3.75 Sweet & sexy second chance romance. Brooke Sinclair is a successful ghostwriter, having given up her dream of writing her own stories. Jack Sutherland is trying to live his dream of being a photographer. They have to come together to work on the memoir of Brooke’s mentor & Jack’s aunt. The problem is their shared history & the betrayal that ended their relationship. As they trek through the Isle of Skye, they have to learn to trust each other again. And maybe learn to trust themselves.

3.5-4⭐️

I enjoyed this one overall, but I did have a few issues with it. I’ll start with the positive:

What I liked:

The author’s vivid descriptions about Scotland completely sweep you away and make you feel like you are walking the streets of Edinburgh or hiking the trail on the Isle of Skye with our MCs. It was so atmospheric and immersive!

I am a sucker for a second chance romance and thought this one was well-done! The tension, the piningggg, the yearninggggg, the stolen glances, forbidden touches, etc. 😍 The hopefulness and passion of their initial love story, the heartbreak of their split, the pain and regret in their time apart, the struggle to overcome the hurt from their past while fighting their lingering feelings, the joy and peace of repairing old wounds and unexpectedly rediscovering their love.

I also enjoyed the fact that we got both POVs so we could understand both sides of the story and saw both of their vulnerabilities, insecurities, struggles, and hopes in pursuing their dreams as well as love. I loved how they supported and encouraged each other’s dreams and brought out the best in each other! I thought that the element of grief added some nice depth to the story as well.

I really enjoyed the Dual Timeline storytelling format as a way to show how they fell for each other, how they lost a good thing and lost a bit of themselves too, and how they came to to forgive and fall in love again. I thought the past chapters were perfectly juxtaposed with the present chapters to highlight the little moments from the past that are reflected in the present to show that, while many things have changed for them, some things never changed between them. 😍

✨“I’m a ghost. This faded version of myself.” “You’re still so bright to me.”

✨ “Sometimes we have to f*ck it all up to know how to do it right.”

✨“ I have your history, Brooke. I want your future, too.”

✨ “I want to be your lover and your partner and your best friend.”

✨“Maybe it wasn’t so easy to edit in real life, to delete and revise and correct, but she was so grateful for the grace to fail and make mistakes and still find a happy ending.”

————————————————————————————-
What didn’t work quite as well for me:
(potentially mild spoilers)

I was not entirely convinced by their romance. It was a bit instalovey in the past chapters and the snippets of their past that we got in those chapters weren’t enough to convince me of the forever-love they seemed so sure of. It felt more like infatuation than love to me. I also thought things seemed forgiven/resolved way too easily in the present without any enough discussion to process through it. I thought that the present relationship was mostly driven by lust and lingering feelings. They struggled with communication issues both in the past and present which made it hard to believe they would last.

I feel like we were missing info from their time apart—for example, how did Brooke stay in Scotland (without a student visa or work visa—this feels a little unrealistic without any explanation)? Did they date other people? How did she land on ghostwriting as her career path? How did Brooke get closer to Mhairi and become her mentee after everything that happened? Did Mhairi ever acknowledge to Brooke her part in her and Jack’s break up? I feel like we got more of Jack’s backstory than Brooke’s so I was left with more questions about her side of things.

One thing I sometimes struggle with In Second chance romances is when there is a long gap apart (in this case 7 years). I find it difficult to believe that neither of them would’ve reached out or run into each other especially if they both still had feelings AND shared a common person in their life who could’ve helped encourage them to bridge their gap (Mhairi). I feel like 2-3 years would’ve been more believable for them to have still have lingering feelings that were so easily rekindled. I feel like I had to suspend disbelief a bit in this story.

I’m not a huge fan of the professor-student forbidden romance trope so this may just be a personal issue, but it was a little hard to root for them in the past chapters with the inappropriate TA-student relationship. They really were not very discreet for people who knew they were not supposed to be seen together…Also, beyond the romance, the amount she was hanging out with him (and his friends) outside of class was inappropriate anyway even if it was just a friendship. The dual relationship would still be problematic even if it wasn’t romantic as a friendship could still interfere with the academic integrity (for Rohan too).🤷‍♀️

Thank you to Alexandra Kiley, NetGalley, and Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you so much, Netgalley and Harlequin Romance for the ebook and audio ARC of Scot and Bothered! My favorite thing about this book was the setting. I felt like I was transported to Scotland and loved hearing about each adventure. I loved the aspect of forbidden love and then the enemies to lovers in the later timeline. The one bed trope being one tent was great as well!

