Publication Date: February 14, 2023
When a thirty-something American food writer moves to a Scottish village for one year to fulfill her dream of writing a cookbook she finds more than inspiration—she meets a handsome Scotsman she can’t resist.
Ruby Spencer is spending one year living in a small cottage in a tiny town in the Scottish Highlands for three reasons: to write a bestselling cookbook, to drink a barrelful of whisky, and to figure out what comes next. It’s hard to know what to expect after an impulse decision based on a map of Scotland in her Manhattan apartment—but she knows it’s high time she had an adventure.
The moment she sets foot in Thistlecross, the verdant scenery, cozy cottages, and struggling local pub steal her heart. Between designing pop-up suppers and conversing with the colorful locals, Ruby starts to see a future that stretches beyond her year of adventure. It doesn’t hurt that Brochan, the ruggedly handsome local handyman, keeps coming around to repair things at her cottage. Though Ruby swore off men, she can’t help fantasizing what a roll in the barley might be like with the bearded Scot.
As Ruby grows closer to Brochan and the tightly held traditions of the charming village, she discovers secret plans to turn her beloved pub into an American chain restaurant. Faced with an impossible choice, Ruby must decide between love, loyalty, and the Highlands way of life.
In Ruby Spencer’s Whisky Year by Rochelle Bilow, Ruby Spencer is ready for a change. She is single, in her early thirties, and tired of her job as a food columnist. What to do? Move to a small village in the Scottish Highlands and write a cookbook, of course!
Ruby takes off to the village of Thistlecross, rents a cottage without plumbing, and creates a new life for herself. It isn’t long before she grows attached to the people of Thistlecross, especially a very large, bearded Scotsman named Brochan. Ruby becomes immersed in this new world and wonders, when does an outsider become one of them?
Ruby Spencer’s Whisky Year is charming and funny. I loved Ruby’s joie de vivre and her concern for the village and its people. The romance developed slowly, and Ruby found her way into this new world. Circumstances caused her to question her loyalties and make difficult decisions. I was thoroughly enjoying the story until there was one gigantic coincidence that pushed the bounds of believability for me. Therefore, a terrific book was reduced a little to a very good book.
Ruby Spencer’s Whisky Year is charming, with a determined heroine, a hunky hero, and a delightful cast of characters.
Rochelle Bilow is a food and romance writer who previously worked as the social media manager at Bon Appétit and Cooking Light magazines. A graduate of The French Culinary Institute, she has also worked as a line cook, a baker, and a wine spokesperson. Her first book, The Call of the Farm, a swoony farming memoir, was published in 2014. Raised in Syracuse, New York, Rochelle now lives in northern Vermont.
