paranormal this romance is— still, despite only getting Sean's POV, Julian isn't consigned to just being a beautiful, tormented monster she has to be Fine with; He's evolving through the book, even though you can barely catch a whiff of a flaw at first, and he ultimately grapples with both morality and mortality where Sean is at risk.

The sex:

I would say the sex is more (not to overuse the word but) erotic than explicit, though it is VERY MUCH open door. It's just very dreamy and almost like... there's a filter? Which adds to the erotic horror of it all.

Thank you to Viking Penguin and NetGalley for the advanced copy.