Overall, a fun quick read! The audiobook is dual narration, not duet. But it had a male narrator with a Scottish accent which was great!

I read this on my lunch breaks in the office, and beware it’ll make you look up flights to Scotland, searching up Isle of Skye, and long for fresh air and hikes - which I am not a camping girl but I’m here for the one tent trope!!

Brooke and Jack’s second chance romance was so sweet and moving and had me tearing up and constantly rooting for them. Plus I usually hate dual timelines like flashbacks, but it worked here! And as always I adore Alexandra’s writing and characters - especially Mhairi. I loved learning about her life!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

First, thank you to NetGalley and Canary Street Press for a copy of this ARC.

I was fortunate to get an ARC of Kilt Trip, Kiley’s first book. What was a smooth transition of the story in KT did not translate to Scot and Bothered. The landscape descriptions were missing just a little extra something.

The romance between Jack and Brooke just wasn’t believable enough for me. I think it was lost in so much of the flashbacks.
There was more potential in a storyline between her college mentor Mhairi than there was her supposed love interest.
I would still seek out Kiley’s books in the future regardless, as there’s definitely potential from what I’ve read so far.

2.5 ⭐️ 1.5 🌶️

Ok Alexandra Riley is new to me and um immediately downloading the first book in this series because Scot and Bothered SUCKED ME IN, I couldn’t stop reading!!

In college, Brooke and Jack dated in secret until it blew up their lives and Brooke was forced to drop out. In the seven years since, she’s given up on her writing dreams and settled for ghost writing, but has never felt good about it. And now, in her first co-authorship, she and Jack are thrown back together in a tight situation - a week long hiking trip on the Isle of Skye. Can they ever forgive each other and reconnect? Or is their fear gonna get in the way?

THE ABSOLUTE YEARNING IN THIS???!!!!! So so good. Sometimes with second chance romances, it’s like they broke up for a good reason and shouldn’t get back together, but with this one it was youth and mistakes and I loved the rekindling as full adults. There were chapters that were flashbacks to their first relationship and it was so sweet. And Jack! What a hottie!!! He just wanted to be known and I loved that their love for each other was this… just knowing each other truly.

This is for you if you love:
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Scotland
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿found family
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿explorations of grief
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿second chance romance
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿rediscovering your dreams
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿ONLY ONE TENT
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿forced proximity
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿hairy coos

Anyway I loved it and also love the opportunity to show off my Scotland pics. Go read it especially if you need a good cry with your romance novel!!

The latest slow build up, second chance romance where the feelings never left.

Brooke moved to scotland to attend university of edinburgh in chase of her favorite author (and professors) articulate perspective of the scotland landscape.
Jack is an edinburgh native and just so happens, that professor and author is his aunt. They meet at a party from jacks roommate who was friends with brooke and her trio and they quickly form a connection that night, but once school starts he realizes she’s in the course he’s a TA for.

Forbidden love, second chance, soulmates and betrayal. They were apart for 7 years somehow never crossing paths, so can they move past this boulder for them to embark on a week long trip so he can photograph and Brooke can connect deeper with Mhirari’s experience to be able write his aunts precious biography of her time on Skye mountain/ forging the trail herself? will they find their way back together once the trip is over?

warning: it does have a 3rd act breakup

If this is Alexandra Kiley’s second book, I cannot wait to see what else she has for us. Second chance romance can be hit or miss for me and this was a big hit. From the moment they’re in the same room, there is a spark between Jack and Brooke. The tension and build up in this book is impeccable. The story is written in alternate timelines that coincide with Jack and Brooke reaching the pinnacle of their flirting in the present and the root of their fallout from the past. You can FEEL the history and it is so worth the wait to read it in pieces that combust under the right circumstances.

