This is my first read of a Rachel Bowdler book and what a truly stunning read it is. Heart warming and beautifully written.

This was an easy read, lots of positive rep, and I can see why many love it, but ultimately found it wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a wonderful, feel good, happy, sad story. Some very appealing characters and a true to life story. I loved every minute of my read.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

After a scandalous divorce, Countess of Cheshire, Jessamine Byron, leaves London behind to hide away at her ancestral castle in Scotland. She meets sexy — and very grumpy — gardener, Mac, who doesn’t recognize who she really is. Since part of her castle is open to the public, she poses as a tour guide named Jessie to hide her true identity. While they’ve gotten off on the wrong foot, Jessie slowly gets to know Mac and his family better, and it becomes more difficult to disclose her true identity — plus, she learns that there are a lot of benefits to not having a title — like the opportunity to truly be seen for who she is.

This is a contemporary novel with a sweet, slow, romance. The characters are engaging and the story flows nicely. The imagery of the Scottish landscape and small idyllic towns were beautifully written and everything that’s expected in a good Scottish romance. This novel is the perfect way to pass an afternoon and I really enjoyed reading it.

This was a sweet book with some very lovely characters. Jess was so lost and so broken at the beginning of the story, so damaged by a life time of feeling inadequate and Mac was just as broken in his own way. Seeing Jess fall in love with the castle, the villagers and finding her purpose was just as great as seeing her fall in love with Mac. Arran was a great character and I enjoyed the nod to various lbgtqa+ identities, especially the historic ones.
A great read!

This is the first novel I have read from this author and I wasn’t aware of the LGBT aspect. This wasn’t really relevant except for Arran the foster son of Mac. It is the story of the search for love and acceptance. Jess had never felt loved by her mother or husband and reeling from bad publicity following her messy divorce she takes refuge in her castle in the Highlands. The community provides an opportunity to make a fresh start with the help of gardener Mac. I felt some of the supporting characters could have benefited from greater development and that this was something of a missed opportunity. A good summer read.

Oh I absolutely loved this book. It’s all about love and acceptance with others and yourself. Found families are the best and I love how this book highlights some of the positives about fostering and kinda showed the stress of it as well. I really enjoyed how they were excepting of everyone being their authentic selves. As a mother of teens I definitely get trying to be supportive of your children and making sure they are happy and healthy both mentally and physically.

It was an engaging read and the characters were well developed. However, as it was advertised in the LGBTQI category I had assumed the main characters were wlw which was not the case, so it was not at all what I was expecting.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

This lovely book is set in Scotland.

After a bad divorce Jess, who was a countess, she fell in love and left everything behind, money etc. goes to the home her family occupied,

The story also covered LGBTQ - they, she, etc. As well as fostering, what a foster parent/child goes through in the process.

Jess’s life was not full of love, but the duties she had to carry out daily and the people she could and couldn’t mix with.

Jessamine Byron, is the Countess of Cheshire. She retreats to Rosemire Castle in the Scottish highlands after her marriage of four years falls apart in a very public and messy divorce. She owns the castle and has private quarters there but it is part of the Scottish Castle Association for touring. One day she meet Mac Douglas, the grumpy gardener and introduces herself as Jess. He thinks she is a tour guide. With Mac she feels seen for herself and not her title. She takes interest in the local village fete and enjoys mixing with the locals. (Some know who she is some don’t.) She also meets the angry twelve year old Aaran a foster child that lives with Mac.

This is a sweet contemporary novel (I wasn’t sure from the blurb and throwing in titled characters). Mac and Jess are wonderful as they open up to each other. The side characters of Petra, Jess’s assistant, Meg who works in the pub, and Mac’s adoptive parents all add to the story and importance family of choice. Throw in Rufus, a three legged cat and I’m ready to sign up to visit this fictional village. There is positive LGBTQIA representation especially with Mac’s simple and quiet support of Aaran. It adds to the story but isn’t as focal to the plot as I expected since this is promoted as LGBTQIA.

The cover is so charmingly cute I almost skipped over selecting the book thinking it was geared for YA’s or younger. I also didn’t realize I’ve read the author’s previous novel Honeymoon For One (Nov 2022). I’m happy to recommend for readers who enjoy slow and gentle, minimal angst romances. There are no big surprises and nothing goes beyond kissing on the page. The setting and characters make this memorable for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Embla Books for the ARC and I’m leaving a voluntary review. (3.5 Stars)

Jessamine's life is a little bit of a scandal at the moment and she is in desperate need of a break from it all. After her marriage breakup has been splashed on the head pages of every newspaper thanks to her being a countess. So Jessamine decides to retreat to the family castle in Scotland. It is here that she meets the head gardener Mac. Who has no clue who the Countess is. Mistaking her for a tour guide. Jessamine is delighted and decides to keep up the pretence as she is enjoying being herself up as someone else for a change.

