Reviewed by Emma Crowley
New Yorker Zelda Hicks has just lost her mother, and the only thing she knows about her father is that he was from Scotland. So a work trip to the Scottish village of Loch Cameron couldn’t be better timed. Maybe a break in the beautiful rolling hills of heather will help her reconnect with her roots and recover from her grief.
Then, on a walk around the loch one bright morning, she comes across a tiny, tumbledown cottage, nestled on the edge of the forest. The elderly owner, Gretchen Ross, invites her in for buttery shortbread, and after learning that Gretchen might lose the cottage that has been in her family forever, Zelda vows to help her. She didn’t bargain on butting heads with the handsome, blue-eyed laird Hal Cameron in the process. Zelda can’t seem to forget Hal’s shy smile and she soon learns they might have more in common than she first thought.
But when Zelda discovers a bundle of old letters hidden in the back of an antique wardrobe at the cottage, they lead her back to the mysterious Hal. Pushing Zelda to examine her own family history, the letters reveal a secret that the community has kept hidden for over a generation. Hal says he wants to help Zelda, but just as she begins to open up, she learns he isn’t being entirely honest either… Can Zelda trust him, and finally come to terms with her own past, or will uncovering this secret force her to leave Loch Cameron for good?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of TheCottage by the Loch to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Cottage by the Loch is only the second book I have read by Kennedy Kerr as I only discovered her writing late last year. This is a gorgeous, cosy and inviting read that I found ideal to read between some heavy books that I had been reading in order to try and reduce my TBR pile. The story overall doesn’t ask too much of the readers in terms of having to keep innumerable characters straight in their heads and the plot had a lovely flow to it and was very easy to follow. Basically, it provides you with a means to escape from the chaos of the everyday world. For a few hours, you are taken away to the picturesque setting of Loch Cameron in Scotland and you forget everything going on around as you become lost in the story of Zelda as she tries to find her way in life following a deep loss. This is a lovely book that is easy to dip in and out of if only brief bursts of reading time are available to you. It has a relaxing storyline with some great characters -Gretchen in particular, some ups and downs, a mystery to be solved that helps Zelda to realign things in her own life and of course not forgetting some romance which we all look out for when reading books in this genre.
Our main character Zelda is an American living in New York. She has a good job working for a local newspaper but the new boss is determined to give sales a much needed boost. Instantly, I liked Zelda, she had an interesting job yet there was a rawness and vulnerability about her as you could tell that she was lost and adrift. That if she could find her way to where she had been before her mothers illness and subsequent death then things would go her way again and she would feel composed and confident once more. At the moment she is deep in grief and her anchor has gone. It had only been herself and her mother ever since her Scottish father abandoned them when she was just three years old. But her mother left her with some solid advice – to always be strong and independent and to follow your heart. This advice she must trust the further the story develops.
Zelda has a strong sense of being unmoored from reality and her work now feels meaningless as her passion for telling stories is gone. When tasked with organising a shoot in Scotland, you would think that a complete change of scenery would start Zelda off on the right track once more but there are a few tests coming in her direction. The constant crushing sense of grief lingers with her but as she arrives in Scotland, and to Loch Cameron where Hal is the Laird, little does she know the journey of transformation, acceptance and romance that awaits her.
The setting was absolutely perfect for Zelda and for the reader. I mean a Scottish castle with a handsome owner and a cute little village where you have a range of characters.The surrounding countryside was so vividly described and the land on which the castle stood plays a significant role in the story. I could picture so clearly the hills, streams lush green forests, the loch and so much more and it just added to the warm feeling that grew throughout the book.
Zelda feels like she shouldn’t have come to Scotland, even though it was for work, as she is in some way betraying her mother. She wants to get the job done and get out of there but when she falls and breaks her wrist there is no way she will make the return flight home. I felt like it was fate that this happened to Zelda. It gave her no option but to stay and in doing so she was allowed to rest and think although her creative mind is never not on the go both in terms of the writing she does and the subsequent party she goes on to organise. I loved that about her that she was creative and imaginative but at the same time did she do so much so that she didn’t have to think about her own personal situation. This enforced time in Loch Cameron meant she had no other option than to face up to what she had been avoiding and the more time she spends in the village the more its people and the beautiful countryside slowly start to soothe her jangled nerves.
When Zelda is finally recovered and able to return to America she receives news that the paper has been sold and the existing team are being let go. The one constant in her life is now gone and she carefully considers what is she rushing back for? When she meets Gretchen this is where the blurb and the title of the book starts to come into play. Gretchen is elderly although she still has all her faculties and now she is moving into a nursing home she agrees to let Zelda stay in the cottage if she will do it up and redecorate. And whilst she is engaged in this process she finds a secret bundle of letters which opens up a whole new can of worms but in my mind provided the perfect link between the past and the present and through learning more about the contents of the letters and the people mentioned Zelda sees some small similarities in her own life and it helps her in her healing process and what also in deciding what her next steps should be. You could see Zelda getting comfortable and relaxed in her new setting and she really integrated well with the locals. Although herself and Hal rub each other the wrong way countless times. I loved Fiona in the fashion shop and how Zelda had brilliant ideas to move her business forward. The same could be said for helping getting the castle back on the tourist radar once more. Zelda clearly loved a project and getting her teeth stuck into things as I think it didn’t allow her time to sit and ponder what was and what might have been.
Hal was a rough and ready type with his old fashioned dress sense and ways but Zelda finds him handsome and attractive and although the pair often clash the sexual tension and electric energy just oozes off the pages every time they appear together. Hal too was grieving, he had lost his wife to cancer and since then he had let things slide in the castle and the infamous May Day party was no longer held. I loved the tradition around this and the standing stones on the land too. It could have all seemed a bit OTT and far fetched but the author had clearly done her research and this aspect slotted in well to the overall plot of the book. As Zelda offers herself to improve the castle website and get it open to weddings and parties she grows closer to Hal but there are simmering tensions between and she hears things and instantly takes them at face value therefore changing her perception and opinions about him. I think she trusted too much in a certain other character who wasn’t as all straight laced and as nice as pie as they are first made out to be. Zelda I found jumped to conclusions too readily and took gossip on board when perhaps she should have filtered it and subsequently this led to some twists and turns as I neared the conclusion.
The only fault I found with the book was that given there was so much time and effort put into all aspects of the story the ending for me felt a little rushed and up in the air. There wasn’t something really solid cementing what I thought was going to happen at least that’s what I felt. But maybe it was for the reader to decide the long term outcome/resolution for themselves or maybe there will be more from this setting and these characters in the future. I’d love to see Fiona get a book of her own. Despite this, I really enjoyed The Cottage by The Loch and on a cold and damp day it would be an engaging and charming read to curl up on the couch with which is just what I did.
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