Izzy McBride is our hostess in the wintry Scottish Highlands as we prepare to dive into the work of renovating and opening a hotel at THE CHRISTMAS CASTLE IN SCOTLAND by Julie Caplin. Having inherited from her kind uncle, Izzy moves into the somewhat isolated castle and discovers her mother Xanthe already in residence. With typical extravagance, Xanthe is ordering expensive wallpaper and foods, but she’s working at finding and cleaning all the gorgeous items of the household too. Maybe it won’t be too hard to open as a business.  Ross Strathallan is their first paying guest, a history professor on sabbatical as he writes a book.

I previously enjoyed the earlier Romantic Escapes tale set at a cookery course at the Killorgally Cookery School in Ireland. Izzy was one of the pupils, and the course will stand her in good stead. Just like the other series books, the castle cast is one that expands through the story, adding lively people to the mix such as Jim and Jeanette, a young couple who are wild camping and become workers on the busy team. Again, we visit a city for a chance to see the sights, do shopping, and encounter someone from the past. Edinburgh, in this case, is highly decorated for Christmas and the description brought back great memories for me. I suspect author Julie Caplin is working to a formula, but a highly successful one.

The downside of Scottish winter is the deep snow, which certainly arrives, but with enough food and friends, it turns out to be not much of a problem. A local ceilidh brings more good cheer, as the locals are all happy to see business increasing for their farms and shops. This romance tale is a mix of women's fiction and upmarket fiction, with romance under the surface a lot of the time. Izzy is so busy preparing for a well-paying set of visitors, that she doesn’t have much time for falling in love with Ross, and he’s busy writing anyway. But if they can survive Xanthe and elderly retainer Duncan flinging them together, they’ll probably make a go of it.

I’d like more financial details given in such books about inherited homes. The estate taxes would have been immense; this is why so many stately homes get handed over to the state. Izzy would probably have had to get a bank loan to cover that before even patching the roof. THE CHRISTMAS CASTLE IN SCOTLAND certainly kept my interest and provides some scrumptious recipes, so it’s well worth a read – make sure you are in a warm room.