Scot and Bothered by Alexandra Kiley is a heartfelt second-chance romance set against the stunning backdrop of Scotland’s Skye Trail. Brooke and Jack’s journey—both physical and emotional—is filled with tension, self-discovery, and undeniable chemistry. The vivid setting and well-developed characters make this a compelling read, though some pacing issues may slow the story. Fans of adventure-filled romances and emotional reunions will find plenty to enjoy.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the eARC!

Alexandra Kiley writes some of my favorite Scottish romances. I read Kilt Trip last year as I was planning my trip to Scotland, dreaming of all the things I would see and the places I would go. I devoured Scot and Bothered after we got back, and I loved that I could visualize all the places she writes about so reverently. I've walked the streets of Old Town in Edinburgh. I've hiked Old Man or Storr on Skye. Knowing the geography made me fall even harder in love with the book and its characters.

Brooke Sinclair is an ex=pat living in Scotland since her days at the University of Edinburgh. At one point, she dreamt of being a famous author, but after an abrupt end to her collegiate experience, she hid away, ghostwriting for others while her own words evaporated into the aether. Now she has a second chance--she's helping her well-known literary mentor craft her memoir. But in order to capture the beauty of the trail her mentor helped to establish on the isle of Skye, she realizes she's going to have to hike it--and her mentor's nephew is going to hike it with her to take photos for the book. The same nephew who ruined her life. Only one tent, anyone? But maybe this experience will prove to be more than just a second chance at writing--maybe it'll be a second chance at love, too.

Long story short, I adored this book so much. I enjoyed Kilt Trip, but the redemption arc of Scot and Bothered really resonated with me, plus I had my experience on Skye to reflect back on as I hiked with Brooke and Jack through the pages. This is a MUST READ for anyone who loves writing, Scotland, and second-chances.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Scot and Bothered is a slow-burn, second-chance romance mostly set on the idyllic Isle of Skye in Scotland. The novel switches between past and present, as well as from the point of view of Brooke and Jack. The two of them met in college, fell in love, then life fell apart. Fate has brought them together again to work on a very special project, the memoir of Mhairi McCallister – Brooke's mentor and Jack’s Aunt.

I read Alexandra Kiley's first novel, Kilt Trip, and actually had the chance to meet her at my local book club. I was very excited to hear that she was writing another book in the same world, with the same characters. This book is more of a prologue than a sequel, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Kiley has a beautiful way of weaving grief and love together. She identifies multiple levels and types of love through both her books, which adds a depth to her stories, unique to the romance genre. With Brooke and Jack, they experience friendship, lust, and deep love. With Brooke and Mhairi, the reader sees the love and trust between mentor and mentee, teacher and student. We see through Jack's parents and brothers, unconditional love along with growing pains. Love is layered, making it a fuller story. Kiley makes the characters feel like real people who are over in Edinburgh right now.

I am not a huge romance book reader because of the tropes, but Kiley's romance hits differently. Yes it unfolds slower than some, but because of this, the love blooming between characters feels more genuine and more sweet. The romance and tension between Jack and Brooke feels authentic and realistic. To me, the pacing makes me more invested, and has more pay off than instant gratification.

If you want pure smut, this is not your book. If you want to curl up and mentally travel overseas to the rolling hills of Scotland, confront lost dreams, fall in love with yourself and an old flame, and maybe see an adorable Highland Coo… then this should be your next read! I will always recommend her works to others because her words have an emotional depth, honesty, and self-awareness I don't find often enough.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 because I just loved Jack so much, we got to revisit the Sutherland family from Kilt Trip, and the story is told during an extended hike across the Isle of Skye, a place I have longed to visit!

This is a sweet and poignant second chance romance between two creatives who met at University seven years before. Jack, a nature photographer, and Brooke, a writer, thought they were meant to be when Jack TA'd for one of Brooke's classes. After failing to disclose their relationship to faculty, their resulting break up has haunted them ever since. They are reunited when they are both asked to work on a memoir for Jack's aunt, and Brooke's mentor.

It was hard not to compare this one to Kilt Trip, and I do think that it fell a bit short. It lacks the humor and the character development that I enjoyed about Kilt Trip. I also felt like the story "ended" too soon when Brooke rather spontaneously decided to let go of all of her resentment and embrace Jack as if she hadn't been punishing him for days without letting him explain and apologize to her. And the third act break up was pointless.

