"It was from her I inherited my love of all things porcelain. Grandma had taught me from an early age about the delicate beauty of crockery, its often fascinating history and the sheer delight of indulging in a cup of tea from a dainty cup and saucer".
A Scottish Highland Surprise by Julie Shackman is an uplifting modern feel-good romance, with a cosy mystery (minus murder), set in a picturesque little Scottish town of Briar Glen.
The story starts a bit slowly, as we get to meet Sophie Harkness who works as a wedding planner. She feels frazzled and under-appreciated, working long hours, with no work-life balance. Sophie refuses to move a colleague's wedding to accommodate the wishes of a posh Bridezilla who insists on having her big day on Christmas, and walks away from her job out of principle.
Sophie's grandmother Helena who died recently, has left a surprise will. There are very expensive vintage tea sets to sell, a newly bought shop in Briar Glen and a plan for Sophie to open her own crockery shop.
At first, Sophie is flabbergasted. "I loved beautiful crockery every bit as much as she had, but turning that passion into a successful business - the idea was a ludicrous one!... The list of negatives grew larger and darker as I thought about them... It had been a wonderful, loving and very generous idea of my grandmother's and she would never know how much I appreciated what she had attempted to do for me. But it was impossible."
Though lacking experience of running a business of her own, and troubled by "flurries of panic and pessimism", Sophie decides to have a go at being her own boss and open the porcelain shop to honour her grandmother's wishes.
One day a vintage tea set with a striking peacock design is left with Sophie, along with a mysterious letter.
"At the beginning, I had considered the peacock design and the mix of blues and greens rather garish, but the more I looked at it, the more I found myself appreciating the sweeps of colour and the extravagant detail in the peacock's fanned tail".
To solve the mystery of the unique tea set, Sophie needs help from a professional with a knowledge of antique porcelain and local history.
Enter Xander North, a handsome but oh so cold art critic. He appears aloof and stand-offish, "with his flinty stare and brusque attitude". As they begin to work together, there is plenty of misunderstanding on the way to keep them slightly wary of each other.
There is another candidate for the possible romance, a charming fun-loving artist Jake, with his blond Viking looks and talent for mischief.
Who will win Sophie over? Will the truth about the enigmatic tea set be discovered? Will she succeed as a business owner and find romance along the way?
There are three stories intertwined: Sophie's, her Grandma's and the young woman's connected to the historical tea set.
Sophie's Grandma's story is not a happy one. To appease her husband and conform to the standards of the small-town society, she didn't pursue her dreams of opening her own china shop, instead passing on her aspirations on to her granddaughter. In a way, it's like some parents push their children to achieve things they haven't been able to reach themselves, as if living their own dreams through them.
As it happened, Sophie has become very adept at running a shop, but perhaps if her Grandma didn't push her into the business, she would have chosen a different creative path in her life.
The most exciting aspect of the novel for me was the talk about porcelain, all different varieties, history, descriptions. Loved every bit of that. I would love to have a china shop, selling antique and vintage porcelain. One of my hobbies is scouring the local charity and vintage shops for a fancy odd teacup and saucer. I don't mind that my china collection is very random and mismatched, for me there is a beauty in its lack of unanimity.
I enjoyed the mystery of the tea set, as well as the setting of the quaint little town. "Almost all of the local cottages possess an engraving above their door, depicting the mysterious blue Briar Glen rose in full bloom. The blue rose was said to represent something impossible to comprehend or a dream that may never be fulfilled".
The romance felt a little rushed, but in a way of many romantic comedies, where at first the two main characters resent each other through a series of miscommunications, then they realise their errors of judgment and can't hide their feelings any longer. Imagine the modern likes of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, add a whole loadsa china, with a sneaky manipulative love interest on the side, and you get Pride and Prejuidce of the 21C.
Whether you're looking for a rainy summer day book to escape in, or a beach read, A Scottish Highand Surprise is an easy, entertaining romance story, with a charming and intriguing mystery. It's a treat!
Author Bio –
Julie Shackman is a former journalist from Scotland, who has always wanted to write feel-good romance. As well as being an author, Julie also writes verses and captions for greetings card companies. Julie admits to having an obsession with stationery and handbags. She is married, has two sons and a Romanian rescue pup, who she named Cooper. A Scottish Highland Surprise is Julie's sixth novel.
Social Media Links –
https://www.facebook.com/julie.shackman
https://www.instagram.com/juliegeorginashackman
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