Tricia O'Malley

Second Chance Scottish by Tricia O’Malley
Contemporary holiday Scottish romance novella. Slight paranormal elements of ghosts. A stand-alone loosely connected by town characters in the current series.
Skye Kerrigan has inherited the local inn and is struggling to keep it afloat. When a reservation comes in with a fake name, she isn’t concerned. As long as they can pay the bill. But nope. Not Noah Byrne. He walked away once already. She’s not going to let him back into her life. Oh but, show more he begs so prettily.

🎧 I listened to an audiobook narrated by Amy Landon and Will Watt in a duet format. This pair does the entire Enchanted Highland series and the accents are charming and entertaining, especially when secondary characters intrude. The story is on the quirky side of paranormal and the two narrators handle the humor and passion with ease bringing the characters to vivid life.

Highly entertaining with magic, holiday feels and a second chance, feel good romance.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and Dreamscape Select. show less

Wild Scottish Rose by Tricia O’Malley
The Enchanted Highlands series #4. Magical Scottish romance. Can be read as a stand-alone but better as part of the series. World building flows through all the books as do a few of the characters.
Shona Scott has had enough of supplying flowers for weddings and decides to renovate a cottage on her property to earn money. Her first rental is to Owen Williams who is investigating his friend’s story of water horses that dragged him under the loch. Owen show more is a filmmaker and determined to catch anything unusual in Loren Brae.
When a garden gnome starts talking to Shona, her life takes a turn to the magical. And while she can’t control what magical beings show themselves to Owen, she does know those creatures cannot be shared with the world.

🎧 I listened to an audiobook version of this story, narrated by Amy Landon and Will Watt who do the full series. Both narrators bring an enthusiasm to the story that draws the reader in to the Scotland Highlands with “coo” other magical creatures. The performance includes characters with a Scottish accent as well as from the States. I did have to slow down a bit from my preferred speed to understand some of the Scottish dialog. It was a wonderful and entertaining performance with clear emphasis on emotions and the magical.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and the publisher. show less

Wild Irish Fortune by Tricia O’Malley
The Enchanted Highlands series #6. Paranormal Scottish romance. Alternating POV. Can be read as a stand-alone but best read in series order as The Order expands.
Orla Clarke is a master builder working on the newest distillery in Loren Brea. She also sees ghosts and that’s why she’s been called to the town. Having grown up in an orphanage, she has learned to rely only on herself. The ghosts may be plentiful but they always want something and she show more can’t always help.
Finlay Thompson is the director of the distillery project. He loves the old stone building and believes it’s the perfect place for making the gin. Betrayed by family and past relationships, he’s not interested in any new relationships. But with strange things happening around the town of Loren Brae and Orla somehow in the middle of it, he’s intrigued with her and can’t help getting closer.

🎧 I listened to an audiobook narrated by Amy Landon and Will Watt who have done the full series. An excellent performance with specific voices, accents and clear emotions from each in their chapters. Unlike the prior books with mixed country accents, this book’s main characters are relatively local, so the full audio is in a Scottish accent which had me slowing my usual listening rate of 1.5 down a bit to 1.3 to better follow the story. That’s definitely not how I would have heard it in my head if reading an ebook which makes the audiobook all that more enjoyable. The accents, the joy of hearing them falling in love, the humor of the ghost coo and a thousand other small details, makes this audiobook pure happiness to listen to.

The Order of Caledonia strikes again, pulling in another magical guardian. Lots of humor and unlikely events, but it’s ghosts and romance in Scotland, so why not? The ghost coo is hilarious as usual even if he’s making a pest of himself. And it’s the ghosts that start off this romance so while it can be too much for Orla, she’ll have Finlay to help as well as the rest of the friendships of the Order.
Thoroughly enjoyable. Love this series even though it’s a lot outrageous in a romancy way. show less

A Kilt for Christmas by Tricia O’Malley
The Enchanted Highlands series #3. Alternating POV. Can be read as a stand-alone.

From California, West is used to the sun and not rainy days of Loren Brae, Scotland.
He’s there for vacation and a book fest. Supposedly, the pub was just a short walk but West shivered just thinking of it.
A gaggle of elderly book club members befriend West and then help him “get the girl”.

Maisie wishes for a snowy Christmas on the standing stones outside Loren show more Brae. The snowiest ever. Little does she know, the magick of the stones can make her wish turn into a catastrophic event that threatens the Christmas Book Festival.

🎧 I listened to an audiobook narrated by Amy Landon and William Watt. The two have narrated the full series to date. Being from Scotland, Maisie has a heavy Scottish accent which was fun to listen to for this Midwest U.S. city person, but meant I had to slow the playback considerably to understand the conversation. The character Maisie also talks even faster when excited, scared or upset and both narrators executed that flawlessly. The banter of the conversation made it worth slowing down to enjoy the spikes and volleys. The antagonizing banter between Maisie and West during the negotiations of playing trivia and then the game were laughably chuckle worthy.
And while the hero ghost coo (cow) doesn’t talk, it does bark or whatever cows in Scotland do, and including it in the narrative was comedic and playful.

I loved this romantic comedy for the humor, spice and interfering book club ladies. The audio made the whole experience interactive and alive.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and the publisher Dreamscape Select. I will recommend this to bookclubs and anyone that loves a good romcom. show less