"I don't want someone who's scared of love, who's going to back off whenever the feelings threaten to overwhelm them or they think they're being manipulated into something. I want someone who's all in. Not someone who thinks they might be in love."
Izzy McBride never expected to inherit an actual castle from her great uncle, but here she was; granted it was in need of some serious TLC if she was going to accomplish her dream of turning it into a bed and breakfast. When Izzy's eccentric mother rents a room to an enigmatic author, Ross, and the Scottish snow starts to settle in it becomes a race against time to get the castle ready in time for Christmas.
Izzy is very determined to make the castle into something new, but a lack of funds are problematic, along with her mother's habit of making plans without telling her. The dynamic between the two leads to some funny situations throughout. The relationship between Izzy and her mother is interesting and one can see quickly her mother is eccentric. Izzy and Ross have a lot of awful encounters in the beginning, where neither seems to like the other. As time goes on the two become friends, but the closer they get the more Ross pulls away.
The story is a great cozy Christmas time read with fun and diverse characters. The romance is a little light in the novel in my opinion as most of it discusses the work on the castle. It is much more a story of the love of friends and family as they all bond and work together to prepare the castle. I didn't really feel like the romance element came into the narrative until the last few chapters. But, I think it is a lovely and fun holiday read to help get you in the spirit of Christmas time. ( )

I picked this book on NetGalley because I wanted to read something Christmassy and set in Scotland.

The pros:
The book does deliver on both fronts - I enjoyed the descriptions and setting, quite vivid and compelling, of the castle by the loch in the Highlands and other parts of Scotland.
The Christmas feel-good, snowy feelings are definitely here too.
Izzy was an interesting character, well fleshed out.
There are a few social commentaries especially about land ownership and such which were interesting, and it was really a dive into the amount of work and dedication (and luck ;)) needed to run a luxury hotel.

The cons:
I was a bit thrown off by the lack of representation and by a few portrayals - for example a character seems stereotypically neuro-divergent, but while neurodiversity is never mentioned, she is made fun of/shamed a few times.
The storyline is very heteronormative/stereotypical and made me roll my eyes a few times. I found the addition of Jim and Jeanette a bit cringe-y as well at times.
My pet peeve - For all the talk of "being sustainable" by Izzie buying local, a lot of meat and dairy is being consumed in this book (eating plant-based is generally more meaningful in terms of low emissions than eating local, by the way) and it wasn't very pleasant to read for me.

I want to thank HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and NetGalley for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )