Seeking Solace

by Adrienne Dunning

Life is what you make it and sometimes the toughest step to take is the first because once those wheels are in motion there is no turning back.

This was the case with Sarah Collier because she knows all too well what it was like to lead a life that has always been perfectly scripted and in some respects my heart broke for her but I was internally whooping when her penny dropped on the one day that everyone was supposed to be singing from the same hymn page – literally!

Because far from following the script, Sarah took her life under her control and walked away! Leaving everything she as ever know behind she sets off on what was meant to be her honeymoon – into the unknown she  is finally doing what she wants and I was delighted that she had finally put herself first.

The author did an amazing job in her portrayal of Sarah, I liked her and was almost immediately invested in the journey she was taking. I wanted her to have everything that she needed and deserved and to finally spread her wings and fly – I just didn’t expect that Berwick in southern Scotland would be the place that she would finally find what she needed, then again I doubt she did either.

Bretton is the local pub landlord and the appearance of this pretty stranger in the town certainly draws his attention but is his interest only titillation and amusement or is there something else with him.

I found Bretton a curious character, he has a past that seemed to have a hold on him that was stopping him from taking the steps forward that I was begging him to take – honestly I was internally pleading with him to cut not only himself but Sarah some slack and live for the moment, but then again when you have lived the life that Sarah had – could she finally accept that what happened next for her was her call to make – would she finally tell her family where to get off their high horse and be the woman that she wanted and the woman that Bretton needed, could she make him see that just because he had been hurt before, he could trust her to never hurt him.

I was entranced by the characters and their story, by what they had both been through, by the pain that they both carried with them and by the fact that they were doing what they could to start afresh but I adored the pure romance of their situation – make no bones about it – this is an out and out romance and you will be well placed to make yourself comfortable and allow the author to transport you into the wilds of a the Scottish countryside.

This was a beautifully written, superbly evocative and heart-warmingly romantic read – thoroughly recommended.