This was really a bridge between women’s fiction and romance. I could certainly feel the feelings of June and her perspective on things which made it so easy for me to connect with her. This book touched so much more than the flourishing, romantic kind of love; it touched on the type of love between parents and children, friends, and the kind of love that runs way deeper than the love that makes you blush.

In all honesty, I wouldn’t say this was my sort of book which is why I’m giving it a 3 star but it is a good book and one worth checking out. It did feel kind of long in certain parts and I’m not sure if it’s just me who felt it so I really believe to take a chance on reading this book and seeing if you enjoy it! I’m glad I was able to read it and write a review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Skyscape for the e-ARC of this novel in exchange for a review. This novel was released on November 1, 2022.

I was hooked from the first chapter, but ultimately the main character fell flat for me.

I still finished the book, but was a little let down. I enjoyed the authors other books, so I had high hopes for this one

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book.

DNF @ 26%

I was really excited for this one, especially since it's set in Scotland, but I'm underwhelmed. The main character is difficult to connect with and root for, and while I do understand that she's grieving, it's frustrating to read about some of her actions. The drama also feels forced and unnecessary. Unfortunately, I'm not interested enough to continue reading.

"June, Reimagined" started strong for me, with a first chapter that gripped me tightly and had me eager to learn more about June, her relationship with her family, Josh's story, and her relationship with Matt. Unfortunately, I was left disappointed. Of course, grief makes people act in weird ways, but to me, it felt that immaturity was actually the catalyst for most of June's decisions. I also had high expectations for how June's relationship with Matt would unravel and was disappointed that it turned out to be more toxic than anything else. I also hoped for more out of the relationship between June and Lennox. Yes, he was cute and gave Jamie from Outlander vibes, but I was left wanting more. Despite it all, it was still an entertaining read, and it satisfied my bookish romance needs.

A very heartwarming story and I loved that it takes place in the scottish highlands! Would definitely recommend this to people who enjoy reading books about character growth.

A heartwarming escapist story setting in Scotland!

After all the recent unfortunate things happened to June made her overwhelmed, she impulsively running away to Scotland. Obviously leaving everything behind--including her family best friend for life. With all the secrets she brought with her, will she able to map out her past, her present, and her future while surviving the winter in small town, old inn, new job, new inmate and a grumpy inn co-owner who saved her life for more than once?

I already hooked in this story from the first paragraph. I love how it's written with the mysterious things surrounding the characters and how we got to unravel those hidden things as the story goes. This book has amazing characters with their inner growth and development which is touching and heartwarming to see. The messy but fun newcomer, June met the grumpy enigmatic yet quietly attentive and thoughtful fire-and-rescue man, Lennox. Their banters are so entertaining and keep me on my toes, looking for more, while the whole will-they-won't-they stuffs get me going and keep second guessing everything their hide to each other. Not to mention how they're actually has a lot of commons than they ever thought, including passion for arts and grieving the lost of their loved ones. I love how quirky and loveable all the supporting characters are!

This story has touching me and sent me a new light about looking at your past and future through the new angles or lenses. the message of how it's never too late to realize your true-self and what/where do you want to be, and how it's best not to dodge the grieves or guilt yourself for something out of control gave me a reassurance and little wee of hope! (hope i used the 'wee' right in this sentence).

Last but not least, this is perfect read to warm your self and days through rainy and cold season in November!

Thanks NetGalley and Skyscape for the e-ARC of this book!

I enjoyed this one for sure tropes grumpy x sunshine. Enemies to lovers. At points June frustrated me. But I did find my self laughing a loud at some scenarios in the book.

This romance set in the Scottish Highlands isn't for me. I found the overuse of vulgarity distracting - how many f-bombs does it take to prove a point? Aside from that, June is a highly immature and unlikable character and, though their banter was fiery, I wasn't buying the 'main' romance.

Recommended: noooo
Hateable characters, rampant sexism, lust-not-love, conflict would be 100% solved by talking to each other at any point, and a dead brother is used as a convenient but insignificant plot point. Lots of possessive male bullshit in this one. Lots of the female MC thinking "I'm just being oversensitive, too emotional" and that never being resolved into her saying "hey fuck those guys, I'm entitled to my feelings and also they're being total assholes and trying to control me and my body!"

