Can she stop her past from ruining her future?Sorcha Mackinnon isn’t your typical tortured artist. She is also a party girl, a vintage shopper, and the heiress to a whisky fortune. But when inspiration suddenly flies out the window, she’s left with an empty whisky glass and a blank canvas…until a childhood friend waltzes back into her life. She’s known Danny Gordon since birth, but they lost … since birth, but they lost touch as their careers took them in different directions. He offers to show her the parts of Scotland he swears will spark life back into her brushes. And as they tour the sights on the back of his motorcycle, Sorcha realizes that under the tattoos and smart mouth, Danny may inspire more in her than just a new painting.
But as a good time begins to morph into an ever after, Sorcha is reminded of old wounds that just won’t heal. Danny tries to open her heart, but her self-imposed isolation makes things harder than ever. Now she must decide what to do, because what happens in the ruins doesn’t always stay there.
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Sorcha was a fun character, she had a great personality and she was always speaking her mind. She was an artist but money wasn’t a problem for her. And she was always out for a good time. She also had a troubled past because she lost her twin brother. So sometimes you think she was trying to cover up her hurt or maybe she just wanted a good time. She also lost some of her inspiration for her art and had to look elsewhere to find it.
Danny was a friend from the past who has spent some time with her and knows the things that might get her inspiration back. I really enjoyed both characters and think you will too.
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I am loving this series by Kelsey McKnight. I somehow missed this book and I’m so glad to have found it again and read it. This is second in the series of books taking place in the Scottish Highlands. Kelsey has created characters that are so wonderful. I like how the characters were introduced in book one and included in the storylines. Then in the second book, it features a different couple, but all the characters are included and appear often to my delight.
Sorcha is a cousin to Sean and Lachlan and becomes close with their ladies from America, Katie and Rose. Danny was Sorcha’s late brother’s best friend and their parents were friends. They caught up together at Katie’s hen night and realized there were sparks. Sorcha has kept herself from being in a relationship since her twin brother died, 6 years earlier. Sorcha is an artist but she has had trouble painting lately. She shares this with Danny and he starts taking her to beautiful spots to try to get her muse back. She and Danny begin seeing each other but she won’t let emotions into play or give the relationship a title.
There is quite a bit of romance and angst in the book. The scenes between Danny and Sorcha become quite steamy. She pulls away as she’s afraid of getting close and losing someone else. The plot is truly wonderful to read and see the changes taking place in Sorcha. I highly recommend this book, giving it 5 stars. I am ready and excited to start book 3 next.
What Happens in the Ruins is such a fun story! I loved Sorcha and her take charge attitude! And she and Danny together is just all sorts of fun! Kelsey Mcknight does a spectacular job with her descriptions of the different areas and their many characteristics! I felt like I was actually walking around and discovering it before me as I read! Wonderful!
Danny and Sorcha have known each other their whole lives and ran in the same circle of friends. So when Danny sees Sorcha in town and asks her to stay and have some coffee, its nothing out of the ordinary. He asks her about her artwork and she says she’s been struggling with inspiration. He offers to take her with him as he visits one of his many investment properties. She jumps at the chance!
Things progress from there. Sorcha visiting places of inspiration for her art, with Danny. All over! Feelings eventually emerge and then this isn’t just fun anymore. It feels real and that scares Sorcha.
I really enjoyed Danny and Sorcha’s journey! And it was a journey! Sorcha had a lot of past demons she just locked away and never dealt with. We all can relate to some of her issues and/or fears. I adored Danny! He had a way of calming Sorcha and taking away a lot of her anxiety. He was so caring and really understood her obstacles.
What Happens in the Ruins is book two in the What Happens series, and can be read as a standalone. There are overlapping characters from Book one, What Happens in the Highlands, that you will definitely want to read! A great addition to the series and I look forward to book three!
I was gifted a copy of this book by the publisher through NetGalley. The rating and review are my opinion.
A beautifully told love story set in the beautiful Scottish Highlands.
Two old friends, Sorcha and Danny reunite years after the death of Sorcha’s twin brother Johnny, who was also Danny’s best friend. What happens next is full blown romance. But Sorcha doesn’t trust love. She is afraid of losing someone she loves again. She is content with just hooking up with Danny while he takes her around the countryside helping her get her artistic inspiration flowing again, so she can paint for her upcoming art show. When Danny confesses his love for Sorcha, Sorcha pulls away.
My heart broke for Sorcha and Danny immediately when Sorcha decided she didn’t want to see Danny again. But I enjoyed seeing how they worked their way back to each other. I also enjoyed catching up with the characters from the previous books in this series. The author did a fantastic job with creating interesting characters, that I couldn’t get enough of, and scenery that was easy to visualize. I think I might need a trip to Scotland one day. Even though this is a standalone story, I would recommend reading the books from the beginning of the series to get to know all the characters as their stories play out.
3.5 stars rounded up, just to make it comparable with recent ratings I’ve given.
Artist and whiskey heiress Sorcha MacKinnon is known as a free-spirited party girl but her image is mostly a carefully crafted facade to hide her lingering pain at the loss of her twin brother and keep her from getting too close to anyone. But when a childhood friend comes back into her life and helps her rediscover her passion for painting, things may be changing and Sorcha is terrified. She’s known Daniel Gordon her entire life, despite the fact that they’ve become distant since university, he’s still her friend and she’s not supposed to be feeling what she’s beginning to feel for him. Or for anyone. Right?
As the two spend time together exploring the Scottish countryside, Sorcha tries to deal with the painful past and resist the urge to run and hide from her feelings, and Danny. But old habits die hard and soon she’ll have to decide what he truly means to her or risk losing him for good.
Firstly, I loved getting to see the main characters from the previous book in the series moving forward with their relationships. Secondly, I loved Sorcha as a secondary character in the previous book, but I could hardly stand her in this one. I don’t generally care for first person narration so maybe that was part of the problem, but her thoughts and inner monologues just came off as overly dramatic and whiney. They were mostly about things she hates, or tolerates but doesn’t actually like and how she felt so alone, even though she acknowledged all of this to be her own doing. She had understandable reasons I supposed, but her continuing to callously hurt others she cared about and run away time and again to protect herself just got on my nerves. The descriptions of Scotland were lovely, but Sorcha’s spoiled rich girl tendencies and immaturity made it difficult to relate to her. Danny was perfect, really overly so and he put up with way too much and deserved so much better treatment, but I couldn’t even roll my eyes at him because they were too busy rolling at Sorcha.
I’ll definitely continue this series because I still love the characters, but Sorcha was a disappointment for me overall.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
3.5
What I liked:
The writing style
The characters
Part of a series: What Happens
Standalone
HEA
Epilogue
I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC from NetGalley.