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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It was fine? Nothing really exciting and VERY predictable. Trying to play off the Outlander theme but it was a miss for me. But I also really love Outlander.
4.5 stars rounded up. This was so cute and cozy!
I liked this SO much! I devoured the whole thing in like 10 hours. The premise is really quite simple––Ruby goes to Scotland to find herself, hopefully write a cookbook, and falls in love with a hot bearded Scot. There's no overused tropes here, it's just a good old-fashioned strangers-to-lovers set-up with two mid-to-late 30s people who pretty much act like adults the whole time and quietly fall in love amidst the gorgeous backdrop of this charming small Scottish town.
The writing here is a highlight. It felt very fresh to me. It's told in Ruby's POV the entire time, third person. It feels like so many protagonists these days are brash and stubborn and not-like-other-girls quirky––Ruby, in contrast, felt much more relatable to me. She's a bit neurotic and funny without trying to be, she's full of yearning, she's trying to find a home for herself, she has ambition, but not at the cost of other things in life. Bilow's writing is quiet and detailed, with a really lovely sense of setting in this book and gorgeous descriptions of food, which makes sense given her background. She does a lot of "telling" instead of showing in that tons of conversations are told about instead of shown via in-scene dialogue, and I feel like I'm "supposed" to not like that, but I think it worked great here. The whole book felt well-paced and detailed without being overwhelming.
And the romance! You can't help but root for Ruby and Brochan both as individuals and also as a couple. I usually prefer my heroes to be a bit more tortured (lol), but Brochan had a hint of grumpiness but otherwise felt like a normal adult going through some shit. He was just so, so sweet and very sexy. The spice was really good! The amount and graphicness (it's a few scenes of open door, maybe 1-3 pages each) matched the vibe of the book.
Would def recommend for anyone wanting a cozy romance, and I'll definitely be reading more of Bilow.
I liked this SO much! I devoured the whole thing in like 10 hours. The premise is really quite simple––Ruby goes to Scotland to find herself, hopefully write a cookbook, and falls in love with a hot bearded Scot. There's no overused tropes here, it's just a good old-fashioned strangers-to-lovers set-up with two mid-to-late 30s people who pretty much act like adults the whole time and quietly fall in love amidst the gorgeous backdrop of this charming small Scottish town.
The writing here is a highlight. It felt very fresh to me. It's told in Ruby's POV the entire time, third person. It feels like so many protagonists these days are brash and stubborn and not-like-other-girls quirky––Ruby, in contrast, felt much more relatable to me. She's a bit neurotic and funny without trying to be, she's full of yearning, she's trying to find a home for herself, she has ambition, but not at the cost of other things in life. Bilow's writing is quiet and detailed, with a really lovely sense of setting in this book and gorgeous descriptions of food, which makes sense given her background. She does a lot of "telling" instead of showing in that tons of conversations are told about instead of shown via in-scene dialogue, and I feel like I'm "supposed" to not like that, but I think it worked great here. The whole book felt well-paced and detailed without being overwhelming.
And the romance! You can't help but root for Ruby and Brochan both as individuals and also as a couple. I usually prefer my heroes to be a bit more tortured (lol), but Brochan had a hint of grumpiness but otherwise felt like a normal adult going through some shit. He was just so, so sweet and very sexy. The spice was really good! The amount and graphicness (it's a few scenes of open door, maybe 1-3 pages each) matched the vibe of the book.
Would def recommend for anyone wanting a cozy romance, and I'll definitely be reading more of Bilow.
Ruby Spencer's Whiskey Year took me by such surprise. I figured I would enjoy it, but I was not expecting to love it as much as I did. Ruby 100% felt so relatable to me as an older millennial and from the first page I was excited to read about Ruby's journey. This was 100% a romance, but so many other things were added to this book as far as Ruby's personal journey and the fate of this adorable small town in Scotland, and Brochan's family drama, but IMO I never felt like those things took away from the romance. Speaking of romance; Brochan is 100% the perfect book boyfriend, especially for fans of the grumpy hero who's never been grumpy for the heroine, and he said the sweetest, most swoony things to Ruby. I adore the friendship the Ruby and Brochan created and their eventual relationship. I loved that they were both older, and really felt like for the most part there was not all of the non/miscommunication issues I see in a lot of romance books (there was one situation, but it wasn't a reoccurring thing). The plot of this one was fun, the audio was fantastic, it was a bit of a slow burn, and did everything I love about romance. I can not think of one thing I didn't like about this book and can not wait to see what the author does next.
it was perfectly fine but not that memorable.
it was enjoyable while i was reading but when she came back to the states and met his dad and did all that is where the story really lost me. then at that point i was just hurrying for it to end. sorry.
it was enjoyable while i was reading but when she came back to the states and met his dad and did all that is where the story really lost me. then at that point i was just hurrying for it to end. sorry.
I know whiskey can be spelled differently, but it bothered me. It’s because it’s based in Scotland that it’s spelled whisky. This book started VERY SLOW. Lots of detail which is sometimes nice and other times gets over convoluted. Almost wanted to DNF this book 24% through. The romance came out of nowhere and was just weird. This book made me cringe a fair amount of times. It was slow and then SO FAST for the romance. What is happening. The ending of the book was wonderful, but it still took me five days to read and was super slow and dragged on.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lighthearted
medium-paced
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes