A Single Woman

Second Chance at Love. Review of A single woman.

Isla Cameron is the headmistress at an elite all-girls Academy at Glasgow where widower Alistair Macleod’s daughter Fi (Fiona) is a student. However, Alistair doesn’t know that when he meets Isla at a Christmas party. Alistair is immediately smitten with Isla and asks her to take a walk to get away from the stifling party. They are attracted to each other, however, they feel they are not ready to take it anywhere else. Alistair is still in love with his deceased wife and Isla is determined to remain single. The party ends and Alistair and Isla go their separate ways until Alistair has to go to his daughter’s (Fi) school Assembly where he is pleasantly surprised to see that Isla Cameron is the headmistress of his daughter’s school. The attraction grows between Alistair and Isla despite their caution to slow things down. Alistair is worried about the rest of the family’s reaction to his falling in love with another woman let alone Fi’s school headmistress. Isla is not sure she wants to surrender her single women staus once again after a tragic past. Meanwhile, family and friends of Isla and Alistair do their best to change Isla and Alistair’s minds. I loved this book! It was such a lovely, elegant, and gentle romance with a non-sexual explicit sex scene that was just as sexy if it was explicit. Lol. I loved that the characters were not wide-eyed twenty-somethings or teenagers not ready for the real world. No. Isla and Alistair are in their mid-forties, world-weary with ”too much” world experience. Lol. I loved the family interference seeing Isla and Alistair made a great couple. I gave it four stars b/c I thought Bel’s (Alistair’s sister in law) point of view chapters was unnecessary. I’d rather have it only be Isla’s and Alistair’s point of view. I basically scanned through it. Otherwise, this book is perfect and I will definitely read more by this author. I received this book as an ARC from Hidden Gems in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoy Maggie Christensen’s stories, they are heart-warming with characters that are true to life, the situations and difficulties that arise in everyday life are dealt with in loving and caring ways that bring us closer to the people that you are sure to become friends with, I loved being back in Glasgow Scotland with Bel and Matt and their families.

Alasdair McLeod lost his wife two years ago and has been struggling a bit lately, he has his two children Robbie and Fiona, who is in a wheelchair, when he meets his daughter’s headmistress Isla at his sister in laws party on Christmas Eve he starts to feel a pull towards her, like she is suffering as he is. Is it time that he moves on, how will the children and the family will feel about this? But ignoring the pull is too hard.

Isla Cameron has had her own struggles with grief in the past but has spent the last ten years being single and headmistress at the all-girls school, she loves her job and really is happy being single, but when she runs into an old friend and is invited to a Christmas party and meets one of the parents of her students the attraction is hard to ignore, maybe it is time to think about changing the way she thinks are they kindred spirits?

This is an easy ready, a page turner as Alasdair and Isla have journey to a HEA that has a few ups and downs with interfering in-laws and worrying about what Robbie and Fiona will think, but happiness is there to grab and take it they must, of course catching up with Bel and Matt was fabulous as well, Thank you MS Christensen for another great story, one that I highly recommend.

A Single Woman is an entertaining love story by Maggie Christensen. Being connected to two other books from this author (The Good Sister and Isobel’s Promise) it was fun to see familiar characters who are in this book. While part of a series, one can read the books as stand alone as the author does a nice job of filling in back stories. In A Single Woman, set in the beautiful country of Scotland, readers are introduced to Isla and Alasdair who are both single and heading to middle age. Isla is wrapped up in her career as headmistress of a private school and Alasdair is still grieving the loss of his wife. The author keeps the romantic tension high for Isla with a former lover, a wannabe lover, and a man who didn’t even have love on the radar at all. A match-making sister-in-law and a disapproving father-in-law also add a little humor and conflict into the story. The characters are strong and vibrant and their emotions and actions are realistically portrayed as they work through their issues. And this author isn’t afraid to tackle difficult subjects such as grief, guilt, and handicapped individuals. In A Single Woman, Ms. Christensen again gives her readers older, more mature figures who find that second chances do come around and bring a sense of hope and expectancy. It is a good story of family, friends, and love the second time around.
I received a complimentary copy of the book and was not required to write a review. The opinions are my own.