ARC Review: "Scotch on the Rocks" by Elliot Fletcher ★★★★

ARC Review: Scotch on the Rocks by Elliot Fletcher

📖 ARC buddy read with the lovely Cara ೀ.ᐟ⭒ ☁️♡🪐༘⋆

Reviewed by a Scottish lass. Fletcher has done it again with this enemies-to-lovers, reverse grumpy meets sunshine (black cat meets golden retriever), small-town romance. 🐈‍⬛🦮 Notable tropes include age gap, forbidden love and love at first sight. With a whole lot of yearning, arguments, and spice as well as very raw emotional moments, this was a very touching read. 💙
For fans of Alexandra Kiley, B.K. Borison and Tarah DeWitt. 💐

“You take responsibility for everyone around you, like it’s your job to put everyone first… including me.” ‘I see straight through your bullshit,’ I said silently, ‘like you see through mine’.
His smile was so slight, so unlike his Community Ken smile, I felt like I’d earned it. “We can be a work in progress together.”
I didn’t know exactly what he meant by that, but I had to admit, it sounded nice. “I think I might like you, Macabe.”

[Contains some spoilers]

PLOT SUMMARY
Years ago, Callum Macabe is taking the train from Edinburgh to Glasgow when he meets and falls in love with a woman not knowing she is Juniper “June” Ross, the girlfriend of Callum’s younger brother Alistair. Two years later, her engagement to Alistair ends after her adopted father Alexander passes away. One year after that, in Glasgow, Juniper writes gossip columns for the Glasgow Herald and bumps into Callum who is seeing his army pals. The two are going to hook up but Callum decides against it, scared that all she will ever see in him is his brother.

Now, five years later, in the village of Kinleith on the Isle of Skye, 30-year-old June helps to run the family inn Ivy House Inn and 39-year-old Callum is the village vet but has also taken it upon himself to help his mother look after his father Jim Macabe who has Alzheimer’s. June and Callum despise each other and constantly (rather hilariously) bicker at every opportunity.

When June’s adopted mother Fiona leaves to go on a singles’ cruise, she takes the opportunity to renovate the inn (as Fiona refused to change anything because of the memory of Alexander) but this comes with its own problems from leaks to expenses. Too proud to ask for help, she tries to go it alone though of course “Community Ken” Callum wants to help. In exchange, he’ll take her on dates around Skye so she can familiarise herself with the landscape and recommend places to the tourists that frequent the inn.

Feelings are caught for each other but with it comes the push and pull but it is high time for rules to be broken. And when Alistair shows up after six years of nothing, everything comes to a head.

The Macabe brother rule book (according to Juniper Ross):
1. Don’t look at a Macabe brother.
2. Don’t talk to a Macabe brother.
3. Don’t even think about a Macabe brother.

This is told from the first-person past-tense POV of June and Callum.

OVERALL OPINIONS
The Macabe brother series has become my new comfort read, not only because Scottish romances are underrated but because it feels like embracing an old friend. I recommend you play Love Looks Pretty On You by Nessa Barrett whilst reading this story because this one’s super cute. And for those who felt there wasn’t much that happened in Book 1 or that it was too drama-free will find this one quite a treat because this is definitely drama galore!

Some books in a series will gloss over Book 1 and the couple from it without much exploration (which is completely fine don’t get me wrong, because it’s amazing to have standalones so you can jump in and don’t have to read the series in order). But oh my gosh, it was so lovely to see April and Mal again, and for them to be in this story so often!

I laughed at how Mal overhears June’s conversation with April so is forced to be in on her secret and he’s like “I shouldn’t be here for this” haha! And then when June gushes about Callum doing things to her and April splutters her coffee and Mal goes “Bloody hell”, I chortled! It’s just too good! Priceless and precious Mal. I love him so much, he’s my utter favourite. Alistair sucks haha but I think we’ll be pleasantly surprised by him! He keeps putting off visiting and then is even more mysterious at the end of the story. It’ll be interesting though to see how he carries himself in Book 3.

June is similar to Mal, keeping people at a distance because she fears rejection and doesn’t think she can be loved. She has an adopted cat called Shakespeare and it is nice the way the cat itself has a personality that mirrors her own, scratching at people and not allowing them near.

I was… *wrong*. Like an ill-fitting pair of shoes that looked good in the store but pinched your toes and left behind blisters. An exciting diversion for a night, until they cut themselves on my sharp angles. The rough before the real thing. Too cold. Too closed off. Too much yet not enough in all the ways that mattered.

Callum is always desperate to fix things as a coping mechanism so he doesn’t need to focus on himself. It’s nice that he has a therapy rabbit and makes sure that kids don’t go through what he and Mal did with their father, Jim. I like that June and Callum both pretend to be fine when they aren’t so like calls to like, and distracting each other is just the sort of thing they need.

Jim having Alzheimer’s is a very heartbreaking topic and as someone who has experienced a relative with dementia, I think Fletcher captured so well how helpless and upsetting it can be.