Alexandra Kiley is a good writer, though, and I am looking forward to her next novel. Will we get to read Reid's story?

Be prepared for lots of angst here. Brooke is a ghostwriter after being unable to graduate school for reasons we will find out later in the book. She’s co-writing her mentor’s memoir and decides to go out on the hiking trail the mentor founded to get some more perspective for her next revisions. Problem is that her ex-boyfriend Jack is also on the trip as a the photographer. The book is told from both Brooke and Jack’s POV, with chapters switching between present-day and the past development (and dissolution) of their relationship. I liked reading about their adventures on the hiking trail and all the elements that they had to overcome. There was a lot of time for Brooke and Jack to each self-reflect on their goals and dreams in life and how they might be able to make a relationship work this time around. It was also interesting to read the chapters from the past and how their relationship was both fated and doomed from the start. The story also gets a bit teary as we deal with the mentor’s illness and how that is shared (or not shared) with our main characters. Great story, but you have to be in the mood for it.

Dual timeline, dual POV!! so incredibly impressive that she pulled this off so well with such distinct voices for each of the characters. So difficult to do. That alone makes this a great read, but the turn of phrase and emotionality of this second chance romance is beautiful. I really enjoyed!

I really enjoyed the way this book jumped between time and character POV. I thought it gave a great view of everything that happened in Brooke and Jack's relationship to get them to the point where we meet them. I thought the chemistry between them was good . Their lack of communication was frustrating but this was also plot motivator so I understood it was meant to be frustrating. I had a hard time with their original breakup. I thought the way the school reacted to their relationship was just a lot. I just didn't buy into it fully. The ending and the grief was very well written and moving. Overall I did enjoy this book.

This book was the perfect second chance romance. I loved all the characters and their story. The dual timeline gave us so much insight to what happened in the past. Would definitely recommend this book.

🖤🖤🖤🖤
4/5

This was such a charming, heartfelt, and witty story. After finding out this book’s plot was two ex lovers with a second chance roaming trails in Scotland, I was so sold. The setting was picturesque and the character’s chemistry was so well written. I felt like I was right there on the trails in Scotland with Brooke & Jack. This also was a second chance romance book; which is one of my fav tropes.

Here’s what I loved:

💫 Brooke & Jack were total twin flame vibes

🌱 I can’t say enough about how picturesque this book was. I wanted to climb into the pages.

📷 I loved that Jack was a photographer trying to find his footing in the industry. It should be noted that Kiley described Jack’s photos so brilliantly that I could actually picture them!

🫶🏻 the connection between Jack & Mhairi was deep & unique. I really enjoyed their nephew-aunt relationship.

🔥 this was slightly slow burn, but so worth the reconnection. I had butterflies & just adored watching these two fall back into love.

🌶️ the spice was perfect in this. It felt real in such a good way. Again, worth the pages to get to it.

🤞🏻 the will they won’t they

⛺️ only one tent trope…literally any new variation of one bed at the inn to me is amazing

📄 the printer paper scene originally felt so cutesy, but the second time around it made me cry…I loved this. SO twin flame vibes!

😭 Mhairi and Brooke’s final deep conversation made me cry so much…it was the word I needed Brooke to hear before the end of the book, but boy did it trigger my emotions!

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 overall, this book was a brilliant ride & I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys the wilderness/outdoorsy vibe stories! This one is out now…add to your TBR. It’s perfect for spring, but also has summer vibes.

Brooke and Jacks story was… okay. Nothing really blew me away, it was a quick read, but it didn’t really feel like anything super special or extraordinary. The thing that bothered me the most was the random Scottish accent that kept popping up and then disappearing. And the fact that Brooke said she had hiked mountains in Colorado (her back story of being stuck during a thunderstorm didn’t really seem to go anywhere- I thought it was going to have a more traumatic plot line), but then couldn’t read a map and got lost?

The whole TA student plot line was predictable, as was Jack turning them in. Brooke suffered more than he did (because of course), but she should have expected something like that to happen, especially after they had been caught together multiple times.

I thought it was fine, the hiking was cute and both Brooke and Jack realized their dreams, so I guess there’s that?

