Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours presents Scotland by Starlight by Nancy Volkers

Scotland by Starlight by Nancy Volkers

Sequel to A Scottish Ferry Tale

Published: January 22nd, 2011

Publisher: Independent

291 pages (paperback)

Genre: Contemporary romance/women’s fiction/chick lit

Acquired this book: From the author as part of Chick Lit Plus’s Scotland by Starlight blog tour

Warning: may include spoilers

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Note: Since this book is a sequel, there will be spoilers regarding the first book. With some sequels, you don’t really need to read the first book, but this is not one of those cases. Unless you want to be completely lost and miss a lot of references and inside jokes, you should read A Scottish Ferry Tale first. And I really do mean that - you should read it!

Synopsis: Cassie Wrentham is on her way to Scotland again... but this time it's not vacation. She's moving in with Ralph Macnair, the charismatic Scotsman who stole her heart. But Cassie wouldn't be Cassie without doubts. Will she find a job in a tight U.K. economy? Would marrying Ralph now be only for convenience's sake? Will she fit in, make friends, make a life there? Or will it all fall apart? Bursting with a lively cast of characters, all with their own stories and challenges, Scotland By Starlight follows Cassie and Ralph from the new beginnings of their intense relationship to a conclusion like no other.

I adored A Scottish Ferry Tale. It’s one of my favorite books that I’ve read so far in 2012. I enjoyed Scotland by Starlight very much, and thought it was a great sequel, but I enjoyed the first book more. Sometimes you read a sequel and you end up wishing the author had left well enough alone, but I loved getting to follow Cassie and Ralph as they continued their journey in life and love. I thought they were such a great couple - they were flawed, they made mistakes, they got angry, they fought, they had very real emotions, but at the base of it all they were deeply in love.

There was less tension in this book, and less emotional complications and obstacles for Cassie and Ralph. I have to admit, I enjoyed the tension in the first book - that will they/won’t they excitement. Scotland by Starlight was like a glimpse into their every day lives, and I enjoyed that a lot. It was still funny, sexy, at times heartbreaking, and always very believable.

I enjoyed the secondary characters just as much in the second book as the first. It felt like being reunited with old friends. I also liked that there were subtle subplots worked in there, too. It all worked very well. It made me wish I had a bigger family or lots of friends to have gatherings with the way Cassie and Ralph did with their friends and family. I could picture it all so clearly - the chaos, the noise, the laughter, the camaraderie, the music, the food, and I loved it.

Overall I enjoyed this book, and this series, very much. I know that Cassie and Ralph will stay with me for a long time.

SPOILER ALERT: (highlight the blacked-out text if you're interested in reading the spoiler) The epilogue almost ruined the entire book for me. I realize something like that must be a hard decision for an author to make, because they know it won’t make some people happy, and I respect the author’s decision, but I can’t say I agree with it. Cassie and Ralph’s love story stretched across two books and was epic, and then she dies?! WTF?! I was shocked and heartbroken. It left me with this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was beautifully written, but I just really wish she hadn’t done that.

This book counts toward the following 2012 challenges: 2012 Self-Published Reading Challenge, 2012 Sequels Challenge. See my progress in these and other challenges here.

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Be sure to come back tomorrow, because Nancy's going to visiting Ramblings of a Daydreamer to talk about why she writes romance!