The Accidental Scot
Kilts and Quilts series, Book #4
By Patience Griffin
ISBN13: 9780451476388
Author’s Website: http://www.patiencegriffin.com
Review brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra
Synopsis:
Christmas in the small village of Gandiegow brings holiday cheer—and a chance for love between two strangers…
When her father is injured in an accident, Edinburgh engineer Pippa McDonnell comes home to Gandiegow to take over the family business, the North Sea Valve Company. Now she’s working overtime trying to fix NSV’s finances and find the cash to get her father proper medical care.
One possibility is to accept a partnership with MTech, an American firm desperate to get their hands on her da’s innovative valve design. He was against bringing in outsiders, but Pippa is desperate enough to at least listen to MTech’s charming representative Max McKinley.
As Christmas approaches and with the help of Gandiegow’s meddling quilters, Pippa and Max slowly find themselves attracted to each other. Max seems honorable, but is he there to steal the valve design…or Pippa’s heart?
Review:
The Accidental Scot, a continuation of the Kilts and Quilts series was a delightful read. I found I was quickly engaged and re-entrenched in the lives of the residents of Gandiegow; it was like I had not been away at all reading other books 🙂 . In her writing way, Patience Griffin has created a cast of characters who are relatable, engaging and down right entertaining.
The story begins with Pippa attending the funeral of Kenneth Campbell. Pippa comes to the realization that if things do not change, the next funeral the town might be attending will be her for her da. From here, one can surmise that Pippa was having none of that! She would do whatever was necessary to assist her da (referred to as ‘the McDonnell’) in his recovery from his accident as well as facilitating good financial health back into the North Sea Valve Company (NSV). Oh…and let’s not forget Pippa’s third challenge…keeping everyone from pressuring her into marrying Ross now that she was home. One of Pippa’s first steps would be to take a meeting with a representative from MTech (an American firm desperate for this valve design). She also brainstorms and comes up with the idea to auction the ruggedly handsome men (bachelors only of course) of the village off to raise funds. I loved how she spoke to the men of the town (the whole lot of them were like brothers to her) when discussing this plan:
“Each of you will be shaved, showered, and kilted. And there better not be the stink of bluidy fish on any one of you. Do ye hear?”
Enter Max McKinley, MTech’s representative. He is sent to Scotland to close the deal with the NSV Company. I got the sen se at that point in time, his boss Miranda Weymouth and Roger Gibbons (MTech’s president) are definitely keeping him in the dark about the specifics of their actual objectives…they just want a pretty face to go and close the deal. So, Max’s task is to meet with Lachlan and Alistair McDonnell and convince them to go into partnership for the subsea shutoff valve.
Max’s first introduction to the local people of Gandiegow is when he walks into the local watering hole where he is served by Pippa. And they all know who he is and why he is in town…. And they certainly put him through the wringer. As with all small towns…the inhabitants are a close knit bunch. They are all so colorful and I quite enjoyed their comradery, scheming and all around caring for each other.
As with any romance book…there has to be romance. Max was certainly in a quandary when he started falling for Pippa…especially since the deal with North Sea Valve Company (NSV) was not a done deal (and his job depended on securing this deal):
“His career was on the line and he was letting a nice piece of lass get in the way of closing the deal. But he couldn’t text Miranda back. What could he tell her about the deal? That NSV’s chief engineer kissed like a veritable love goddess or that she hade him as hard as a concrete pier? How about that he’d spent his time making Christmas presents and drinking with the locals instead of discussing the subsea shutoff value?”
There was a lot of development on many secondary storylines, which brought in characters from previous books in the series. However, there is enough back story provided so that if this is your first read in the series, it would not be difficult to catch on to the characters and how they all fit together.
I would have to say that to date, this is by far my favorite of the Kilts and Quilts series. I loved how the romance played out. The auction of bachelors was a hoot. All in all – a great read. I cannot wait for the next book in the series: The Trouble With Scotland (Kilts and Quilts #5).
*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*
