Sealed With A Kiss

by Rachael Lucas

‘Wonderful escapism with a gloriously romantic setting.’ – Katie Fforde

Featuring brand new material, Sealed With a Kiss is the bestselling romantic novel from Rachael Lucas, the author of Wildflower Bay and Coming Up Roses.

Kate is dumped on her best friend's wedding day by the world's most boring boyfriend, Ian. She's mostly cross because he got in first – until she remembers she's now homeless as well as jobless. Rather than move back home to her ultra-bossy mother, Kate takes a job on the remote Scottish island of Auchenmor as an all-round Girl Friday. Her first day is pretty much a disaster: she falls over, smack bang at the feet of her grouchy new boss, Roddy, Laird of the Island. Unimpressed with her townie ways, he makes it clear she's got a lot to prove.

Island life has no room for secrets, but prickly Roddy's keeping something to himself. When his demanding ex-girlfriend appears back on the island, Kate's budding friendship with her new boss comes to an abrupt end. What is Fiona planning – and can she be stopped before it's too late?

This funny, big-hearted novel is the perfect read for fans of Carole Matthews, Trisha Ashley and Katie Fforde.

• ISBN10: 1447267028
• ISBN13: 9781447267027
• Publish Date: 8 May 2014 (first published 16 April 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Imprint: Pan Books
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Mystereity Reviews]

I can't really give this book a rating, as I'm not going to finish this. Somehow I got the impression that this was a mystery; it isn't, just romance. I didn't figure this out until I was about a third of the way through the book and I'm just not interested enough to finish it. So if you like cute, well-written chick-lit romance novels, this is for you. If you like mysteries, not so much. No rating

[Leah]

When I saw Sealed By A Kiss on Netgalley, I thought it sounded wonderful! I know Rachael had self-published it a while ago, but being a bit of a cover-snob, I found the cover put me off a little bit. It’s cute, don’t get me wrong, but I just didn’t feel like buying it, I don’t know why. So when I saw it with its lovely new cover, I was quite intrigued (yes, a pretty cover always sucks me in. What can I say? I LOVE a pretty cover and the new cover is lovely!). I know it’s generally been a very positively received book so I was quite excited to give it a read and there are definitely bits of the novel that stand out.

For the most part, Sealed By A Kiss is your standard Chick Lit novel – you have the unlikely but warm heroine (Kate), the “Lord of the Manor” type, who is an actual Lord of the Manor, and is even grumpy to boot (Roderick), the evil ex-girlfriend (Fiona) and the obligatory dance as to whether or not a) Roderick likes Kate and vice-versa and whether Roderick and Fiona are going to get back together and c) Fiona’s spitefulness towards Kate out of jealousy and that’s all fine, Chick Lit must tick some boxes, but if you’ve read it once, you’ve read it lots of times and that sort of let the novel down a little bit for me, especially as I found Kate to be a bit naive at certain points of the novel.

What did make this novel though was the setting! I DREAM of going and living on an island (what do you mean I DO live on an island? Well, I do, but I want to go and live on a QUIET island, not Tenerife, which is not quiet.) and although Auchenmor doesn’t exactly sound like my cup of tea – too many nosey parkers, and too small an island, everyone would know my business (or lack of business), it was a delightful setting for a novel! Perfect! It’s hidden away, with not too many people, it’s remote (only three ferries a day) and lends a cosy feel to the novel, especially when you add seals into the mix! I’ll be honest, I didn’t know you got seals in England; yes, stupid of me, I bet, and it was such an unexpected addition, it was super lovely! That was by far the best part for me, and I just wanted to hop on a plane and then a boat to go and visit, perhaps spend Hogmany there…

Sealed With A Kiss was a very sweet novel. I loved the setting, I loved the seals and Willow, the puppy, I enjoyed all the fringe characters – they’re the type that can really make a novel, with their warmth and enthusiasm to welcome someone knew, as they welcomed Kate, and I very much enjoyed reading the novel. Sure, there were a few cliches here and there, but I can see why this is such a popular novel, I just felt it needed a tad more ‘oomph’ to set it apart from many other Chick Lit novels. I hear Rachael is working on a sequel, so I will definitely be checking it out, especially if it’s a direct sequel that will take us back to Aucehmor and the seals, and Kate and Roderick, let’s see, shall we?

[Lynn]

I didn't read the synopsis before beginning to read, so was pleasantly suprised that it was mostly set in the Western Isles. This is a book you curl and read in a comfy chair, relax and enjoy! The supporting characters had larger than life personalities bringing humour. Kate the heroine, was likeable in that she was far from perfect, and her clumsy and bad timing actions made you cringe! I wasn't too sure about Roderick at first, as he seemed like a stereotypical pompous aristocrat! However, after finding out he was involved with Marine Conservation...I was sold:) After a few misunderstandings the book ends well for Kate and Roderick. Although, I'm not sure if the author intends to continue with island life with future books?...I hope she does.