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).
Linking up with Read With Me
I find it interesting that you don’t read much romantic chicklit any more as I’m the same. It was my staple diet at University along with murder mysteries but my tastes have also changed since I became a parent!
#readwithme
hahaha I have been known to mis-read books in the past, I blame tired eyes 😉 love the sound of this book, sounds like a nice easy read. thanks for linking up with #ReadWithMe I have pinned and tweeted this post x
This happened to me with Atonement by Ian McEwan, I misread the ending and then was utterly confused when I watched the film…had to go back and reread the ending and then was utterly devastated…oops! I recently read this book and loved it, it’s just a really sweet book isn’t it? #readwithme
I’m not much of a one for chick-lit myself but I do own this (I think it was a “hand me down” from a friend) so I may give it a go now.
I’m still a big chick lit fan and sounds like I would enjoy this kind of book. Although I do enjoy a good thriller too