Kilt Trip by Alexandra Kiley is a gorgeous, breathtakingly atmospheric debut that wraps readers in a cozy blanket from the first page to the last. It’s a story about renewed hope, the little moments that count the most, and healing. And it’s the kind of romance novel that’s achingly tender and scorchingly hot simultaneously.
Whether the reader has been to Edinburgh, Scotland or not, Kiley’s prose are so beautifully and transcendently immersive that you’re there in the Highlands with the characters. You’re walking through the gloomy, bitingly cold streets and can feel every ounce of the magic sprinkling from all the city’s edges. As someone who has been there, I felt like I was immediately transported back, and now I miss Scotland with a thousand fires in my soul. How Kiley works with the weather and the rich history that envelops every corner of the country is nothing short of brilliant. A tremendous amount of love is bursting through every page, which gorgeously translates into a lasting love letter to one of the most enchanting places in the world.
At the same time, Kilt Trip by Alexandra Kiley is an honest, remarkably mending exploration of grief as our main character, Addie, walks a mile in her late mother’s shoes and works through the heartaches still breaking her. There’s a particular line about approaching the time when you’ve lived without a deceased parent longer than you’ve lived with them, and for those of us who know that pain too well, the delicacy of that heartache is painted so authentically, the puncturing stabs of grief come rushing in all at once.
Some of the best novels—the best romances—are the ones that make us feel a little less alone in our sorrows. They’re the ones that reach toward the places where we’re hurting and they remind us that love and pain coexist together. Grief is a measure of the way love perseveres and it’s easy to feel every inch of that love in the story. It’s easy to stop in our tracks for a moment and breathe with the characters.
With that said, the romance in Kilt Trip by Alexandra Kiley is addictive. Logan and Addie’s banter is sharp, phenomenally written, well-paced, steamy, deeply tender, and incredibly believable. How they go from point A to B and find themselves tangled and obsessed with each other works when we have visual proof of all the ways they both authentically see each other.
The connection is strong from the start, sure, but it’s the frustrations in between that sell where we end up because the animosity that Kiley presents realistically shows us all the ways they’re more intricately connected. There’s plenty they’re both working through internally, and how they come together while healing from those terrors is where their story shines the most. As hot as their chemistry is, the emotional vulnerability and trust make their love more uniquely beautiful. The emotional beats and the quiet unraveling that occurs when they share intimate heartaches are how they become the kind of romantic couple readers will remember for a long, long time.
Kilt Trip by Alexandra Kiley is now available wherever books are sold.
First Featured Image | Book Cover Credit: ©Canary Street Press | Alexandra Kiley