I really like this book! However, I’m not a fan of the title… this book was more serious and had a deeper plot than the title lets on… I thought it was very well written and a really great read!!

Oh I liked this so much more than the previous story. I found Brooke so flawed but relatable. I couldn’t put it down!

2.75 stars

I wanted to love this one so much more than I did. Kilt Trip was one of my favorites last year! I just couldnt get into this. I'm not sure if I dont like book where they are out in the wilderness for the whole book? I was dying to figure out what caused their first break up. I also didnt really have any emotional connection to the Aunt like what the characters did. So that whole story line was really lost for me and that was really the main point of the book. I know as soon as the Aunt said the Jack to not to Brooke about her cancer that would be the third act conflict that caused them issues after they rekindled Also regarding the Aunt, she was kinda the reason Jack was forced into disclosing their relationship and Brooke doesnt seem to know that?? The author did do an amazing job and writing the trail and describing the Skye and what it looks like. I could picture everything that they were seeing! Overall it was okay! I think some readers will really love this book, but it just fell short for me.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the eARC!

Scot and Bothered is a second chance romance about a ghostwriter stuck on a weeklong hiking trip with an ex after nearly a decade apart. The story follows Brooke and Jack during their university days and 7 years later as they hike a remote trail along the Scottish coast, taking readers on a romantic, emotional, and compelling ride that I happily finished in one sitting.

This book was honestly a fun read! I ended up listening to it on audio as well and had a good time with it. However the romance and story itself did fall a little flat for me in some areas.

Thank you to harlequin trade publishing and the author for a free advanced reader copy of this book.

2.75

I had really high hopes for this book. It has a cute premise but I felt like there were some plot holes that I couldn’t look past. I enjoyed the relationship development but when the two mcs finally got together, it fell flat for me,

4⭐️
2🔥

Quick Breakdown

Second Chance
Set in Scotland
Bookish Book
Only One Tent
Past / Present Timelines
Forbidden Romance
Dual POV
Open Door - Mild

Brooke was on the cusp of having everything she wants. Dreams of graduating university and becoming a writer are so close she can taste it, until it’s ripped away. Now, instead of writing her own original work, she works as a ghost writer. She’s offered the opportunity of a lifetime to co-write a memoir for her mentor. The project has her taking off to hike an infamous trail through the island of sky. Only problem is her partner is the man who caused her downfall years prior.

Second chance romances can be hit or miss for me, but Scot & Bothered had me entranced from the get go. With help from the past / present timelines, the growing tension and inevitable angst had me glued to my kindle, unable to put this down. It brought me so much joy watching Brooke & Jack gently finding their way back together.

I was completely enamored in by the setting. Not only am I a sucker for a book set Scotland, but it was the vivid, romantic descriptions of the island of Skye & the trail Brooke & Jack were hiking. I found myself googling the landmarks noted throughout & feeling like I was traveling alongside our MCs, falling further in love with Scotland in addition to Brooke & Jack.

Scot and Bothered was a great follow up to Alex's debut novel, Kilt Trip. I enjoyed the "now" and "then" alternating timeline of the book, diving into Brooke and Jack's past and seeing where they were in the present. Second chance romances can be difficult to execute, but Alex nailed it! Other tropes I loved throughout this book were forced proximity and one-bed trope. Thank you to Alex Kiley- I'm so grateful to be on your street team and receiving another arc of your second novel!

I was definitely in the mood for a Scottish setting and a great romance story when reading this novel, and it truly delivered. The story was set in Edinburgh and Skye, and followed Brooke and Jack as they got a second chance at love. The book switched between past (7 years ago) and the present day, which was exciting to see their love develop in two different times and in different ways. As university students with one in a position of power, there was a forbidden aspect to their love which made it exciting to read about as they developed a close relationship. Seven years later, it wasn’t so forbidden, but it was also marred by events from the past. The setting of a hike through the Scottish highlands gave just the freedom and opportunity to pursue that passion once again, and to get a delightful sense of the glorious countryside they were exploring. The characters were well developed and you really believed their story, and I also enjoyed the minor characters who wove their stories together as well. Very well written and a great read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this novel. All opinions are my own

Great book! I really enjoyed the well written story! The characters are well-rounded and the romance between the main characters was spot-on and amazing!