Ruby Spencer's Whisky Year
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
One of...
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When a thirty-something American food writer moves to a Scottish village for one year to fulfill her dream of writing a cookbook she finds more than inspiration—she meets a handsome Scotsman she can’t resist.
Ruby Spencer is spending one year living in a small cottage in a tiny town in the Scottish Highlands for three reasons: to write a bestselling cookbook, to drink a barrelful of whisky, and to figure out what comes next. It’s hard to know what to expect after an impulse decision based on a map of Scotland in her Manhattan apartment—but she knows it’s high time she had an adventure.
The moment she sets foot in Thistlecross, the verdant scenery, cozy cottages, and struggling local pub steal her heart. Between designing pop-up suppers and conversing with the colorful locals, Ruby starts to see a future that stretches beyond her year of adventure. It doesn’t hurt that Brochan, the ruggedly handsome local handyman, keeps coming around to repair things at her cottage. Though Ruby swore off men, she can’t help fantasizing what a roll in the barley might be like with the bearded Scot.
As Ruby grows closer to Brochan and the tightly held traditions of the charming village, she discovers secret plans to turn her beloved pub into an American chain restaurant. Faced with an impossible choice, Ruby must decide between love, loyalty, and the Highlands way of life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
