September 26, 2022
Chef Bilow’s foodie romance (after the memoir The Call of the Farm) takes some time to hit its groove. Having thrown a dart at a map of Scotland, burned-out New York City food writer Ruby Spenser moves to the charming town of Thistlecross in search of a new start and inspiration for a cookbook. In the meantime, she’ll work with Grace, an older woman who manages the town’s too-quiet pub and from whom Ruby rents a quaint cottage. Ruby feels a connection to the pub and the village immediately—and becomes even more invested when she meets Brochan, the handsome handyman who fixes up her rental. While sampling whisky together against some quintessentially Scottish backdrops, Brochan slowly opens up to Ruby. When the pair learn that family drama threatens the pub’s future—and by extension, the fate of Thistlecross itself—they must put their heads together to save the town. The overly expositional opening keeps readers at arms’ length emotionally, but the narrative picks up steam once Ruby joins the community, and her passion for her new life in Scotland makes her easier to connect with by the end. This should have plenty of appeal for armchair travelers. Agent: Sharon Pelletier, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.
November 1, 2022
Ruby Spencer quit her job, threw a dart at a map of Scotland, and moved from Manhattan to the tiny Scottish village of Thistlecross to write a cookbook. When she did, she expected a year of touring Scotland and drinking whisky while developing tasty recipes. What she didn't expect was having her cookbook proposal rejected, getting drawn into Thistlecross life, creating a new home and family, and falling in love with a rugged, bearded Scot named Brochan. Bilow crafts protagonists who are complicated and realistic, with emotional baggage that makes their path to happily-ever-after difficult and messy but very readable. She also focuses on the setting, and while the residents of quirky Thistlecross are predominantly secondary, a few are well-developed and quickly capture the reader's heart. While the writing style is sometimes awkward, this leisurely paced novel will please fans of Jenny Colgan. VERDICT Food writer Bilow's (The Call of the Farm) debut romance is just as charming as its Scottish village setting.--Heather Miller Cover
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January 1, 2023
A wayward food writer packs up her life and moves to Scotland, finding romance and purpose where she least expects it. Ruby Spencer can't believe she's actually gone through with it--at 35, she's ditched her Manhattan apartment and flown across the ocean to live in a tiny Scottish town for a year. Settling down in the charmingly named Thistlecross was definitely an impulse decision, but Ruby hopes it will give her the inspiration she needs to produce the cookbook she's always wanted to write. The small cottage she's renting may be a bit of a fixer-upper, but the Cosy Hearth--the pub down the street--and its loyal occupants win her over almost instantly. Those occupants definitely include Brochan Wood, the handsome flannel-wearing repairman who finds every excuse to stop by Ruby's cottage with his tools. Ruby and Brochan bond over everything they have in common, like their love of whisky, as well as their differences, and what starts out as a fun, breathless fling becomes more serious and meaningful for both of them. To make the situation more complicated, Ruby finds out that the Cosy Hearth is at risk of disappearing to make way for a chain restaurant whose owner has unique ties to Brochan and his past. Bilow has written a romance that should be savored slowly, if only to thoroughly appreciate her poetic prose and immersive sense of place. While the third-act conflict may leave a little to be desired in terms of on-page resolution, the novel succeeds through the warm moments revolving around the community Ruby stumbles into making for herself. A charming, lyrical debut about love and self-discovery.
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January 1, 2023
Ruby, a New York food writer, has secured a literary agent, quit her job, and moved to Scotland to write a cookbook. She's rented a one-room stone cottage in Thistlecross, a village chosen at random. She's on a work visa to bake with Grace who runs the Cosy Hearth, a struggling pub, who gets by baking scones for the village's new hotel. Falling in love with the village and the pub, Ruby discovers gardening and meets the reclusive and mysterious handyman, Brochan, a hunky Scott with a "heroic beard." A wounded hero who dreams of being a distiller, he becomes Ruby's guide to Scotland's best treasures, from rocky beaches to perfect whisky. For the first time in her life, Ruby feels like she has found her true home as part of a community. But all is imperiled when an odious American businessman who has created a chain of ersatz Scottish restaurants threatens to take over the Cosy Hearth, and the tragedies haunting Brochan are brought into the light. Bilow's debut is perfect for readers enamored of Scotland and friends-to-lovers romances.
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