This is a forced proximity hiking on the Isle of Skye travel romance. Jack’s aunt Mhairi is dying of pancreatic cancer and he’s been tasked with photographing her book while Brooke, her former University student is tasked with co-writing her memoir. Jack and Brooke haven’t seen each other in years and the reasons for the disintegration of their relationship and the animosity Brooke feels becomes apparent as they have to hike the Isle of Skye trail Mhairi founded. The yearning to be seen and to be known is so strong in this book and Jack and Brooke have never been able to get away from the fact that they understand each other. This book excellently simmers with heated glances and the knowledge that comes from once being intimate with someone—I found Brooke and Jack to have the type of chemistry that almost comes from fated mates. Even though it’s somewhat of a slow burn, this book is full of heat and sexual tension and I loved every minute of it.

The third character in this romance is The Isle of Skye. It’s a love story written to hiking across Scotland and to nature lovers and explorers. Any time I find myself Googling locations on a map because I want to experience what the characters are experiencing, is a really successful book in my opinion. I felt like I was hiking with Brooke and Jack and I’ve never wanted to be somewhere more than on that trail with them, even with the crazy winds! This book is perfect for anyone looking for beautiful scenic imagery combined with the energy of two people who are so deeply right for one another. Scotland is definitely on my bucket list of places to visit after reading Scot and Bothered and this is the perfect book to take with you on a spring break or summer trip. I received an early copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Steam: 🪭🪭.5
Gave me the travel bug: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
Swooniness: 💯

As much as I wanted to love this, I had to DNF because of the non-user friendly format that ended up on my kindle. The formatting was so messy it was distracting and overpowered the story. I’ll try this again as it’s now in print.

I read Kilt Trip by Alexandra Kiley last year (thank you again NetGalley and Canary Street Press), and it was such a fun read in the lead-up to a trip to Scotland. But thinking back on it, it was really broody and the communication between the MCs ranged from mediocre to nonexistent. Scot and Bothered was the same way, and it got in the way of my enjoying the book.

Brooke and Jack have history, and they end up hiking the Isle of Skye together. The story is told in chapters of now and then, but the communication between them in bad throughout. In the then chapters, Brooke and Jack meet at a party, because Jack is roommates with one of Brooke's friends, and sparks fly, but the relationship is forbidden because Jack is a TA for a class that Brooke is taking. Mind you, Brooke's friend is also a TA for that class. And he's her TA. And I know why that is different than a romantic relationship between Jack and Brooke, but for her friend to be her TA just feels like an ethical dilemma that is overlooked in the book. In the now chapters, Brooke and Jack go from avoiding each other to, oops!, only one tent. But they never really talk through any of their history. They kind of talk around it, and then they succumb to the sexual tension. And then, the third act break-up is avoidable and dumb -- because they don't communicate.

At around 66% I almost dnf'ed this, because I couldn't take the not-communicating. I'm not sad I finished it, because I'm glad I could read the ending, and the book wasn't bad... but dnf'ing might have been the right choice.

I had the hardest time with this book.I felt like i was missing something from the beginning and I couldn’t feel the chemistry between the two main characters so I had to give up.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book hit me in a way that I really wasn’t expecting - coming out of the first in the series, I expected a fluffy, lighthearted read.

Scot and Bothered instead is a beautiful dive into what it means to be connected to a person and a place at different points in time and in circumstance. It explored connection in such a beautiful and raw way, having the dual POV and dual timelines weave the idea of what it means to truly love and to forgive.

Even though it was feasible to connect the dots on what happened in the past timeline throughout the story, I felt compelled by the incredible writing and the hurts of Brooke and Jack to keep going to unearth how they fractured.

The scenery of Scotland and the tension between the two characters as they unsuccessfully try to avoid each other on their hike across the countryside was so enticing to read, but was made even better with the existence of Mhairi.

Having Brooke and Jack struggle to connect with each other and their passions while also adding in the pressure to do Mhairi’s story justice was such a beautiful way to deepen the emotional ties in the story. I found myself crying (not a surprise) at the end and how tender her storyline ended.