This felt like more 4 stars than 5 because there was so much going on I felt things were crammed in without being fleshed out. The renovation wasn’t explored much and neither were the dates around Skye. But all-in-all, I really enjoyed this. I would ultimately rate this 4.5 because of Callum doing so many sweet things! My favourite scene is this one where June is nervous about painting the place and Callum decides to give her:

The brush wrenched from my grip and my eyes flew open, flicking between my empty, paint-soaked fingers and the man now holding it. Callum’s shoulder skimmed mine and, without even glancing my way, he set the brush against the wall. “No wait—”
“Too late,” he said.
My heart jolted as he worked, wrist flicking in such a way I knew he was writing something. A beat later, he drew back, dipping the brush back into the tray to punctuate the single word with an underline. No, not an underline, an arrow.
Beautiful.
The word was scribbled in block capitals. The arrow beneath pointing straight at me.

<< Positives >> 🠚 The cover is just as lovely as Book 1!
🠚 I like that it is dual POV only not dual timeline, all the moments when they meet, the engagement, the breakup is all chronological.
🠚 More coverage of Scotland generally, from ceilidhs to shinty.
🠚 No third-act breakup (thank goodness)!
🠚 Not one but TWO Lord of the Rings references in one book!
🠚 Plenty of areas of tension/plot in this one. Everything coming to a head at the ceilidh.
🠚 The relationship between Callum and June. They bring out the best in each other and it’s beautiful how much Callum has silently and unwaveringly supported and loved her all this time.
🠚 Heather apologising to June for the way she handled the breaking up on their engagement, and thanking June for how supportive she was when Heather herself was going through her own divorce – when June understood why Heather put family before her – was very touching.
🠚 There was just enough of depth to the bond between June and her adopted mother Fiona that the moment at the very end where she returns and sees the changes and she says “I needed something to hold onto and I thought it must be this place, but it wasn’t. I … I needed you, baby girl” – aww! And June starts calling her Mum, which is lovely because she felt if she didn’t give her that name it would make things easier in case Fiona didn’t want her!
🠚 Plenty more of April and Mal!
🠚 June being both a tall woman and bossy in bed is *chefs kiss*
🠚 The spice was excellent. Very different positions and dynamics from Book 1 which is great. Even the making out scenes were exquisite, y’know? Like I can feel how single I am with these haha.
🠚 Ada and Hank’s tiny subplot on the side was adorable!

<< Negatives >>
🠚 There were 4 dates they were meant to go on and they only do 2. I feel this was a wasted opportunity and all 4 dates should have happened. Could have gone around more of Skye.
🠚 It would have been interesting to find out more about June and Alistair’s relationship. And there’s June’s old job: did she enjoy writing for the Glasgow Herald? Did she ever want to get back to it rather than running the inn?
🠚 I had really hoped that more of the renovation was covered. Callum was going to look at the plans in her notebook/sketchbook and bring them about. The gazebo in the wild garden I was really looking forward to Callum doing but in the Epilogue we discover she’s done it all and more.
🠚 There was a potential for Jamie to play more of a role/obstacle for Callum, a bit like how Callum was an obstacle for Mal in Book 1.
🠚 Book 2’s plot was very obvious in Book 1 through the interactions June and Callum had. I therefore expected Book 3 to follow a similar pattern but it isn’t clear who Alistair will end up with (though this will be interesting to see).
🠚 Some of their banter and his grinning in satisfaction simply felt repetitive or a bit too petty.
🠚 *That* outdoors scene in October?? In Scotland?? Really, now! I cringe thinking about how freezing that would be and let me tell you now I would have got pneumonia.

CHARACTERS
-ˋˏ ꒰ June꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ Elliot Fletcher was so real for having June say Return of the King is her favourite Lord of the Rings film. I relate to June’s lack of working out and feeling the cramps from walking about. I like that she not only helps Jim Macabe when he is stumbling around lost but also gets a collection of books about dementia so she can try and support Callum too. She’s so sweet how she tries to cook something for Callum even though she isn’t good at it (me too, lass).

And it was perfect. Not because the green perfectly matched the dark herringbone floor, or because it opened the room up *just right*, but because we’d done it together. Without a word from me, my friends had been here, no questions asked.

-ˋˏ ꒰ Callum꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ Callum Macabe? More like Callum Macbabe! There is so much I could say about this man. I adored him in Book 1 and knew I’d like him more here. I love how protective he is about June, orders coconut milk in the store because he overheard June wanting some but there wasn’t enough demand, the way he makes sure Murray gets her the refund, tells off Jill. Him calling her “sweetheart”! Also buying her a hat? AND getting a tattoo that says Fortanach that means “Lucky” and matches hers that says Lucky – above his heart? Aww! I swoon.

She was officially, unofficially, mine. Not that I’d ever say those words aloud to Juniper. I could wait for her to come to that conclusion all by herself. She would … eventually, and I’d be right there to comfort her then remind her how incredible we were together. Because we were fucking incredible together.

