Scotch on the Rocks: A Contemporary Romance set in the Highlands of Scotland (Romancing the plaid - Lizzie's feel-good Scottish romances) - Softcover

Lamb, Lizzie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0957398557 ISBN 13: 9780957398559

Publisher: New Romantics Press, 2015

Synopsis

Family secrets threaten the future of Brodie and Ishabel’s happiness
ISHABEL STUART is at the crossroads of her life. Her wealthy industrialist father has died unexpectedly, leaving her a half-share in a ruined whisky distillery on a Scottish and the task of scattering his ashes on a Munro. After discovering her fiancé playing away from home, she cancels their lavish Christmas wedding at St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh and heads for the only place she feels safe - Eilean na Sgairbh, a windswept island on Scotland’s west coast - where the cormorants outnumber the inhabitants, ten to one.
When she arrives at her family home - now a bed and breakfast managed by her left-wing, firebrand Aunt Esme, she finds a guest in situ - BRODIE. Issy longs for peace and the chance to lick her wounds, but gorgeous, sexy American, Brodie, turns her world upside down. In spite of her vow to steer clear of men, she grows to rely on Brodie. However, she suspects him of having an ulterior motive for staying at her aunt’s Bed and Breakfast on remote Cormorant Island. Having been let down by the men in her life, will it be third time lucky for Issy? Is she wise to trust a man she knows nothing about - a man who presents more questions than answers?
As for Aunt Esme, she has secrets of her own . . .

Reviews for Scotch on the Rocks
5.0 out of 5 stars An auburn-haired hero in a kilt. What more do you need?

Lizzie Lamb has already demonstrated that she is an expert in writing romantic fiction. She creates believable main characters who fall in once-in-a-lifetime love; she devises imaginative and unusual conflicts and tensions that threaten to keep the lovers apart; she develops a rich cast of supporting players who help and hinder the resolution to the lovers' problems; and she describes fascinating and beautiful settings in which their story unfolds. Catherine

Such an enticing read could not put it down, loved every page of the story . Parts made me laugh and some made me weep but over all a very beautiful novel. Highly recommend. Pamela Mackenzie

My favourite characters were Isabella - the Italian opera diva and Pershing the parrot. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to others. Astrid Bennett-Claas

A cast of great characters complement Issy and Brodie, including the brilliant Pershing - a parrot with a somewhat cheeky mouth! His comic timing is epic. India

Anticipating where the plot was leading in this novel, of course I was wrong! It just goes to show, Lizzie Lamb keeps us guessing right to the end! Theresa Le Flemm

About this title

About the Author

If you have a dream - go for it
Life is not a rehearsal

With Scottish, Irish, and Brazilian blood in her veins, it's hardly surprising that Lizzie Lamb is a writer. She even wrote extra scenes for the films she watched as a child and acted out in the playground with her friends. She is ashamed to admit that she kept all the good lines for herself. Luckily, she saves them for her readers these days.Lizzie's love of writing went on hold while she pursued a successful teaching career, finishing up as a Deputy Headteacher of a large primary school. Since deciding to leave the profession to realise her dream of becoming a published novelist, Lizzie hasn't looked back. She wrote Tall, Dark and Kilted - which echoes her love of her homeland in every page, not to mention heroes in kilts -and published it.  Lizzie loves the quick fire interchange between the hero and heroine - like in old black and white Hollywood movies - and hope this comes over in her writing.
       For her second novel: Boot Camp Bride she's had enormous fun researching VW camper vans, the Norfolk Marshes and the world of journalism. Not to mention falling in love with delicious hero- Rafael Ffinch. Lizzie has gone on to publish a third novel -Scotch on the Rocks which features a gorgeous American hero of Scottish descent, Brodie. 

Numberfour - Girl in a Castle is due for publication in April 2017. Watch this space. 

