Monday 27 May 2024

Under A Summer Skye, by Sue Moorcroft

As regular readers of the blog will know, I've been friends with Sue Moorcroft since we first met at the Kettering Writers Group in 1999 (we genre writers were consigned to the back of the room, where we had a great laugh).  Since then she's gone from strength to strength, hitting number one in the Kindle Bestseller charts (with The Christmas Promise) on her way to becoming a Sunday Times Best Seller, while her novel A Summer To Remember won the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Romantic Novel Award 2020.  As well as featuring her a lot on blog (to see more, click this link), I'm pleased to be part of the blog tour for her latest novel, Under A Summer Skye, which has just been published in paperback and e-book.

A chance encounter is about to change everything for Thea Wynter.

The moment she arrived on the Isle of Skye, life changed for Thea. Running from a succession of wrong turns, she comes to the island in search of blue sea, endless skies, and mountains that make the heart soar. Here, she feels at peace.

As head gardener at Rothach Hall, life is exactly how she wants it, with her days spent working in the glorious clifftop garden and her evenings in the cosy local village.

But an encounter with a stranger from the mainland brings with it an unexpected turn – and only time will tell if he is friend or foe.

It seems that even on Skye, life can catch up with you, and Thea is soon faced with the past she left behind – and with it, the family she’s never met…

From old lives to new beginnings, lose yourself on the beautiful Isle of Skye with Thea as she discovers how many possibilities life can truly hold if you look hard enough.

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Thea Wynter is head gardener at Rothach Hall and enjoys her life, with days spent working hard in glorious gardens and evenings at the cosy village pub with her friends and sister. But Thea has a secret. She’s running from her old life and now it’s catching up with her while, at the same time, she meets a mysterious stranger who might be friend or foe.

The latest novel from the ever excellent Sue Moorcroft is the first book in the Skye Sisters trilogy (the first trilogy Moorcroft has embarked upon) and takes place, mostly, on the Isle of Skye. The isle plays a key role, in both this and (presumably) the next two books and Sue paints it wonderfully, from the views to the colours, from the roads to the buildings, making the place feel alive. The same can be said of her characters who, as always, spring off the page. 

Thea is a conflicted woman, who tries to do the right thing but sometimes doesn’t, who adores her adopted sisters and parents, who’s been hurt in love but is trying to escape from a mistake she made years before, where a man was injured - his fault, not hers - but for which she managed to cop the blame of the public. Ezzie, who works at Rothach Hall, is equally well sketched, perhaps more vulnerable (as we later discover) but acting as a perfect foil for her younger sister. The eldest sister, Valentina, lives away from Skye and has less of a part to play here, so it’ll be interesting to see her story explored in another book. The sense of family that’s created, both blood and adopted, is sensitively explored and adds real weight to the emotions of the piece.

The characterisation is thorough and all of them - from the leads to the support - are relatable (even the ones who serves at the antagonists) and I quickly came to care for Thea and her situation, especially when family matters take a shift about halfway through. Dev, the romantic lead, is as conflicted as the object of his affections and that’s played out so well, you feel for him even knowing that the news will come out at some point - hey, it’s a Sue Moorcroft novel. There are always obstacles. 

With some nicely-timed comic relief from Daisy the dog, who initially brings Thea and Dev together, a sure sense of place - both in Scotland and France - and a good pace, this is a cracking novel that shows Moorcroft on top form. I’m really looking forward to reading the stories of the other two sisters now.

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Buy the book here - books2read.com/MoorcroftUASS

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Sue Moorcroft is an international bestselling author and has reached the #1 spot on Kindle UK. She’s won the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Romantic Novel Award, Readers’ Best Romantic Novel award and the Katie Fforde Bursary. Published by HarperCollins in the UK, US and Canada and by other publishers around the world.

Her short stories, serials, columns, writing ‘how to’ and courses have appeared around the world.

Born into an army family in Germany, Sue spent much of her childhood in Cyprus and Malta but settled in Northamptonshire at the age of ten. An avid reader, she also loves Formula 1, travel, family and friends, dance exercise and yoga.

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2 comments:

  1. Sue Moorcroft27 May 2024 at 17:48

    Thanks so much for your review, Mark. This was perhaps the first book of mine that you haven't read in an early draft. :-) Thanks for joining the tour and for all your support, as ever.

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