Five Days in Skye by Carla Laureano

                        Five Days in Skye by Carla Laureano

I am a sucker for anything and everything about Scotland. Visiting Scotland is on my bucket list in position #1. So I was excited to sink into Five Days in Skye. Much of Scotland’s landscape is picturesque and you can experience everything from city life to rolling fields of heather to the craggy hills of the highlands. But the Isle of Skye is a dreamer’s paradise and Carla Laureano has painted a gloriously vivid picture for her readers.

Andrea Sullivan works in the high pressure and fast paced corporate environment as a hospitality consultant. Having been burned in the past by her chauvinist boss she finds herself having to land the account of a well-known celebrity chef in order to save her career with the company. She has to ditch her plans to take a much needed tropical vacation and head to what she feels is dreary Scotland to meet a celebrity she is sure is going to be full of himself and determined to bed her…just like the other men she has had to work with.

However, Scottish celebrity chef James McDonald turns out to be nothing like she expected.  James’ public persona as a womanizer has Andrea putting up her guard from the point of their first encounter. Despite what the public might think of him, James has been hurt in the past by the one woman he thought he loved. It was the pain he endured from the loss of that relationship that caused James to wall himself up and not let another woman into his heart. That is until he meets Andrea and finds out there is more to her than the polished professional appearance she has on display. He slowly cracks away at Andrea’s soft side and learns about who she really is, apart from her career. And even while Andrea is trying to keep the walls up around her, she starts to feel like she can trust again and she softens up and remembers who she really is inside. As Andrea and James become more comfortable with each other, Andrea starts to realize that their connection is much more than a business relationship.

The five days Andrea gets to spend in Skye with James is transforming for both of them. And the magic of their surroundings adds to their blooming romance. This is where Carla Laureano’s writing really impresses me. The description of the surroundings made me feel like I could feel the temperature and see the beauty of the land that James loves so much and wants to introduce to Andrea.

 If you are expecting the normal hot and heavy sex scenes typical of many romance novels today, you will not find them in Five Days in Skye. But please do not let that turn you off on this novel.  You will find yourself wanting and hoping for a “hook up”. When you are instead presented with a slow and tender kiss filled with the simmer of desire, you will remember that hardcore sex is not nearly as swoon-worthy and heart melting as a soft romantic kiss from a man you trust when you have been hurting and not trusting for such a long time. The will power of the two to not let sex drive their budding relationship but instead to be faithful to letting it build out of something more meaningful makes you feel their connection all the more.  This is not to say there is not sexual tension between the two – there most definitely is and it is well written and endearing. Now would I have been turned off if they’d have taken it into the bed…maybe, for that would have taken away from what they were trying to accomplish in their courtship.  Therefore in this case, no sex was sexy.

I would definitely recommend Five Days in Skye to my friends and I could even in good conscious recommend it to my mother without blushing – something I could definitely not do with Fifty Shades of Gray. It would make a great book club read as well.

I give Five Days in Skye 5 stars. Read it and take a staycation to the Isle of Skye.

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17879360-five-days-in-skye