Beyond the Thistles (Highland Series 1) by Samantha Young-review tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 2, 2023

He’s a brooding bodyguard. She’s a single mom on the run. And in a town this small, they can’t hide from their fierce attraction…

It’s been a long time since Walker Ironside left behind Scotland and the memories that haunt him. Yet after years of traveling the world as a bodyguard, Walker misses his homeland enough to return. To a village in the Scottish Highlands that plays host to an exclusive members-only club, Ardnoch Estate. If not happy, Walker is content working with the elite security at the club and maintaining his bachelor lifestyle. What he doesn’t need is distraction in the form of the enticing but too-young newcomer, single mother Sloane Harrow.

Sloane never imagined she’d get pregnant at sixteen. Or that a decade later she’d escape from California with her daughter, Callie, to start over in the Scottish Highlands. Hidden and safe from Callie’s dangerous father, Sloane is satisfied with their new lives. Her daughter is happy. Sloane has a stable job, a quaint cottage, a passion for baking that might just be turning into a business, and a huge crush on brooding security guard Walker Ironside. Unfortunately, the grumpy Scot seems immune to Sloane’s charm, but she can’t help but try to seduce him with cupcakes and baked treats whenever the opportunity arises.

However, when someone arrives in Ardnoch intent on destroying Sloane’s life, Walker is the first to step forward to protect her and Callie. Even if it means giving into temptation and awakening his own demons. Because in doing so, Walker faces failing not only to shield Sloane from her past, but to safeguard her against his own.

••••••

REVIEW:BEYOND THE THISTLES is the first instalment in Samantha Young’s contemporary, adult THE HIGHLANDS erotic, romance series-a spin off from the author’s ADAIR FAMILY series. This is twenty-seven year old, single mother/hotel worker / baker American Sloane Harrow, and former UK Royal Marine turned security specialist Walker Ironside’s story line.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Sloane and Walker) BEYOND THE THISTLES follows the building romance and relationship between Sloane Harrow and Walker Ironsides. Approximately one year earlier, in the aftermath of an abusive relationship Sloane, along with her daughter, head to the Scottish Highlands in search of some peace and quiet. Working in housekeeping at the exclusive, members only Ardnoch Estates, owned by the Adair Family, Sloane found herself falling for a man who struggled with demons from the past, a man who continued to battle with heart breaking loss but all was not well, Sloane’s own demons had followed her to Scotland, and not once but three times, would fall victim to predators seeking control. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Sloane and Walker, and the potential fall-out as Walker’s inability to protect Sloane sends our hero into a spiral, pushing our heroine out of his life.

The relationship between Sloane and Walker is one of unrequited attraction. Sloane has lusted after Walker since her arrive at Ardnoch Estates but our heroine believes Walker wants nothing to do with a relationship, a relationship with a woman and a ten year old child. As Sloane pushes the envelope of flirting and seduction, Walker continues to pull away, knowing he has failed someone he loved, in the past. The $ex scenes are intimate, provocative and intense without the use of over the top sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and familiar secondary and supporting characters including many we have met in the previous series. We are introduced to actor North Hunter, club manager Aria Howard, head of security Jock McRory, and Sloane’s daughter Callie. The requisite evil has many faces.

BEYOND THE THISTLES is a story of family and friendships, abuse and power, love and loss, relationships and control. The premise is emotional and heart breaking; the romance is seductive; the characters are dynamic and determined.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Samantha Young is the New York Times,  USA Today  and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of adult contemporary romances, including the On Dublin Street series and Hero, as well as the New Adult duology Into the Deep and Out of the Shallows.  Every Little Thing, the second book in her new Hart’s Boardwalk series, will be published by Berkley in March 2017. Before turning to contemporary fiction, she wrote several young adult paranormal and fantasy series, including the amazon bestselling Tale of Lunarmorte trilogy. Samantha’s debut YA contemporary novel The Impossible Vastness of Us was published by Harlequin TEEN in ebook & hardback June 2017. Play On is an adult contemporary romance and the first in a brand new series set in Scotland. Villain is a companion novella to the New York Times bestselling romance HERO.

Samantha has been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award 2012 for Best Author and Best Romance for On Dublin Street, Best Romance 2014 for Before Jamaica Lane, and Best Romance 2015 for Hero. On Dublin Street, a #1 bestseller in Germany, was the Bronze Award Winner in the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2013, Before Jamaica Lane the Gold Medal Winner for the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2014 and Echoes of Scotland Street the Bronze Medal Winner for the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2015.

Samantha is currently published in 30 countries and is a #1 international bestselling author.

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