Sealed with a Kiss by Rachael Lucas

Yesterday I finished the latest book from the Bahlsen Book Club, Sealed with a Kiss by Rachael Lucas. Rachael Lucas, whose blog I’ve followed for a long time, began as a self-published author and after achieving over 130,000 downloads for Sealed with a Kiss, was signed to Pan MacMillan.

I have to be honest and say I usually stay well clear of romantic chick lit. Whilst I was at Uni I read a lot of chick lit but being married and a parent just doesn’t make me reach for those kind of books in the bookshop anymore.

Anyway, I was delighted to receive a copy of Sealed with a Kiss and a couple of packs of yummy Bahlsen biscuits. I finished it within 5 days which is amazing for me. In fact, I was so engrossed I’ve been reading it on the tube and even in the car whilst we went out for the day yesterday!

I was taking a look at Rachael Lucas’ website and she sums up her first novel as follows:

It’s a book about a girl who leaves a boring relationship and goes to work on an island off the West Coast of Scotland.

It has a seal called Flora (which is how the title, which started as a terrible joke and just sort of stuck, came to pass) and a wise old woman called Morag, and a castle and an evil ex called Fiona and Highland dancing and horses and whisky and intrigue and giggling and a gorgeous spaniel puppy called Willow. And a couple of handsome men and accidental snogging.

I enjoyed reading this book which surprised me. Perhaps the term chick lit doesn’t really apply anymore but I’m not sure how I would categorise the book. I’m not really one to sit around reading in the day but I found myself liking (or disliking in some circumstances) the main characters and wanting to know what happened.

I have to hold my hands up and admit I totally mis-read some of the story and thought the main character was pregnant for at least half way through the book. It took me a good while to realise that what I thought was morning sickness was in fact frequent hangovers, as she drinks a lot of whisky. And the mentions of weight gain was due to copious amounts of cake. After I got over the realisation that that twist would have been far too complicated for a nice romantic story about love on a Scottish island I rushed on as I wanted to read the inevitable happy ending.

Anyway, as long as you don’t read too much into signs that aren’t really there, this is a fabulous book. The author draws a perfect picture of life on a Scottish island and this book is a brilliant advert for visiting.

Sealed with a Kiss (available now to download on Amazon Download £2.99 or paperback £4.89).

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