From the Inside Flap

1. A WING AND A PRAYER

I

shabelStuart raced her car against the combined forces of time and tide, athunderstorm snapping at her heels. The wind gave her car a rough shake and sheglanced in her rear view mirror at bruise coloured clouds rushing to overtakeher. With an involuntary cry of alarm, she squared her shoulders, focused fullattention on the road and prepared to tough it out. By her calculations she hadjust minutes to reach the causeway linking the mainland to Eilean naSgairbh, Cormorant Island. Anylater, the land bridge would be submerged by the incoming tide and she would beunable to make the crossing.
If that happened, home, the loving arms of her Aunt Esme, thecomfort of a shower and hot meal would have to wait until the tide ebbed thefollowing morning.
Worse still, she'd have to spend the night in her car or -God help her, at Mrs MacKay's Highland Guest House, where she'd be forced tosleep beneath a candlewick bedspread, shower with a sliver of grimy soap and ascratchy towel no bigger than a face flannel. Then, over a meagre breakfast ofwatery porridge and burned bannocks, she'd be bombarded with a thousandpersonal questions no one had any right to ask. Least of all Mrs MacKay - thebiggest gossip this side of Fort William.
'Okay, Stuart - man up. You know this road like the back ofyour hand. If anyone can beat the tide, it's you. You've done it hundreds oftimes.' Glancing at her father, who was fastened securely into the back seat,she added grimly: 'Hold on, it's going to be a bumpy ride.' But, for once,James Stuart had no criticism to level at his daughter's driving skills, or herfoolhardiness. Biting her lip, Ishabel slipped into a lower gear and startedthe descent down the sloping jetty and onto The Narrows, a causeway packed hardby over eight hundred years of continuous use by Eilean na Sgairbh'shighland community.
At this time of year the tide came in faster than a man couldwalk, and so her tyres squished in the shallow water which splashed up thesides of her Mini. Holding her nerve, she gripped the steering wheel, switchedthe headlights onto full beam and peered into the descending dusk. If she gotstuck half way across and was forced to abandon her new car or - worse still, callout the coastguard to rescue her from an ill-timed attempt to cross to Eileanna Sgairbh, she'd never live it down.
If that happened, the inhabitants of Cormorant Island wouldgive a collective shrug and say such recklessness was no more than expected ofMiss Ishabel Stuart. She was James Stuart's flesh and blood, after all, and -like her aunt Esme, was bad news as far as they were concerned. However,Ishabel wasn't about to give them the chance to shake a collective finger ather, or the satisfaction of sending her censorious looks next time she went inthe General Store. She'd make it across, and damn anyone who harboured a lessthan flattering opinion of her - or her family.
Pushing her driving glasses further up onto her nose with herforefinger, she made for the lights on the farther shore. It'd take more than asummer squall, a neap tide, and recent events to keep her from the island whereshe'd grown up. And, if she'd lately grown apart from it, she was coming hometo make amends and to reacquaint herself with Eilean na Sgairbh, a placeshe'd once held dear.


Tenminutes later, and with the water now almost reaching the door sill, Issycleared the jetty on the far side of The Narrows and let out a long, slowwhistle. She stopped by the harbour wall and looked back at the distance she'dtravelled (now submerged beneath the waves) and acknowledged she'd made it bythe skin of her teeth.
She wasn't a natural risk taker, if anything she liked tothink things through before deciding on the best course of action. But recentevents had shown her that, when push came to shove, she'd inherited thedetermination, stubbornness and sheer bloody-mindedness which marked her out asa Stuart. Qualities which she considered demonstrated a kind of foolhardycourage, but which the islanders regarded as arrogance and mule-headedness.
She glanced one last time at the submerged Narrows and thenat her father on the back seat.
'No need to say it, Daddy, I know I'm reckless. How could Inot know it? You've told me enough times, haven't you? So like my mother, so .. .'
At that, her breath snagged - but with the same determinationwhich had made her race against the tide, she put the thought behind her anddrove forward, pausing only to test the brakes after their dip in the harbour.They worked just fine and she felt confident enough to journey the fewremaining miles along the coast road to her aunt's house without any mishaps.There was so much she wanted to discuss with her aunt in the warm fug of herkitchen, hopefully over a glass of Stuart's Twa Burns single malt whisky.
Which, neatly, brought her back to her father, buckled intothe back seat for safety.
His opinions on women drinking whisky, having careers anddriving souped-up cars in dangerous weather conditions, were on record. Hedidn't consider any of it proper - which, conversely, would make Ishabel savourevery drop of the peaty whisky when she reached her aunt's house.
Reflecting on the life-changing decisions she'd made on herjourney from Edinburgh to Eilean na Sgairbh and her race against theelements, Ishabel considered that whisky, given the role it had played in theStuarts fortunes over the last century and a half, was aptly named:
Uisge Beatha.
The Water of Life.

Edition details

• Publisher: New Romantics Press
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0957398557
• ISBN 13: 9780957398559
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 484