FAV QUOTES
• Falling in love with Juniper Ross felt like stepping into oncoming traffic.
• He’d grown more handsome in the year since I’d seen him, features a little more chiselled with age, the scruff of facial hair a little longer. I used to find him too rugged, favouring Alistair’s more refined features. He looked different now. Or maybe he looked exactly the same and something else had changed.
• “Callum?” Her brows pulled together, and I wondered what my expression must look like. Desperate. Reverential most likely. I didn’t care, my name on her lips the only thing that mattered.
• His blue eyes lit, as warm and untrustworthy as a Scottish summer day.
• “Because I’m a nice guy.” He said it like a fact. Sky is blue, grass is green, oh, and didn’t you hear? Callum Macabe is a swell guy.
• “I’d forgotten I had the honour of spending time with Scotland’s most promising comedian.” | “That’s your mistake, harpy.” He echoed my earlier words, eyes dancing. I stuck my tongue out.
• Before I could crumble completely, heat enveloped me. Callum. His wide chest flush to my back. Steady breath at my ear. Salt and soap and Skye filling my nose. He smelled like the mountain thyme candles we burned at the inn. Earthy and a little wild. “Don’t give up.” His hand cupped my wrist, rough fingers folding all the way around my bare arm as he lifted and held it steady. “Sometimes you need a little persistence to make something spectacular happen.”
• Her head tilted. She didn’t smile but her features softened, eyes brightening like two pools of melted chocolate. Folk in the village described Juniper as cold, it made me wonder if they ever paused long enough to look her in the eyes. They were the furthest thing from cold I’d ever encountered.
• I could meet a thousand women and never discover this energy. *I’d tried.* Date after date after date I’d searched for something even remotely comparable. It only existed here. With this woman I shouldn’t want and could never truly have.
• She possessed a uniquely tender hand, so at odds with the image she put out to the world. Anyone who thought her an ice queen hadn’t truly observed her. An ocean of differences lay between cold and slow to burn. And when Juniper finally burned … what a magnificent sight it would be.
• “Because I needed it to be me!” His hand dug into his hair. “Despite how fucking busy I am, I needed to be the one helping you – fighting your corner – even if you never knew it.” | “What’s that supposed to mean?” I knew it was a stupid question before I even asked it aloud. Deep down I’d always felt this … invisible thread between us. Like the taut string of an instrument, just waiting for one of us to gather enough courage to pluck it.
• “That’s all I’ve wanted since that day on the train when it took me less than a second to fall completely under your spell.”
• “While you’re taking care of other people, who’s taking care of you?” | The question took me by surprise. “I don’t need anyone to take care of me.” Another lie. I’d let *her* take care of me. And I’d take care of her right back.
• There was something in her eye, all right, something that might have scared a lesser man. I imagined it was the same look a siren bestowed upon a sailor at the precise moment they realised they’d fucked up and were dragged to a watery grave.
• “He looks at you like the world’s about to catch on fire and you’re the only person he’ll save.”
• “The people who are meant to be in your life won’t reject you for not being perfect, Juniper. If they do, they were never your people.”
• Slinging an arm around my shoulders, he tucked me close, steering me down the path, “No takebacks, sweetheart. You. Like. Me.” ‘I did’. It was a huge fucking problem. • This was the promise of him and me. The promise of something more. And though I didn’t quite know what that *more* looked like, I broke his hold to wrap my arms around his neck and held on for dear life.
• Men never wanted to go slow with me. Usually they hit fast forward to the ending. “Because when something matters, you take your time with it.” His meaning scorched through my veins: *You matter, Juniper*.
• Getting comfortable, strong arms banded around me, his nose pressing into my hair and breathing deep. He’s snuggling me. Deep down, in a dusty little part of my heart I’d locked away, was a woman who craved being cherished and somehow he’d figured that out.
• My heart thumped, tasting the sweetness of this moment I would return to over and over until the edges began to smudge, when Callum Macabe looked at me as if I were made of starlight.
• My hands unlatched from her hips, lacing into her hair to hold her to me. “You own me, sweetheart. Entirely.” | She brushed a stray curl away from my sweaty forehead. “You might own me a little bit too.”
• Callum said he loved me, and I trusted he meant it. One of my first observations of him had been his staunch honesty. It had made me uncomfortable back then, but now … I knew there was little life in a relationship that didn’t value honesty.
• “I think I might be … *happy*.” She said the words like a person might say fungal infection. | “Do you think it’s contagious?” | “Shut up.” She slapped my chest, and I caught her hand there.
•“Now … I want to treat you how you deserve to be treated.” | “And how’s that?” | “Like mine.” Her hand moved up, pressing over my heart as it raced for her. “Deep down, I think you’ve always felt like mine.”
• I couldn’t recall the words I’d spoken in return. I knew Callum did. That his brilliant brain had locked away every moment of it. Every breath. Every touch.

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I received an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review and I’d like to thank Elliot Fletcher, HarperCollins, and NetGalley for the opportunity. This has not affected my opinion in any way.

“Scotch on the Rocks” is out now!