Sealed with a kiss by Rachael Lucas

I am constantly reading but it is so rarely a book and I miss books. I long for that feeling you get with a good book when you when you don’t want to put it down and when you do, you can’t wait to pick it up again. That is exactly how I felt reading Sealed with a Kiss by Rachael Lucas. I heard Rachael talking about her book at a blogging conference a couple of months ago and I was inspired to read it.  I am so glad that I did.   I enjoyed it so much that it left me with renewed determination to get back into a reading habit again.

In Sealed with a Kiss, we meet twenty something Kate who is homeless, jobless and boyfriend less after her “ever so slightly dull” boyfriend dumps her. Refusing point blank to return to live with her mother, a job as a Girl Friday on a remote Scottish island catches her eye. With no idea where she is going or what the job will actually entail, Kate decides that this is something she needs to do to move her life forward.

Sealed with a Kiss is a gently soothing story that quietly draws you in and keeps you entertained until the last page. As a character,Kate definitely grows on you as she escapes her non-descriptive reality on her voyage of self discovery and you can’t help but smile at some of the comical moments such as when she dramatically trips and falls at the Laird’s feet (her handsome new boss). She quickly learns that that on the tiny island of Auchenmor there are no secrets and her quest for a man-free year are seriously tested by the handsome men; the laird himself the very serious Roderick and the womanising bag-piper Finn.

Even Kate herself is unsure of how long she will survive on the island but with the help of the island’s larger than life characters and the colony of seals, she quickly falls under its spell and into its way of life.  When her bosses ex-girlfriend arrives and threatens to spoil it all, will Kate be forced  return back to her old life?

It is a humorous story about friendship and relationships with the beautiful backdrop of the remote Scottish Island and it’s wildlife. The descriptions of the island landscapes are so vivid that you can picture the island and the Island of Bute that Auchenmor is based on is definitely somewhere I have now added to my list of ‘must visit ‘ places.

Sealed with a Kiss is feel good fiction at its best, it is the sort of book that you want to curl up with.  It is charming, funny and endearing, with believable  and likeable characters and I am eagerly looking forward to Rachael’s next book as she writes with such a warmth that engages you until the very last word.