Thoughts:
Here are all the reasons I would have DNFd this book at 20% if it hadn't been a review copy. Note: lots of swearing follows.

1. I hated all the characters, except Hamish. June is 20 or 21 and this is billed as an adult novel, but BOY does she act like a child. She's petty and stubborn and reactive and judgmental. I really really did not like her from early on, and honestly I didn't care for her by the end, either. Lennox doesn't really have a personality, either. The side character who is a writer conveniently spells out all the events of the book in a sort of meta way, and I found that really dull. The best friend, Matt? He was SO annoying! He seems like a total prat, and at the big climax all I could feel was a mild spite because he was such a douche in my eyes. What a possessive, entitled asshole. And Angus. Angus will get an entire bullet point of his own later on here. 😐

2. The romance was dismal. They both hate each other, and as far as I can tell, she hates him because he saved her life and he hates her because she's allergic to peanuts. I don't even know. It was honestly so flimsy and forced and stupid that it just came across to me like they were both assholes for no reason. There's also no emotional connection, as every time they're nearby June is immediately overtaken with physical lust. Which, okay, that can be a part of romance, but it overrode any other connection they might have had and just turned into "I NEED YOU TO BE NAKED AND BANG ME!" Also FYI the sex scenes are short, vague, and flowery. Lots of "we burn together into the stars" kind of writing and then fade to black. So for all that lust, there's pretty much zero follow through.

3. The Grand Gesture at the end was crap, as well. They both barely put in any effort to talk about things and say how they were feeling. I don't think they did at any point, really. The whole thing was based on assumptions and self-sacrifice, which are two of the things that annoy me the most. I hate screaming at them JUST FUCKING TALK TO EACH OTHER ALREADY!!!!

4. Did you forget her brother was dead, and that was the whole inciting thing? Because I did. He neatly bookmarks the beginning and end of the book, but June never seems particularly sad or grief ridden or to even think about him, to be honest. It's just about her living in Scotland with her new friends and this guy she wants to bang. This felt like it was just a plot point, and that's quite cheap to do when dealing with the death of a sibling and child (for her parents).

5. Angus. He's an incredibly sexist, homophobic, misogynistic asshole who spends the whole book harassing people while they excuse him and say "aww just ignore him, he's Angus, what a silly boy." One of the characters constantly tells him no, no, no, leave me alone, I'm not interested, no. And he's the guy who thinks "Ah, she's playing hard to get" and doesn't back the fuck off. I hated him so much that I genuinely would have stopped reading just to never encounter this fuckwad ever again.

Alas. It was a copy from NetGalley.

Also, yo, I'm super confused because I've enjoyed other books by this author that had incredibly different vibes (thoughtful, sensitive, etc). I have no idea how this one is so far off course.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free copy of this title. This is my honest review, which is probably pretty obvious.

This was a very middle of the road type of contemporary romance for me. The premise was good, and I really liked the Scotland setting. The writing itself was also really good, and it kept me reading. But I kind of wish it was part of a story I was able to enjoy more. My biggest problem was the main character June. She was really insufferable, being very immature and selfish. Not to mention that she made the hate to love trope in the book being so frustrating to read. She was just really rude to her crush, while they had been nothing but kind to her. This just made it hard for me to enjoy.

What a fun enemy to lovers romance book. I found myself laughing out loud at points and feeling the pain at others. The story is all about perceptions, everything is not always the way we see it. How can one reinvent themselves or change the future for mistakes they made in the past , when do they get to move on and heal from those. In this story it starts with June packing a bag including her brothers ashes and leaving in the middle of the night, buying a ticket to the cheapest flight and landing in Scotland . Will June reimagine her life and find happiness ?

I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley and all opinions are my own

I would recommend this book to friends and family and my book clubs

My favorite aspects of this romance:
Grumpy x Sushine Trope Romance
10/10 Character development ❤️ I loved watching June develop as she deals with her past in order to make room for her future.

Stubborn girl + good hearted guy (both w/ troubling pasts) Filled with super cute flirty and playfulness that comes from June & Lennox's chemistry. I want them to get married and have children now.

Love triangle situation? Matt is not the one for June. That was awkward to read. Poor guy.

🌶 /5 Spice Level

4/5 stars for me overall <3 Reading all other works by this author.