I loved how this book takes you directly to the Scottish Highlands. You could smell the grass and imagine you were right there in the castle. The characters of Jess, Mac and Arran were all great. However there were some characters who were a little bit too annoying. Especially Jesse's mother. Although the story was rather predictable it was still a nice read.

Amidst a post-divorce scandal, Countess Jessamine Byron seeks solace and time away from the hubbub by spending the summer at her family’s castle in Scotland. It is there that she quickly meets Mac, a gardener on the grounds. When he fails to initially identify who she is, Jessamine keeps up the alias of ‘Tour Guide Jess’, as they get to know more about each other.

As a fan of the Scottish highlands in general, I loved the details and feel of the land around the characters. Fort Aileen was the quaint and idyllic small town opposite of the castle. While I thoroughly enjoyed the characterization of Jess, Mac, and Arran, I found some characters to fall flat at their stereotypes, particularly Jess’s mother.

The story arc was fairly predictable, but it was still a pleasure to read. I understand Jess’s sexuality was a key part of who she is (and I appreciate the accurate representation and bias); however, it didn’t feel as consequential to the story as I thought it might be. At times, the pacing was a bit slow and I wanted higher stakes (yes, I have heard some stories aren’t angst fuelled dramas), but that’s probably just a preference.

I was on the fence between 3 and 4 stars, but bumped up the rating as the story delivered exactly what it sought out to do. I received an ARC from EmblaBooks through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I discovered Rachel Bowdler when I read Honeymoon for One (which I loved). So I was pleased to get my hands on Summer at the Scottish Castle.

I really loved this book. I love the LGBTQ+ representation. I love all the characters, especially Mac and Arran. I love the setting, at a Scottish Castle and village. My only frustration was with Jess not telling Mac about her title. It’s totally understandable, but I couldn’t have done it!

The plot was really enjoyable, plenty of romance, and found family, and people choosing what’s right for them. I loved Jess’s storyline especially.

This was such a heartwarming and lovely romance, I honestly can’t recommend it enough.

I was given a copy of this book, my opinions are my own.

Jess has inherited a Scottish castle, and flees there to get away from the gossip about her recent divorce. Deeply unhappy with her life ,she starts to fit into village life and meets the gardener, Mac . is their relationship doomed from the start? A good book for romance lovers to curl up with on a wet afternoon.

Jessamine, a Countess, runs away from her ugly and very public divorce to hide in her castle in Scotland. Her only companions are her three-legged cat, Rufus, and her annoying assistant, Petra.

Straight away she meets Mac, the castle's gardener, while she's hiding from Petra in his tulips. He is none too pleased to find her trampling them and is quick to tell her off, assuming she is a tourist or worse - a seasonal worker. She runs with his assumption and doesn't tell him who she really is before they part ways, each with a bad opinion of the other.

Through another couple of forced encounters they both realise that their initial assumptions of one another were perhaps incorrect but Jess still can't bring herself to tell Mac who she really is. That is, until it all blows up in her face which to honest we could see coming from the beginning, though I did hope she would be the one to tell him, but that's not how these stories really work.

All the main characters fall somewhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum but there wasn't a lot of backstory to most of the characters, especially Arran and Mac. It felt rather superficial.

It was an ok read, typical type of frenemies to lovers. I didn't feel like I connected with any of the characters at all and I found Jess to a be a little "poor me" when, lets face it, she's not really had to deal with any real life problems when the whole way along, Mac is concerned about being a foster parent and trying to get through the adoption process!

Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Countess of Cheshire, Jessamine Byron is hiding out in her Scottish castle after the drama surrounding her divorce blows up in London. She meets Mac in her castle garden and loves that he doesn’t know who she is. As just ‘Jess’ she gets to know Mac and his family and she grows to love this new her without a title but she’s still hiding her true identity.
This was a cute and cozy romance and I’ve really enjoyed this as well as the previous book I’d read by Bowdler. I will admit I misread this blurb though and thought this was wlw romance like her last one. Though it does have a lot of characters that are part of the queer community the romance is m/f and I’m not sure I would have picked it if I had realized that but I’m glad I did as it was a cute story. Bowdler did a great job building up each character and their relationship. There were some cute side characters including Arran who added so much to their family unit. If you’re looking for a cute, cozy slow burn this is the one to pick up.

A really fun summer read. Full of great characters, an interesting storyline and some very gorgeous Scottish scenery. What is not to love.

I found it entertaining but the characters are a bit underdeveloped. It's a good book if you want to spend an escapist afternoon.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

A light, quick read in the chick-lit vein. The characters, sadly, are underdeveloped and rather wooden, spouting a lot of insipid clichés, such as .....

"Embarrassment echoed through Jessamine."
"She wouldn't be belittled by someone who'd clearly woken up on the wrong side of bed."

Really??

If you're uncritical, looking for some escapism from the bleak grind of daily life this could be one for you.

Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.

A most enjoyable feel good read. The characters were varied and had interesting back stories. The story itself was entertaining. A good romance with the expected ending.