An unexpected inheritance with a twist…

Synopsis

“Far as I’m aware–” Joe said, dropping his head briefly, the better to compose his features, “–far as I’m aware, Miss, we’ve no rabies in the Hebrides at the moment.”

Rose Mackie has inherited a house on a far-flung Scottish island from her curmudgeon of a father who wanted nothing whatsoever to do with her.

So she lands on Primrose Island with the intention of packing up the old beach house, selling it to the first person who’ll make an offer, and moving firmly on. But Joe Fraser, her late father’s neighbour, has some inconvenient news for her on that front.

Rose prepares for battle – only to find that the longer she spends on Primrose Island, and the more time she spends around Joe in particular, the more she begins to question everything she thought she knew…

My review

When Rose Mackie inherits her father’s house on Primrose Island, she wants to sell it as soon as possible. As her father was not in her life at all, why should she keep something from him?
When her father’s neighbour Joe Fraser informs her that there is a stipulation in the will, and selling the place isn’t as straightforward, Rose knows that she will have to spend more time in her father’s house than she wanted.
But the more time she spends in the house, and the more time she spends with Joe, she learns that in fact, she knew less about her father and his situation than she thought to know.
And that perhaps that one stipulation that initially infuriated her, wasn’t that bad at all…

I always love reading stories where the main character for one reason or another inherits a house, and then discovers that the truth isn’t what he/she thought it was.
So obviously I just had to read this novella too!

I can only try to imagine how Rose must feel, when not only she inherits a house on Primrose Island, but also she inherits it from her father, whom she never had any contact in her life.
While Rose until a certain age always believed that her father would return, at one point she stopped caring. If he didn’t care about her, why should she?

Having those thoughts, I couldn’t blame her reluctance and her wish to just sell up the place as quickly as she could.
But it was also clear that things weren’t as Rose always thought they were, and I was very curious to see to what extend exactly.

We can see a lot of anger in Rose, and that is completely understandable. Yet in a way it was also funny to see the alterations with Joe.
Not only does Rose see Joe as a know – it – all/ better but she also dislikes it how Joe seems to know her father in a different way than hers.
So seeing them clash over several things, or over different opinions put a smile on my face, especially as us readers we know how it all will end.

But what warmed my heart the most in this novella, was seeing how Rose, even if she has negative feelings over her new place, somehow finds her peace in Primrose Island.
And she also discovers that her father is anything but the mans he thought she was, and that makes her feel regretful, but also closer to a man she has never known.

The downside of a novella is, that there is so much to say and so little space to tell it all. So things evolve rather quickly, or things that perhaps would have escalated more, are resolved without any issue, just an angry look suffices.
And it left me with a few in depth questions that were left unanswered, or that I would have liked to see more how things would evolve between Rose and Joe.

But that didn’t take away I enjoyed reading this novella, showing in a short amount how sometimes in a place that doesn’t feel like home, with the truth and discoveries, you find a place more home than anywhere else.
And that even on the most remote place (or at least how it feels) you can find the most unexpected yet most wonderful things.