It’s a real pleasure today to be joining the blog tour for the latest book from Lisa Hobman, Coming Home to the Highlands, and sharing my review. Published on 4th April by Boldwood Books, it’s now available for kindle (just 99p, or free via Kindle Unlimited), in paperback, and as an audiobook. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my advance reading copy (provided via netgalley).
Should I run through that list of Lisa’s lovely books that I’ve shared so many times before? Ok, I’ll let you off this time – but if you enter her name into the search bar on the right hand side of the page, you’ll find quite a few reviews. Her books have made me very much want to visit Skye, which I’ve particularly fallen for (as well as for several of her heroes…) – but wherever her stories are based, I unfailingly enjoy her Scottish settings and her wonderful stories of second chances and starting over. Her writing just gets better and better, and I really loved her last book, Together Under A Snowy Skye – the perfect Christmas touch, the lovely friendships, plenty of drama, and a romance I really believed in (you’ll find my review here). But this time it’s New York and the world of fashion, then to Drumblair Castle in the Highlands – and I was looking forward to every moment…
Sometimes life is full of surprises, especially when you least expect them…
Born into the Scottish Clan MacBain and the 17th century ancestral home, Drumblair Castle, Liv MacBain has always dreamed of leaving the ancient homestead and becoming her own person in the world of fashion.
From a young age, she worshipped the trailblazing designs of the haute couture glitterati, hoping one day to join them.
With older brother Kerr, the rightful heir, Liv has been free to spread her wings.
Fast forward. Liv, is now 28 years old, working at a high-end fashion house and living her dream life in New York. She’s never been happier.
Until everything changes with one devastating phone call from her brother, Kerr, that brings her rushing back to Scotland.
Old friends and adversaries resurface and Liv faces a difficult decision that could mean her dream future can no longer be a reality.
Or can you have your castle and your career?
I do seem to have read more than a few books set around castles in the Highlands recently – perhaps it’s a sign that I really do need to plan a long overdue visit next year. But this book opens in New York, where Olivia has built a highly successful career as a fashion designer, on the verge of becoming second-in-command to her mentor Nina Piccaro – until she receives an appallingly insensitive call from her brother Kerr with news of her beloved mother’s death, and travels home to Drumblair for the funeral and winding up of the estate. Her brother already has major changes planned – he doesn’t share her passion for their heritage, focused only on the money – and she’s resigned to the fact that it will all be frittered away. But things don’t quite turn out that way, her mother having made her own plans for the future – and Olivia finds herself with difficult choices to be made and a future that might look rather different from the one she’d expected.
One of the joys of this book is the friendships – Nina and Harper in New York, Skye and Bella in the Highlands, all particularly well-drawn characters. Uncle Innes proves to be a rock too, and I particularly liked housekeeper Mirren who shows her such tender care through the grief of her loss. The less said about brother Kerr the better – he really is quite appalling, and a constant thorn in her side. But then there’s Brodie – her childhood friend, their relationship mislaid in their teens when he became involved with a different crowd who made her life rather a misery, now back at Drumblair to help his father with the maintenance of the grounds after Kerr summarily dismissed the other staff. He’s gorgeous, but there’s little chance of him becoming a love interest – he’s now married, his wife at home in Edinburgh, and she’s not sure she’s entirely forgiven him for that youthful betrayal. But he’s a man with secrets – a difficult situation very sensitively handled, and a serious note amid the lightness of the story. Owain, laird-to-be, looks like a far more suitable prospect for romance – even if his parents’ enthusiasm for a match might be a touch off-putting – but he doesn’t really make her heart race, and might just have a few deeply hidden secrets of his own.
The book’s romance is beautifully handled, but there’s a lot more to the story – it’s difficult not to go into some of the twists and turns, but I really don’t want to spoil it for others. The author is an excellent storyteller, and has a lovely emotional touch – she really captures Olivia’s grief at her mother’s death, her worries and uncertainties when her future role becomes mapped out, and her joy when the pieces begin to fall into place. The detail is really lovely too – the well-drawn setting, the set pieces and occasions, the adorable dogs who thread through the story, the perfect musical accompaniment the author gives all her books. While there is a touch of darkness, and a few issues that need resolution, this was a relatively light and rather lovely read I’d very much recommend to others.
About the author
Lisa Hobman has written many brilliantly reviewed women’s fiction titles – the first of which was shortlisted by the RNA for their debut novel award. In 2012 Lisa relocated her family from Yorkshire to a village in Scotland and this beautiful backdrop now inspires her uplifting and romantic stories.
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Newsletter sign up | Bookbub
