A Secret Scottish Escape

 

A Secret Scottish Escape
By  Julie Shackman

ISBN: 9780008455774
340 Pages
Available in Paperback and on Kindle

Synopsis:

When Scotland’s sleepiest hamlet becomes the centre of hot gossip, Layla Devlin finds herself caught in a mystery…

When Layla’s fiancée has an unexpected heart attack and dies – in another woman’s arms, no less – Layla is determined to pack up and leave Loch Harris, the village she’s always called home. But an unexpected inheritance and love for her quiet corner of Scotland send her down a new path.

Now Layla finds herself facing a whole new kind of drama. Rumours swirl that a celebrity has moved into Coorie Cottage and Layla is determined to have him headline her opening night at local music venue The Conch Club. But the reclusive star is equally determined to thwart Layla’s efforts. Rafe Buchanan is in hiding for a reason, and soon his past comes to Loch Harris to haunt him…

My Thoughts:

If you like soap opera level drama and the kind of chaos that you get by watching things like Maury, then A Secret Scottish Escape is probably made for you. The book opens in a depressing fashion and includes lots of trauma. Unfortunately, the pacing is way slower than it should be which makes the story hard to get into. Despite being important enough of a plot device to be mentioned in the synopsis, the Mask character was not introduced until the book was over halfway done. (There is such a thing as TOO much exposition.) Yet somehow, the ending felt rushed. The pace of the latter portion of the story was okay, but it was not consistent with the first 2/3 of the book so it felt wrong. For example, the kiss was random and forced.  I mean the girl who second guesses everything else she does in the book thought he could be a potential murderer earlier that same day and as soon as the issue was cleared up she was in his arms ? The lethargic, and then erratic, pacing of this book resulted in me taking way longer to read it than a book this length usually takes. Every time I set it down, it was hard to motivate myself to pick it back up.

Another reason for this is that there is a painful overuse of adjectives. Simply put, the book is too wordy. The plot of A Secret Scottish Escape is promising, but the unnecessarily excessive adjectives are distracting. On the flip side, the story's location and setting descriptions are beautiful. You can can definitely close your eyes and see imagery of the club, and get a vibe of what the countryside looks like. But then at other times, all the words included are still not enough. Despite the overabundance of adjectives in other places, the writer chooses to describe Mask's scar multiple times, and the EXACT same way every time.

One more issue that I had was that the characters are warm at best and not overly likeable. Layla, the lead character is what can only be described as a paragon. Her family and friends have to constantly remind other characters and you, the reader, about what a good, kind girl she is. The writer has her on a pedestal in the way that a person does the lead character in self insert fanfic when the character is them and they want everyone to know how perfect they are. Well, in spite of these constant reminders of her perfection, in reality she is a nosy neighbor who whines a lot and has bad judgement.

And then you have the supporting characters, who are all just... meh. But what bugged me most about them was the valuation put on the characters. I get that in the real world not everyone is great, but for a book that looks like it is trying to be about a strong woman, it REALLY speaks negatively about women.  The book opens with Layla's fiancé dying in the arms of another woman. While the woman is vilified, Layla is merely upset with the man that betrayed her and he continues to linger in her thoughts. Her mom is labeled the as evil while the man she had an affair with is almost immediately forgiven, encouraged to rejoin the friend group, and practically welcomed into the family . And her best friend is essentially portrayed as unstable and having commitment issues. Layla defends the Mask character regardless of the fact that she does not truly knowing anything about his person even after it is suggested that he is possibly a murderer on the run. A female journalist is described in a negative manner and the source of her story (another woman) is portrayed as absolutely insane.  Even all the minor plot driving side characters that Layla is able to manipulate to do her bidding "against the rules" are women. All throughout the book the men seem above reproach while the women, lead character excepted, range from extremely flawed to the devil incarnate. Had I not known better, I wouldn't have believed that this book was written by a woman.

A Secret Scottish Escape is narrated solely from the viewpoint of the lead character Layla. I feel like it would have definitely helped this book if there had been multiple narrators to give different perspectives. But even then, I don't know how much it would have helped, as the writing style is the flaw. The pacing, the abundance of adjectives, and the "gotcha" rushed ending can all be accounted for by the fact that the writer was originally a journalist. It reads more like the work of a sensationalist writer than a novelist. Remember when I mentioned self insert fanfic? I feel like this book is definitely guilty of being a self insert novel. Layla is also a journalist, and doesn't want you to forget it. A lot of the unnecessary filler revolves around her writing, and how the glorious world of freelance writing is so fulfilling that she wouldn't give it up even if she was so financially set that it wasn't necessary. Yet despite how glorious the world of freelance writing is to her, she has no qualms with mocking and degrading a young writer who is merely trying to establish herself in the same field. Which is just another reminder of how completely un-perfect the lead character really is, and also of how the writer clearly seems to want to place her above other women. Sadly, these quirks made the book an unappealing read.

I received a complimentary copy of A Secret Scottish Escape from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions stated are mine. The book is currently available available on Amazon.

Parent's Guide:

A Secret Scottish Escape talks about sex. A lot. It also focuses a lot on death. Personally, I feel that this is an adults only book.