Summer at the Highland Coral Beach Published by Hera Books Also in this series: Matchmaking at Port Willow
by Kiley Dunbar
Series: Port Willow Bay #1
on March 27, 2020
Genres: Fiction, Romance, Cultural, Scottish, Women's Fiction
Source: Netgalley
Format: eBook, ARC
Find the Author: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads
Also by this author: Matchmaking at Port Willow, Christmas at the Borrow a Bookshop, The Borrow a Bookshop Holiday
Find the Book: Amazon | Goodreads
Flame Rating:
Rating:
Escape to the Highland Coral Beach – where broken hearts can be healed
Beatrice Halliday needs a break from life. Booking a trip to the Highlands on a whim, Beatrice hopes learning Gaelic in a beautiful Scottish village might help her heal her grief after losing her baby, her husband and her much loved job in a space of months.
But Port Willow Bay isn’t exactly as the website promised. Instead of learning a new language, she’s booked in to learn the ancient skill of willow weaving, her hotel room is Princess and the Pea themed (with a stack of mattresses for her bed!) and worse still, her tutor is Atholl Fergusson, grumpy landlord of the hotel where Beatrice is staying – and she’s the only one doing the course.
But as Beatrice finds herself falling in love with Port Willow Bay and its people, and as she discovers the kind heart beneath Atholl’s stony exterior, can she really leave?
Escape to the beautiful Scottish Highlands with this utterly romantic, feelgood book; one visit to Port Willow Bay and you’ll want to come back!
Fans of Sarah Morgan, Carole Matthews and Holly Martin will be captivated.
As someone who has never gotten to travel a lot, I can tell you that there’s something about reading books that take place in areas that I’m just dying to visit! And so, when I get to read about one of my ‘bucket list countries’, I can’t help but get really happy. Summer at the Highland Coral Beach is a lovely tale of a woman who needs to reset her life after loss. One of the most horrible losses anyone could ever experience.
Pacing
From page one I felt immersed in this story. I didn’t feel the need or desire to skip over anything that was unnecessary or slow. This read was pretty quick for me and I feel like each chapter held important key elements to the narrative. Getting to know Beatrice in the beginning and then her blossoming friendship was done beautifully. Nothing about this story felt rushed even though it felt like it went by so quickly.
Characters
Beatrice was a very heartfelt heroine. She was feisty, brave, and so strong after going through the loss that she experienced. In the beginning, I’ll admit, she was a bit rough when she met Atholl… But, I firmly believe that just enriched the story and made it more realistic.
Speaking of Atholl, I LOVED him as a lead character. He was also pretty gruff in the beginning but that was just a cover over his mushy interior. Besides these two characters, there wasn’t much fleshing out…
The side characters were wonderful, just a little more one-dimensional. But, instead of taking away from the story, it honestly just made me wish for a sequel featuring some of these lovely side-characters.
Writing
Kiley Dunbar is a wonderful author! She knows how to spin a tale in a way that’ll break your heart but make you stay for the happily-ever-after. She writes an intelligent romance that has you rooting for perfectly-imperfect characters that deserve one another. And the town of Port Willow Bay seems to real to me! I honestly hope to read more from her very soon!
About Kiley Dunbar
I’m living my best life, combining writing the romantic fiction I’ve always dreamed of with teaching creative writing and English literature at a university in the North of England. I’m a proud Romantic Novelists’ Association Member and a graduate of their New Writers’ Scheme.
The heroine of my first novel, One Summer's Night, works as a tour guide in the beautiful theatre town of Stratford-upon-Avon. I too spent a working summer in Stratford where I found my very own leading man.
We got engaged four days after we met. This tells you that I’m A) not exactly risk averse and B) a true romantic.
Twenty years on, we live in Cheshire with the Dunbar babies and Amos the Bedlington Terrier.
I love reading and writing light-hearted romantic books with dreamy locations, female friendships, the occasional literary reference (I can’t help it: classic literature nerd), and love stories with Christmassy sparkle or summer sunshine, and always, a Happy Ever After.
Join me on Twitter @KileyDunbar or The Kiley Dunbar Author Facebook Page.