I absolutely loved every minute of this book. I was hooked from the Getty beginning and it keeps you engaged the whole time. A hilarious and entertaining novel.

What disappointed me was how unchecked the sexual harassment was. I understand this book is set years back. However, to have Angus’ repeated instances of sexual harassment go unchecked made reading this book uneasy for me. Just once, I wanted someone to tell him to stop. Unfortunately, that did not happen – and it made it hard to enjoy the book.

On paper (pun intended?) this sounds like something I would love, but in actuality it fell flat for me. Something about the pacing felt off the whole time, and I just couldn't get invested in the characters. June was soooo frustrating and I almost stopped reading because of her. I also felt like the story kept trying to force drama into things, like CONSTANTLY alluding to whatever secrets June was keeping, yet continuing to delay revealing them. While I get that we need to build suspense, it got to the point where I kept thinking "get ON with it already!". Additionally, the build up of the relationship between Lennox and June needed *more*. One prime example of this was when June has to stay with Lennox for 5 days. This is the perfect opportunity for lots of great "forced proximity" action. Instead, the story completely skipped over the whole thing until the last day. Missed opportunity.
I am still giving this 3 stars because there were some little moments I enjoyed, as well as some of the supporting cast offering bright spots. However, I am not drawn to read more from this author.

I had so much fun traveling to Scotland and interacting with these full-fleshed out characters. Each had flaws, strengths, and dreams, as well as well-hidden secrets. I enjoyed the banter and interactions between June and Lennox, although June seemed way too selfish and mean towards Lennox. I never really understood how June kept Lennox as an enemy when he continued showing his concern and offering help always.

Overall, the found family and friendships were my favorite parts of this novel. I stayed up way too late every night reading this because I couldn't wait to see what would happen next.

I always enjoy Crane's stories, powerful characters and themes. This one was wonderful. June is someone we can all relate to, and her friendships are beautiful and heart wrenching. Highly recommended. One of my favorite novels of the year.

Since I really don't know where to start, let me just say that I took a long time to complete this.

June flees to Scotland with her brother's ashes after he passes away, leaving her friends, family, and university life behind. She locates a job and a place to stay once she arrives in Scotland. She didn't anticipate finding love, though.

June's feelings toward her brother and the cover-up regarding his heroin addiction/overdose are well-examined in this book. In my perspective, the story had a nice blend of new family, romance, and mental health/addiction representation.

However, the book's opening chapters portrayed her as a likable, reserved lady who only wanted to escape her circumstances and the devastating sorrow of losing a sibling. However, I was irritated by the character's backstory, which felt out of sync with her storytelling. She is described as a sorority girl who party hard, but the narrator feels totally different. I ended myself really disliking June because of her frequently impulsive and emotional responses in the book.

Others characters were also unlikable. They were self-centered, quick to pass judgment on others, and had underdeveloped backstories. They made decisions for others based on what they thought was best for them without considering them.

The Scottish setting is what kept me interested in the book and encouraged me to keep reading. The atmosphere was fantastic, especially when she described the weather, residences, and decorations.

The romance is merely passable. Fortunately, they do get closer and both of their earlier behaviors significantly improve as the book goes on.

It was simple to read. The book just didn't quite hit the mark for me as I thought it should have. It could have used some polishing, and the locations and characters may have needed some attention. This book came so close to becoming something I would have liked, but it fell short for me.

Basically, I had a lot of trouble with the characters and there were some pretty significant flaws, but I would definitely read another book by this author because this one had some strong ground.

3⭐️
June runs to Scotland with her brother’s ashes, no plans and a huge secret, only to find there people that make her rethink her whole life.
Things I liked:
- The whole cast of characters she finds where she goes to Scotland are great. They have amazing chemistry and they really add a lot to the story.
- The writing. It felt immersive and intriguing.
- The ambiance, when she describes the weather and the houses and decorations the vibes were great.
- Firefighter men
Things I disliked:
- June is a bit too stubborn for my taste, and her relationship with Lennox wasn’t my favorite, mostly cause I’ve gotten a bit tired of the whole “bossy tall big man and feisty short woman that sometimes argues with him” dynamic
- The 3rd act conflict felt a bit rushed in my opinion and I feel like it didn’t add anything to the story.
- Matt as a character really annoyed me and I didn’t entirely like how his character arc turned out.