Wildflower Bay

By Rachael Lucas

I was first attracted to this novel by the gorgeous bright and colourful book cover. It really is just lovely to look at.

The blurb then pulled me in further and I was ready to dive into Isla and Finn’s romantic adventure. The more I read the more I wondered when that adventure was going to actually begin, and I was disappointed that our two main love interests didn’t actually meet until I was well over half way into the book. It’s a very short amount of time for a couple to develop a decent relationship and to have those moments that take a readers breath away. It lacked the real romantic drive that these sort of novels have.

This is not a fast paced romance novel and it shouldn’t be categorised as one, but instead a contemporary fiction which just beams with warmth and heart. Isla’s other relationships feel so much richer than her romance with Finn. I wonder if Rachael Lucas had developed the relationship between Isla and Ruth, whether then I would have been drawn into the novel more. Their beautifully easy friendship keep me turning the pages, and I wished for more pages with interaction between them.

Lucas’s novel can be read as a stand-alone but there are also two more books set in Auchenmor. Sealed with a Kiss and Sealed with a Christmas Kiss are involved with different characters that do pop up in this novel and to be honest I will be getting these books and reading them too. Just to see if having more background information helps with Wildflower Bay.

Now I’ve read a lot of books so I suppose I find it relatively easy to spot mistakes now. I know the common ones. I know it easy to miss one or two but I was disappointed in a continuation error that was quite clear. Page 199 Isla is told to be wearing grey jeans, a pale vest and a cardigan. Now for me a clear description helps me to picture the character as the motion picture of the story plays in my head. Only a couple of pages later, in the same scene, Isla is wearing black jeans, a black vest and a pale cardigan. It just really bothered me that something so obvious hadn’t been picked up either by the author or, indeed, by the publisher. As a paying customer I shouldn’t be seeing mistakes like that. As a writer myself I know how hard it is to recall everything that has come before but it should have been picked up and made it feel like the book was written quickly to get onto shelves and sold.

Otherwise Lucas does give a rich story of Isla and Auchenmor. The original misdemeanour at the start of the novel is the catalyst that changes Isla’s life and causes her to have a break away from her home city of Edinburgh. It was refreshing to have a novel set in Scotland and I enjoyed the detailed, gorgeous descriptions Lucas gives. I didn’t warm to Isla at first but her uptight characteristics tone down as she begins to enjoy her time on the island. Her relationship with Ruth is heartfelt and I wish it had been explored even further with more time spent between them. It was exciting to have the storyline bounce between Isla and Finn, but as I said before, it would have been better for their meet-cute to have happened earlier in the book so we could have more time to explore their relationship together.

The ending also left us at a bit of a cliffhanger. I’m wondering if there is going to be a sequel to Wildflower Bay as there was with her first novel and her characters in that. If so, I would read it. I feel invested in the characters now and would be interested to see Isla and Finn’s relationship develop.

I will endeavour to read her first two novels about the island. Perhaps that’s were she should have ended. Was this novel one too many for the island? Had the story been done too much? I’m hoping by reading the others it will tell me.

And maybe we shall hear of a sequel…

What do you think Booklovers?