I highly recommend this if you love:
🏔️ Second chance
🏔️ Love letter to Scotland
🏔️ Dual POV
🏔️ Dual Timeline
🏔️ Forced Proximity
🏔️The Power of Love and Grief

I love Alexandra since book 1, this book did not disappoint! I will say a book on hiking is not my bread and butter when it comes to romance, but when you add the Scottish Country side to the story. Let me go be a hike for a minute! Jack & Brook story is amplified with the setting they are put under! So happy I got to read this book, meet these characters and read their beautiful love story,

Forbidden turns second chance romance professor/student. Brooke is a student from Colorado going to grad school in Scotland where she meets Jack at a Halloween party. Unfortunately she finds out later that he is her professor. They fall in love despite the rules of the university and Brooke gets kicked out of school. Fast forward seven years later and the two MCs run into each other once again. Now writer (Brooke) and photographer (Jack) go on a hiking trail in Scotland for a project and it’s there that they’re forced to work out their past.
We get POV from Jack and Brooke which alternate between past to present. I found it a bit slow and it took me three tries to get into the book. The romance at the start was very insta-love and the rest of the story was just okay. I didn’t like that Jack basically unrooted Brooke’s plan and she just forgives him so easily.

I received a copy of this for my honest review

This is a beautiful story of second chances and following your dreams. Our FMC is set to co author a memoir with her hero, who just happens to be the aunt of our MMC. The two met while she was a student and he was a TA (not her TA. But Sam class). But when their relationship was reported - they both lost themselves. Now, years later his aunt has convinced them both to hike the trail that she has discovered - so she can get a better understanding for the story, and he can photograph it. Will this bring up old resentment or help them to move forward?

Scot and Bothered is a beautifully written second-chance romance that takes readers on an emotional journey through the breathtaking Scottish Highlands. Brooke and Jack’s story is one of mistakes, heartbreak, and ultimately, healing. Told in a dual timeline, we get to see their love in its raw, youthful form before everything fell apart, and then again years later as they navigate trust, forgiveness, and the possibility of something new. Their journey along the Skye Trail isn’t just about the miles they hike—it’s about rediscovering themselves and each other, and it’s impossible not to root for them.

What makes this book so special is how real and flawed Brooke and Jack feel. They’ve made mistakes, and they’ll probably make more, but the beauty of their story is that maybe this time, they’ll make them together. The stunning backdrop of Scotland adds so much to the atmosphere, making this the kind of book that makes you want to pack a bag and go on an adventure of your own. If you love second chances, forced proximity, and a romance filled with heartache, spice, and deep emotional payoff, Scot and Bothered is a must-read!

This was such a cute read! I was laughing, swooning, and just had an all around good time. I love second chance romances, and this was done in such a fun way!

4.5★

"𝓘 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓱𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂, 𝓑𝓻𝓸𝓸𝓴𝓮. 𝓘 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓯𝓾𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮, 𝓽𝓸𝓸"

This was so lovely and emotional. I honestly wasn’t expecting it to be as angsty as it was but that was my favorite aspect of the book. You could feel the hurt and yearning from both Brooke and Jack when they came face to face after years of being apart.

These two had a whirlwind forbidden romance when Brooke was a student and Jack was her (sort of) TA. But it all goes up in smoke when Brooke gets expelled.

I loved the reason for these two being reunited. Brooke is tasked with ghost writing a book for her college mentor and Jack’s aunt, Mhairi. And Jack is tasked to take the photos to go along with it. To accomplish this, they have to hike the trail that Mhairi founded, 𝓽𝓸𝓰𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻.

Though they had obstacles thrown their way while they were out on the trail, this book was full of tender moments as these two relearned each other and let the other back in. It was definitely giving “it’s always been you” and I was so here for it. Also, Jack was so babygirl, I loved him so much.

Additionally, I loved the setting and the descriptions in this book. I’ve never been to Scotland but this made me feel like I was there, while also making me want to go even more than I already wanted to before.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC

I'm not a huge fun of second chance romances, and not a big fan of alternating then and now timelines. I didn't really care too much about the past storyline, it kept interrupting the flow of the current story, and I kept expecting there to be a big twist with what happened. I wanted more of the current timeline, more adventure. In the end I felt like we just got two half stories.

This was still a cute, fun read, but I didn't love it as much as I did with book one.

Take me away to the Isle of Skye, please and thank you! Whooooo this was a good one. I loved nearly everything about this story. Jack and Brooke were so likeable and funny and sexy. Their chemistry was amazing and I loved seeing them both grow, individually and together, with their passion projects. And the setting - oh my gosh. I almost booked a ticket to Scotland immediately! Everything sounded gorgeous. I loved Kiley's writing style and would happily keep reading more in this series. My only qualm was I wanted to know the conflict that separates Jack and Brooke in the past sooner. But other than that, it was such a fantastic book!