Hi y’all!

Hope you’re having a great 4th of July week and celebrating with good food and good company. We had a great day yesterday including a fun fireworks show last night!

I’m excited to review Five Days in Skye by Carla Laureano. This book has been on my TBR for years after the lovely Carrie @ Reading is My Superpower first recommended it to me. And everything Carrie recommends is always the best ever. Why it took me so long to get to this one I couldn’t tell you.

I loved this book from the moment I cracked the cover. The characters are deeply developed and flawed, like old friends. The setting is picturesque and moving. The love story is thrilling, passionate, and human.

Initial Thoughts:

• I love that we get inside both Andrea and James’ heads. It keeps me on my toes as a reader to see who’s perspective we will get each chapter from.
• I could not put this book down. I read it in just over a day and absolutely loved being so engrossed in a novel. It was easy to get invested (and stay glued to the story and the love and the “when-are-they-going-to-kiss” moments).
• I am already dying for the sequels to this novel. It took me a while to figure out that Laureano’s trilogy is being rereleased in coming years so I have to try to be patient before I can continue in the MacDonald Family Trilogy. This is going to be hard.

Five Days in Skye by Carla Laureano is a love story that champions the power of home, food, and beauty in finding yourself and falling in love. Goodreads summarizes, “Hospitality consultant Andrea Sullivan has one last chance to snag a high-profile client or she’ll have to kiss her dreams of promotion good-bye. When she’s sent to meet Scottish celebrity chef James MacDonald on the Isle of Skye, she just wants to finish her work as efficiently as possible. Yet her client is not the opportunistic womanizer he portrays himself to be, and her attraction to him soon dredges up memories she’d rather leave buried. For James, renovating the family hotel is a fulfillment of his late father’s dreams. When his hired consultant turns out to be beautiful, intelligent, and completely unimpressed by his public persona, he makes it his mission to win her over. He just never expects to fall under her spell. Soon, both Andrea and James must face the reality that God may have a far different purpose for their lives—and that five days in Skye will forever change their outlook on life and love.”

“‘I love old places,’ she said. ‘They have weight to them'”

‘She felt like she stood on a precipice. She couldn’t see the bottom, didn’t know if jumping would earn a soft landing or dash her against the rocks. Could she summon the courage to leap?”

“We’re all broken. We’re only human. Some wounds only God can mend”

Five Days in Skye

The characters in this book are really beautiful in their imperfections. I love that we get only a few pieces of their character at a time as we build an understand of who they are. For example, Andrea’s deep talent on the piano is revealed in stages and the whole story only comes out once near the end of the novel. The characters all have flaws. Andrea works too much. She doesn’t see her family as much as she should. And she has a secret that she desperately hides from her past. James also works too much and doesn’t come home as much as he wants. Plus he is not a great communicator either, especially with his brother. The other characters we meet have similar flaws. Life isn’t perfect for any of them. These flaws make the characters feel so real. I love that. This novel read more like hearing a story about old friends than unknown protagonists.

I absolutely love James and Andrea’s journey together and the way they build each other up and bring out the best in one another. They are flawed people with dark mistakes in their pasts. But they allow God to redeem them. They allow faith to triumph over fear. They seek love over loneliness. And they nearly fall in love at first sight. I love their first meeting–it’s so classic and awkward and perfect. And, wow, do we get some gorgeous declarations of love and swoon worthy kisses. The tension from nearly the first page is almost palpable. These two are meant to be together and they will be no matter how anyone (themselves included) tries to pull them apart.

I absolutely love the setting of the island of Skye. This was potentially one of my favorite settings I’ve ever read in a book. It’s just gorgeous. I’ve been to Scotland only once (Edinburgh on my study abroad in college) and it was fun. I must admit it wasn’t the highlight of my trip but I was amazed at how different it was from England and how green it was (and cold in July!). Now, I want to go to Skye and experience all the beauty, wonder, and peace Laureano describes. It sounds like a place where you can heal and renew and fall in love 😉 And also I want to try the local food. Wow, it sounds amazing!

The way God, faith, and redemption are included in this novel are beautiful. Religion is not overbearing but rather an intricate piece of the story. I really appreciate that there are novels being published today that are championing religion and faith. There is so much uncertainty in life and the world is full of enough negativity. I love that literature can bring us closer to God. The journey of faith and redemption that the protagonists go on isn’t easy or smooth. They have deep scars from their pasts and don’t always have perfect faith. How truly human that makes them.

A gorgeous (and clean) love story that I can’t wait to buy! I can’t recommend this one highly enough!

What are some of your favorite book settings?
Have you been to Scotland? What did you love there?