Following the tragic loss of her parents in an accident, Elle takes on their shop. The setting was beautiful and I bonded with Elle but I found most of the plot a bit tedious. Her relationship with Dexter was annoying and therefore the plot was spoilt for me.

In this story we follow our two main characters Elle, who is one of the residents in Fir Haven, and Dexter, who just moved there. Elle is a character that warms your heart in an instant and you feel for her. Dexter on the other hand is someone you might not like at first but the more you get to know him, the more you like him. His first impression on Elle? Not good at all. He brings up a painful memory for her and immediately puts himself down on her bad side. But will his bad luck bring them closer? Yes, it will~

This book is mostly centred around the mystery that is Dexter being cursed. Dexter and Elle have to work together to get the curse off of him and by doing that, they get to know each other and unravel a few secrets that have been buried for centuries.

The beginning of the book might be a bit on a slower side but keep reading because once the pace picks up, it is impossible to put this book down. The scenery, the mystery of the curse, the close knit community. It all charms you and doesn’t let you go. That together with Julie’s writing makes a great cosy book to read. Especially on a gloomy and cloudy weekends as we have been having recently.

This is the second book of Julie Shackman that I have read.

I enjoyed this one as there was so much packed into it from Elle's grief over losing her parents, reviving her mum's shop into a stationery store, love interests and some paranormal goings on.

The author writes a diverse range of characters and writes with humour despite the intensity of some of the subjects in the book. I liked the environmental element as well and the descriptions of the area made it easy to visualise.

A nice cosy, easy read.

It appears that this series is more than "just" a "woman finds herself" or "romance" genre, as there is a mystery and a family curse in this one as there was in the last book I read by her. It's good to have a bit more substance sometimes, although there are a lot of plotlines.

I have contacted the publisher in more detail about an issue I found with the writing of the Black character in the novel. But the author works hard to portray community and landscape and a lot of people have really enjoyed this book.

This is the first time I have read a book by this author. I decide to request the ARC as Scotland is my most favourite place. I don’t think the title is reflective of the book content but more the series setting, as I understand this is the 4th book in the series. However, this did not detract from what I found to be a wonderfully warm and cosy read. I found myself grabbing the smallest of moments to get in some reading, and at times reading for a lot longer than I had intended. This was such a joyful read that I just kept turning the pages as every chapter had me craving more.

I really enjoyed the true feeling of the close-knit community of Fir Haven and my imagination was filled with glimpses of small Scottish towns I have visited.

The characters feel very real and I was interested to find out what would happen to them, and I was completely charmed by the relationship between Elle and her gran.

This is a feel-good read and it certainly will not be my last Julie Shackman novel. A lovely romance and mystery read that I will definitely be recommending it to friends and family.

Kind of on the fence about this one.

The beginning was a bit slow. It was kind of like - enough already, get on with it. Once it started moving forward it kept going but the pace was different then what you would normally get. That was a refreshing unto itself.

It was an interesting story that kept your attention. There was something new every time I picked up the book until I just had to finish it. A lot more story then the description tells about.

I received an ARC from Netgalley to help prepare for this honest review.

I looked forward to reading this story particularly as it is set in Scotland but unfortunately there was too much going on and I found it difficult to enjoy.

Elle is dealing with the grief of losing her parents. Dexter has recently moved to the area, but as a famous crime writer, he is struggling with writer's block.

As the two work together and lean on one another for support they soon become close and their true characters shine.

This was a really lovely and uplifting read, and we look forward to the two characters, Elle and Dexter, getting together. I loved the relationship Elle has with her grandmother and I found this really heartwarming, especially after she loses her parents.

There is a lot that happens in this narrative, but the pace is a little slow in places. Shackman writes with great descriptions and atmosphere to the storyline that brings everything together nicely.

A Scottish Country Escape is a love story filled with rich and lush detail.

Julie Shackman knows how to write an entertaining and binge-worthy romance. She added a fun and unique twist to that typical small-town love story. In A Scottish Country Escape, there is a whole curse element to the story. I loved unfolding the history of the Carlucci family with Elle and Dexter. It was interesting, and for some strange reason, it reminded me of Practical Magic. The whole curse aspect was a clever way to hook the readers in.

