SCOTCH ON THE ROCKS

A small-town misfit falls for the one person she shouldn’t: her ex-fiancé’s brother.

Juniper Ross has a firm set of rules when it comes to dealing with the Macabe brothers, and they start and end with keeping her distance. Some of it has to do with the fact that one of them, Alistair, broke her heart when he ended their engagement and left the Isle of Skye without looking back. The other half of that equation is Callum, Alistair’s brother, local veterinarian and notorious charmer, who’s left his own impression on Juniper over the years—they’ve stopped just short of crossing the line with each other more than once. When Juniper’s mother takes some deserved time off and leaves her in charge of their family’s inn, it’s the opportunity Juniper’s been waiting for, both to prove her management potential and make some long-overdue renovations. Unfortunately, the local handyman she hires creates more problems than he fixes, leaving Juniper with no choice but to reach out to Callum for help. It’s an opportunity that the younger Macabe brother jumps at, partly because he’s secretly been in love with Juniper ever since he first laid eyes on her. Although the two of them have always had a relationship built on a foundation of snarking, the increased time they’re spending together allows Callum to see Juniper’s softer side, while Juniper realizes that Callum’s small-town-hero facade is masking more vulnerability than she expected. The second installment in Fletcher’s Macabe Brothers series revolves around a lot of weighty history between Juniper and Callum, but never gets dragged down by its heaviest elements. Add in a rich setting and a well-developed ensemble and the result is a sexy, compelling contemporary romance that sticks with the reader long after the last page.

A compulsively readable contemporary romance that goes down smooth.