Wild Scottish Rose by Tricia O’Malley
The Enchanted Highlands series #4. Magical Scottish romance. Can be read as a stand-alone but better as part of the series. World building flows through all the books as do a few of the characters.
Shona Scott has had enough of supplying flowers for weddings and decides to renovate a cottage on her property to earn money. Her first rental is to Owen Williams who is investigating his friend’s story of water horses that dragged him under the loch. Owen is a filmmaker and determined to catch anything unusual in Loren Brae.
When a garden gnome starts talking to Shona, her life takes a turn to the magical. And while she can’t control what magical beings show themselves to Owen, she does know those creatures cannot be shared with the world.

🎧 I listened to an audiobook version of this story, narrated by Amy Landon and Will Watt who do the full series. Both narrators bring an enthusiasm to the story that draws the reader in to the Scotland Highlands with “coo” other magical creatures. The performance includes characters with a Scottish accent as well as from the States. I did have to slow down a bit from my preferred speed to understand some of the Scottish dialog. It was a wonderful and entertaining performance with clear emphasis on emotions and the magical.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and the publisher.

I really enjoyed this story and the growth of Shona and Owen. I just love this series and am excited to see where it goes.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape for the opportunity to listen to this audio-arc!

Wild Scottish Rose, written by Tricia O’Malley, is book four of The Enchanted Highlands series. Although I own the other three books in the series, I have not read them yet. I jumped on board when I saw that this one was available to listen to, and I was happy to find out that it could be easily read as a standalone.

This whimsical and magical book has a dual POV as it follows Shona Scott and Owen Williams. Shona gets fed up with the wedding side of her floral business and calls it quits, focusing on selling her produce and floral arrangements at the local market. She also renovates a small cottage on her property for the holidays. Strange and wonderful things that take a magical turn begin to happen to Shona. Owen, a documentary filmmaker, is in Scotland for a wedding when he decides to stay a while after a friend is hurt in a terrifying and unexplainable accident. To his surprise, the cottage he rents is from the same florist from the wedding.

Amy Landon and Will Watt read this audiobook. I loved that they used both native Scottish accents and American accents. Both were enthusiastic and lively. They brought these wonderful characters to life and had me chuckling. They have me wanting to start the other books as soon as possible.

I adored this magical story filled with fantastic magical creatures like Gnorman (The G is silent!!) and the hedgehog army - namely Eugene. The banter between Owen and Shona was flirty and cute, and I loved their insta-attraction to each other. The romance, with a touch of spice, was perfectly nestled into the storyline. The gardening puns were hilarious.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Tricia O’Malley for gifting me a copy of Wild Scottish Rose. I am leaving this review voluntarily. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Shona lives a quiet life, tending to her garden in her home town. Owen is brought to town when his friend has a very serious accident. While Owen is trying to work out what happened to his friend Shona is making discoveries of her own. It turns out there is a reason her gardens work so well. She, like her gran before her, is a garden witch. This comes as quite a surprise to her and along with this revelation she also learns there is a lot more going on in her home town than she realised. Owen rents a cottage on her land and it turns out they’ve met before at a wedding she did the flowers for. There is an attraction there from the start, but Shona doesn’t understand why a film director like him would be interested in her. She doesn’t see what he does, she is loving, sweet, beautiful and so thoughtful. He thinks of himself as a lone wolf, only really taking care of his mum out of a feeling of responsibility. She sees past his barriers and sees a kind, funny, passionate man. There are a lot of things happening in Loren Brae that the locals want to stay hidden which is proving difficult with a famously persistent film director looking for the truth while staying in town. There are a lot of issues for them to overcome, but I loved how sweet there reconciliation was. I loved Gnorman the gnome and Eugene the hedgehog. They were such unusual characters and I loved all of the other mythical creatures we met along the way. It took me a little while to get used to the female MC having a Scottish accent and the male MC being American, but even when I decided to read as well as listen to the book I found myself hearing their voices. This was such a cute, fun, interesting story with a little bit of heat. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Another magical romance from Tricia O'Malley! Love this whimsy in this romantic world. Gnorman and Eugene are great additions to the story. Can't wait for her next book!

Thank you to Tricia O’Malley and the publisher for this ARC!

Shona spends her days pottering on her farm on Scotland and selling her produce. When Owen, an American filmmaker on holiday, books her holiday cottage, she’s instantly attracted. Complication abounds when Shona discovers her emerging magic, and is forced to hide this and the presence of magical local creatures from documentarian Owen.

This read wasn’t quite my cup of tea, I found it bit more sugary and corny than I had anticipated. I also found it a bit off putting that the Scottish narrator spoke so fast, and the American so slow (adjusting the speed of the audio helped!). I did enjoy the Scottish supernatural elements, and loved the Scottish setting. I think Eugene the hedgehog was my favourite character!

I also really enjoy the narrators accents, and thought listening to audiobook was a good way to enjoy the book- it brought Shona and Owen’s banter to life.

While it wasn’t for me, I could see this being a really enjoyable read for anyone looking for a low stakes, cosy, and sweet romance, with a healthy dose of magic.

Thank you Dreamscape Select and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

Oh my sides! This book needs to come with a warning that you will laugh throughout the book causing the best muscle cramps ever! The enjoyment that I get from the audiobooks in this series is absolutely the best! It has become one of my must listen series! Characters that are well developed while being steeped in emotion and humor to entertain for hours! The plots are detailed and fun, yet have serious issues that are underlying themes in the story dealing with trust and communication. When do you trust someone in a relationship with secrets that you don't want the world to find out about? Is it a lie or is it common sense omission. Overall if you like a good laugh, a paranormal romance, some nice spice and a compelling story then this book, or rather this series is absolutely the one you should be reading or listening to! The dual narration really brings the characters as well as the stories fully to life!

A twisting tale of murder, attempted murder, ghosts, and Scotland, what more can you ask for? It was a fun, gripping mystery set in the wilds of Scotland. Fun banter, entertaining characters.

Shona Scott was written beautifully. Great character development. I loved the story also. This is a great witchy novel, and I highly recommend.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Dreamscape Select for an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely love this series! I have not laughed so hard over Cheese Puns and Snarky Gnomes in a long time lol. I also really like that there was a sweet romance that grew throughout the story. I am excited for what comes next in this amazing adventure!


sidenote: I listened to this version and the male lead read with a slight lisp which was slightly annoying but I did my best to ignore it.

Living a stone's throw from Scotland, this audiobook caught my eye immediately. Written by Tricia O'Malley and narrated by Amy Landon and Will Watt I was really excited to get into the series.

This book is the fourth in the series, so in fairness, it was difficult to connect right away. I was having real problems connecting the accents. Maybe it is because I am accustomed to a wide vareity of Scottish dialects (in real time on the daily) that I was not able to connect with the voices of the scots characters, but I will say the narrators really conveyed the storyline well in all other aspects of the book.

Tricia O'Malley is a great writer and captured the soul of the scottish landscape well. The dialogue and narrative flowed well and I am looking forward to exploring the series from the beginning

Thank you to Netgalley, Dreamscape Select, Lovewrite Publishing and narrated by Amy Landon and Will Watt for this ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

I've loved every book in this series and this was no exception. This was another feel good, sweet, whimsical romance. I loved the garden witch aspect and omg the gnomes and hedgies were so stinking adorable. They made me laugh. I thought the characters had great chemistry and a good progression to their romance. The audio narration is great and the story itself is simply magical and charming. I listened to this in one sitting.