This book is rich in detail. Julie knows how to paint this lush, vivid setting that transports readers to Fir Haven. I loved being able to explore the town and the nature reserve located beside it. It makes you want to pack your bags and go to Scotland.

A Scottish Country Escape is a book with many story elements that I love in a romance book. First, it has an opening up of a new business plot line. Elle transforms her old parent’s store into a new stationery business. Y’all know that I am a sucker for this kind of story. I love watching this transformation of an old unused space and seeing it become something new and fabulous. It’s so heartwarming watching Elle’s dreams come true.

Another thing that I love in my romance is that whole David and Goliath plotline. The nature reserve beside the town is going to be sold to a developer, who is planning on building holiday homes in the space. Elle and the townspeople come together to try and save their town’s reserve. I felt like I was there fighting alongside the townspeople and getting angry that something so beautiful would be destroyed. This side story just tugged at those emotions.

Elle and Dexter’s relationship starts off quite rocky, probably because he almost ran her over with his car. In the first part of this book, no love is lost between these two. Elle thinks Dexter is self-centred, and all Dexter cares about is removing the curse and doesn’t think he has done anything wrong. I devoured the tense banter between these two because I could see the sparks flying underneath all that tension. Elle and Dexter work together to uncover the mystery behind this curse and the Carlucci family. Dexter’s character was more complex than I thought it would be. As Elle spent more time with Dexter, we see all these layers underneath that gruff self-centred exterior. There is this vulnerable and kind-hearted side to Dexter that Elle wasn’t expecting. I liked these two together as friends and as a couple. I found myself looking forward to the scenes when they were together. Their journey to getting their HEA is rife with ups and downs and miscommunications. It was just the right amount of drama to make it enjoyable, but not too much where you want to bang your head against a wall.

A Scottish Country Escape is a heartfelt and rich love story that is hard to put down.

Thank you, Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter, and Rachel Random Resources, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Having read all of the books so far in this ‘Scottish Escape’ series, I think this has become my least favourite. Whilst Shackman has developed the Scottish setting more in this story, I found it too crammed with different plots and would have preferred several to be dropped to allow for more development.

At first I was really excited about Elle’s new venture: of turning her parents’ newsagents into a stationery shop. Sounds brilliant! Then, with the arrival of mysterious but hunky author, Dexter, you could see that there is a potential for romance. But, after these initial ideas are introduced, Shackman carried on going with new ideas: curses, family secrets, village projects… It was just too much. To be honest, I think my enthusiasm started to waiver when the curse was introduced because I just didn’t think it in keeping with the rest of the story.

As the novel progressed, I wanted to see some of these sub-plots abandoned for simplicity’s sake. I thought that there was a bit of a past with Elle’s grandmother which is hinted at in the early parts of the novel but then glossed over later on. Little attention is given to Elle’s new shop and I found it unbelievably convenient that it seems to run itself with her hardly being there. Instead, she focuses on trying to help Dexter, lift the curse and save the local nature reserve from being developed into holiday homes.

This was the bit that excited me the most: I was enjoying seeing Elle get her teeth into this campaign and how it started to bring the community together. In my opinion, this, the stationery shop and the connection with Dexter could have been a novel on its own; the curse and more with Elle’s grandmother could be a different story altogether. I loved the descriptions of the natural beauty of the area and thought this really helped to define the novel and its Scottish setting. It was certainly my most favourite part.

The growing relationship between Elle and Dexter was a little hard to believe because I failed to see a spark that truly existed between them. I think this was because there was so much crammed into the story that my attention was not drawn to how the couple were getting on.

But, the reason I continued reading this book was because I really appreciated the setting and loved the description of Dexter’s new house. Although I was surprised at the plot direction, Shackman had me curious as to how it all would develop and I think this signifies how strong the writing was, despite my overall criticisms. Dexter is a mysterious character and I wanted there to be more shown about his writing life; I wonder if Shackman could have drawn from personal experience here. The nature reserve was a lovely sub-plot and sounded incredibly idyllic; if only this stood out more amongst a rather crowded plot.

