Reviewed by Emma Crowley
The Balhennie family raised their six daughters on the Isle of Skye amongst early breakfast services and fully booked summers. Their inn is never short of gossip – and when eldest daughter Sorrel turns up for the first time in ten years, the island rumour mill begins.
Always the one left to corral her younger siblings, resourceful Sorrel now runs her own successful property business on the mainland. She throws herself into the repairs, praying her curious sisters will stop asking about the real reason she left home…
But Sorrell didn’t count on brooding, blue-eyed Tam Blackwood – the man she thought was her forever – supervising the works. Now they’re thrown together again, Sorrel realises just how much she’s missed him.
And with her secret in danger of tearing her family apart for good, only Tam has a plan to fix the inn and heal the rift between the Balhennie sisters. With his help, can Sorrel finally open up? Or will the inn close its doors forever?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Scottish Island Inn to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Scottish Island Inn is the first in a new series by Kennedy Kerr set on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. There are six sisters in the Balhennie family which suggests the potential for this to develop into a six part series where each book follows a different sister and this is great because this first book was a really good read and I am eager to discover more about each individual sister. The book opens with a brief prologue where Bluebell is writing to Sorrell, the missing sister so to speak, as she left the island over ten years ago and has never returned or made contact. Instantly, the reader wants to know what caused her to flee the family fold and break all forms of communication. The family as a whole is prone to drama and big feelings all of which are explored throughout the book. As Bluebell writes the letter, one of many she has written and sent to Sorrel over the years without a reply, the reader gets a very brief intro as to the name of each sister and what they do. Just enough to whet the readers appetite for future books because this story focuses on Sorrel and how when the home and family business are in danger of being lost forever she finally makes the brave decision to return to her family at a time when they need her the most.
If the inn and all its history and heritage had been meandering along nicely as it had always done I doubt Sorrel would have returned and therefore we would have had no storyline. But the inn which has been part of the landscape of Skye for so many years and situated on the grounds of Balhennie Castle and which had become a place of love, sanctuary and an intrinsic part of the community is now in serious need of repair and flooding in the basement led to subsidence which in turn exposed numerous other problems. Unfortunately the girls parents, Angus and Catriona, don’t have the funds to repair all the damage. Sorrel has knowledge of property development and refurbishing houses and Bluebell is aware that perhaps getting Sorrel to come back could be the final chance to save the inn. The family are cracking up living onsite in a caravan and not to forget the feud that Angus has with their cousin the Laird of the castle James, over who is the rightful laird means that tensions are at an all-time high and Bluebell feels as if her carefully constructed peaceful world is splintering all around her.
For Sorrel, I felt the fact that she had just discovered her long term partner both in business and romance had cheated on her and stolen from the business gave her the push to return home. She needed time away from London to consider her next move. It wasn’t specifically said for a period of time what caused her such angst that she felt no she had no other choice than to leave the family home but I worked it out fairly early on from some subtle clues and the fact that she had such anger, hatred and mistrust towards her parents most notably her mother. Figuring things out so soon didn’t detract from the reveal even though it did come a lot earlier than I would have expected. I actually felt quite smug that I had worked it out. I will say I felt this aspect of the storyline had so much potential but given that there were several storylines running concurrently perhaps this was glossed over a bit too quickly. I felt it needed more development and some more in-depth exploration given it had caused such tumult and upset in the lives of Sorrel and the Balhennie family. But that’s just how I felt and maybe others will feel it was dealt with sufficiently.
Sorrel is the eldest of the daughters, and I felt they all looked up to her and would seek guidance from her or at least they had until she abruptly left. Each sister dealt with this in a different way but the sensitive soul that was Bluebell was perhaps most deeply affected. I did think it was brave and courageous of Sorrel to return given that if you had made the clean break from what had altered your perception of everything you had known, returning to this would stir up many complex and difficult emotions which you would had kept suppressed. Forced to keep a secret against her will which led to deep fractures within the family only increased the bitterness she felt. Now returning to the island, Sorrel had no choice but to confront the issue she had ran from for so long and at the end of the day she returned because she loved her sisters so much. Little did she bargain running into Tam, her one true love. The pain of leaving him still had its scars on her heart in the present day and as they work together planning and working on the restoration of the inn their history comes to light and old feelings start to stir. Bit can Sorrel give into them given she probably will leave Skye as soon as the work is complete and the family are back on their feet? Should she have that much needed talk with her parents? So many questions and conundrums run through Sorrel’s mind. I can’t forget to mention that I adored the significance of the heart shaped stone that manifested itself in the Tam/Sorrel storyline. It was so beautiful, heartwarming and apt.
As with the authors Loch Cameron series there is a historical element present once again and I love how this is woven throughout the modern-day story without being overpowering. After all this is women’s romance fiction not specifically historical fiction so to meld the two so well is no small feat. I loved reading the letters scattered throughout that gave us an insight into Emma Gordon, a woman engaged in fraudulent activities in the past. To see how it connected back to the inn and the castle was fascinating and uncovering some historical objects opened another storyline which I very much enjoyed. It wasn’t all plain sailing for Sorrel throughout the book as she has to navigate new paths with both her family and Tam. She experiences a wide range of emotions and forgiveness, love and understanding do feature heavily. Sorrel has to dig deep and think what she really wants from life and can she forget the hurts of the past in order to embrace a new future.
The Scottish Island Inn was a really promising and enjoyable start to what I feel will be a great series. I absolutely adored the setting of the Isle of Skye. It was so richly described with its moorland, waterfalls and mountains. It was the perfect advertisement to encourage people to visit. I feel we have barely touched on so many of the characters and I am keen to find out more about everyone, but I know this will all come in future books. Small communities, female friendship, sibling relationships and romance all feature heavily throughout and were most welcome. All in all a delightful read perfect for a day by the pool or an afternoon in the garden whilst enjoying the summer sunshine.
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