Reviewed by Emma Crowley
After losing her sense of self recovering from a serious operation, event planner Deb Sutherland is desperate to reconnect with her family and start living again. So, when an email arrives from the Laird of Loch Cameron asking her to plan his annual Spring Fling, Deb packs her life into her car and makes for the rolling hills of the Highlands. This could be her chance to explore the Scottish roots her beloved grandmother refused to speak about.
Auditioning bands and designing decorations at the Laird’s grand castle, Deb runs into property developer Kyle Abernethy on the edge of the manicured gardens. Kyle is maddeningly arrogant, but Deb can’t deny how his icy blue eyes make her stomach flip. And as they share a bottle of wine overlooking the glittering loch, Deb finds herself laughing like she hasn’t in years.
But when Deb finds an old map of tumbledown worker’s cottages in the castle archives, her heart stops. She remembers how tearful her grandmother would get when asked about her childhood. Was Loch Cameron her home before her family was tragically torn apart? Has Kyle been hiding this truth from her all along?
As the Spring Fling approaches, should Deb run from Loch Cameron for good? Or will confronting her heart-breaking family history mean she can finally move forward with Kyle by her side?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGally for my copy of An Invitation to the Cottage by the Loch to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
An Invitation to the Cottage by the Loch is the fifth instalment in Kennedy Kerr’s Loch Cameron series and I am enjoying it just as much as ever. Don’t worry if you haven’t read any of the previous books as they are all standalone stories and it’s the location that connects them. These are such lovely stories with a gentle and relaxed pace that makes you feel at ease and you quickly settle into the story. There are a few familiar faces that make a reappearance some of which we haven’t seen since book one so I was delighted that they featured again as I had been wondering how things had been going for them since their stories concluded. But this time around the focus is on Deborah (Deb) Sutherland and her story particularly the medical aspects will resonate with a lot of women readers. For lots of people have been through what Deb has undergone and who knows what may lie in the future for others. Here the issues that Deb faces on a personal level and has done so for many years were dealt with in a careful and considered manner and I feel readers will take an awful lot from it.
Deb’s life has been lacklustre for several years because of her endometriosis. This condition has meant she has had limitations in her life and everything has really worn her down and knocked her confidence. But now she has finally gotten the hysterectomy she so badly needed she feels that things are at last on the up for her and she can start afresh with her life. Deb is a feminist and raised by a strong woman to be independent and to know that she can do anything that she wishes in her life. But her wings have for too long been curtailed and now she knows she has the strength to move forward. But will that be with her boyfriend Dan? Well that is a completely different kettle of fish. Since her operation he has shown his true colours complaining that he has had to care for Deb while she recovers. He makes her feel worthless while she is incapacitated and accuses her of things that she hasn’t done and is so disrespectful. The wool is pulled from her eyes and she knows that any trust she had with him is broken. I was so delighted that she kicked him to the kerb and came to understand that he was never going to be someone that she could share her insecurities, pain, love and laughter with.
Deb has been through a lot personally and certainly needs to get some distance between herself and Dan. On a professional level she needs to get back into the swing of work especially as she is self-employed. She is an events organiser and very good at her job and when Hal Cameron, Laird of Loch Cameron, gets in touch with her in the hopes that she can organise the annual May Day celebrations. Well a golden opportunity to get that distance she craves has fallen into her lap. Soon, she finds herself transported to Scotland and to Queen’s Point on the shores of Loch Cameron where she will stay in a beautiful cottage where Gretchen Ross once lived. She is now in a care home but she does feature again and she is like the stalwart of the series. Someone that newcomers to the village and specifically to the cottage can always rely on. Loch Cameron is a world away from Deb’s former life. It’s a close knit community where most people know everyone else’s business but there is always someone on hand to offer a shoulder to cry on or give some helpful advice. This may very well be what Deb’s has been searching for unbeknownst to herself.
I adored how the story unfolded from that point on and I always love the historical element that Kennedy Kerr adds in also. This time it connects to Deb’s family history and I thought it was all worked so perfectly into the overall story. There was the perfect balance between this, the details of the preparations and plans for the party and how things develop on the personal side for Debs and all this careful balance made for an engaging, heartwarming read. One that to be honest I read in two sittings. A: because it was a quick read and B: because I became so absorbed in Debs journey whilst she worked in Loch Cameron. I felt the longer that she was there the more she started to put her demons to rest and find her confidence again. Being in Loch Cameron and exploring the surrounding countryside makes her feel connected to the land and she feels her strength and resistance starting to return. Finding local links to her own family history also help her work through things with her mother, who herself is in need of help though she is loath to admit it.
Of course, there had to be some romance and a bit of angst along then way also. This is always welcome in a story in this genre and in this case it comes in the form of property developed Kyle Abernethy. He is not that popular with the local residents especially the members of the ‘coven’ a women’s group whom Deb befriends. They start protests when he plans to build a housing development on what is considered protected land which if he gets the go ahead will destroy habitats for precious animals. When Deb first encounters him the pair really don’t get off to a good start but who said true love ever did run smooth? But yet there is a connection/chemistry between them and given Debs longs for a life of love and ease without ever having to fight or struggle Kyle could very well be the one for her. Should she just focus on organising the best May Day celebration Hal and the locals have ever seen and not pursue anything with Kyle? Or can she find the balance between the two? Or perhaps she’s not ready for romance quite just yet?
There is definitely a simmering attraction between the pair but Kyle comes across as being very hot headed and arrogant but perhaps that just a façade. Soon they get more comfortable in each other’s presence and she can tease and argue with him and the banter flows back and forth but given all the troubles Debs has had physically and emotionally is she really read to let go or will past hurts and anxieties continue to hold her back? At times I found that Debs was brilliant on a professional level at her job organising and getting everything ready for the celebrations but on a personal it was a different kettle of fish altogether. You could sense the vulnerability that surrounded her and that she was afraid to 100% let go and to be honest I couldn’t blame her for this at all. If you’ve been damaged emotionally by past experiences and then a medical condition has also held you back than of course you are going to be wary and want to take tentative steps into the future. I just hoped the more I read that being in Loch Cameron, doing well at her job, trying to bring closure to some family history, making new friends and meeting Kyle would be enough to bring the real Debs out from the layers of protection that she had put around herself and that a new and improved Deb would embrace all that life was throwing in her direction.
An Invitation to the Cottage by the Loch was a gorgeous read and an ideal read for this summer whether you are sat in the garden or by the pool. I do hope Kennedy continues on with this series because the setting is magical and I am not growing tired of it all. Just keep bringing new characters with new stories to Loch Cameron and I will be very happy.
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