ŷ������

3.5 Stars

Overall Opinion: This wasn't quite as good as I had hoped it would be. I didn't dislike it, but I just didn't love it either. The prologue sucked me in right from the start! The girls' friendship was too cute and I was so excited to continue on the story. It has to be one of the best prologues I've read in a while! The friendship amongst the women (and a few of the elders) was definitely the highlight of the story for me. I felt like the romance was off to great start, but then quickly took a backseat to the clan and family drama going on. That was a definite bummer, because I really enjoyed the H at first but he seemed to just fizzle out for me. The ending felt way too abrupt too, and where was my beloved epilogue?!

Brief Summary of the Storyline: This is Judith and Iain story. The meet when Iain is sent to get Judith from England to bring her back to the highlands to help with his sister-in-law's birthing. He is distrustful of the English woman at first, but quickly cannot deny that his initial judgments were too hasty. They quickly are unable to fight their strong attraction to each other, and share a few unexpected kisses. The more time they spend together, the more they cannot deny the pull they feel towards one another and fall in love. There is some clan and family drama, a few sexy times, and some funny moments...and they get a HEA ending.

POV: This alternated between focusing on Judith and Iain in 3rd person narrative.

Overall Pace of Story: Good. The ending did feel abrupt, but otherwise I never skimmed and I thought it flowed well.

Instalove: No, they take a while to develop stronger feelings.

H rating: 3.5 stars. Iain. I loved him at first, but (like I said above) he just fizzled out to me and became kind of ...meh.

h rating: 5 stars. Judith. I loved her! She was awesome! She was strong, smart, funny, and loyal.

Sadness level: Low, no tissues needed

Push/Pull: Yes (view spoiler)[The H pushes away emotionally at times, but I'd say he is still the main pursuer of the relationship. (hide spoiler)]

Heat level: Decent. They have decent tension, chemistry, and scenes -- but not so much it takes away from the story. It could've been better imo 🤷🏻‍♀��

Descriptive sex: Yes

OW/OM drama: No

Sex scene with OW or OM: No

Cheating: No

Separation: No

Possible Triggers: Yes, but mild (view spoiler)[ The h's uncle was an alcoholic and would be verbally and sometimes physically abusive (off page - through mentions), and the h was a virgin. (hide spoiler)]

Closure: This had pretty good closure, but I would've liked a jump ahead glimpse into their future. There was no epilogue, and those that follow my reviews know that doesn't work for me!! I would, however, call this a HEA ending.

How I got it: I got it on loan through my public library and Amazon.

Safety: This one should be Safe for most safety gang readers
(view spoiler)[
- Does Not have cheating
- Does Not have a descriptive sex scene with OW/OM
- Does have the H pushing the h away
- Does Not have a separation between the h and H
- Does Not have abuse by mcs
- Does Not have OTT sad parts
- Does have a HEA ending (hide spoiler)]