With thanks to One More Chapter, Harper Collins, NetGalley and Rachel’s Random Resources for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was ok. For some reason I just couldn’t get into it. Probably just a slump I am in. The setting was charming and I always like a book set in Scotland.

This is a lovely read that follows Elle as she tries to rebuild her life after losing her parents so tragically. She's got her Gran on her side, and who isn't afraid of telling it like it is!, and you really get that sense of her trying to do her best to keep making her parents proud but to follow her own dreams.

It's set in a beautiful location and while she tries to start off her new stationery business, she's involved in a little bit of a mystery helping a crime author who has moved into the area, and didn't get off to the greatest of starts with his entrance!

I really liked the different threads to the story so there was plenty going on to keep you entertained and it all clipped along at a lovely pace so the pages flew by!

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Elle finds herself making some positive life changes a year after her a tragic accident claimed the lives of both her parents. When she opens a stationary store, she soon finds herself caught up in a mystery as author and newcomer to Fir Haven, Dexter Grayling, believes he has been hit with a curse by a mysterious elderly woman who seems to hold the key to events of the past. While Elle and Dexter work to track down the woman, Elle also finds herself trying to save a nature reserve from greedy developers. A beautiful setting, humour, great characters and a spark of romance make for a delightful read.

This was such a great read, I adored the relationship between Elle and her grandma is just beautiful, Elle is grieving her parents and wants to save her mothers (parents) newsagents which was struggling, reopen it as a stationery shop. The premise itself is so lovely, as a stationery addict I’m not sure I’d be able to sell anything if I owned one myself.

I love Julie’s writing, her descriptions of the setting just make me so happy, I get lost in the surroundings of Fir Haven, I adore being able to get lost in her characters and community, being able to relax at a lovely pace and get lost in the plot. I really enjoyed the environmental focus of the story, fighting to save a nature reserve from developers and council, it’s close to what most people are dealing with in their own communities, which makes it even easier to empathise.

It’s a story which is interspersed with plenty of humour, alongside the romance and mystery, Elles encounter with Dexter leads to an unexpected connection but you’ll have to read the book to find out more I don’t do spoilers! With a well written story, with the many strands of plot expertly woven together, this is a story full of complex characters, a wonderful community and a setting you would love to live in yourself. This is not only a Scottish escape, but a wonderful reality escape and one I thoroughly recommend.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Loved this book. Interesting story, lovely characters, fantastic setting. Well worth a read., you are sure to enjoy this as I have done.. Giving this 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC

Another stunning book by Julie, expertly written. Lovely range of characters and plot, penned in Julie's expert way. Loved it!

I always get lost in stories that are set in different countries and this Scottish setting was the perfect escape!
My heart hurt in the beginning for Elle, who lost her parents, and was trying to move on with her life and her business. However, her close relationship with her grandmother, her budding romance with Dexter and the support of the close-knit community that rallied around Elle warmed my heart. This was a slow burn, but definitely a lot packed into the story! I enjoyed the ending and the light heartedness of the whole book.

An atmospheric, romantic mystery set in the Scottish Highlands with complex characters, mysticism and a vibrant community. Elle, still grieving the death of her parents, wants to keep their legacy alive by reopening their retail business. An unexpected encounter with an infamous writer leads to a surprising connection and a mystery to solve. The setting is well described and immerses the reader in the lives of Elle and the community. There are many strands to the story, which is detailed and gently paced. It's a story to escape with and an enjoyable read.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

I’ve read a couple of books by Julie now and have enjoyed them all, although this seemed to have a lot crammed in!

Elle is trying to get over the sudden loss of her parents a year ago, start a new business, stop developers and not fall in love, all at once! She does remarkably well keeping it all together for most of the book, with plenty of help from her Gran and best friend, Cate, and the story flows really well.

I love the descriptions of the countryside and the quaint little town she lives in, as well as the characters that are introduced throughout - even the grouchy ones 😆

A great easy quick read for cosy weekends on the sofa.