Dram Good Love

by Blaire Edens

Hotel magnate Roderick McGowan just bought The Balbrea Distillery at a foreclosure sale for pennies on the pound. As the only remaining distillery that makes whisky using an eighteenth century method, he plans to cash in by building a five-star boutique hotel next door and bringing in Scotch connoisseurs by the bus-load. There can’t be much to making good Scotch. But there’s only one problem. The owner’s daughter is refusing to sell the adjacent property to him. Without it, he’s not sure how he’ll ever turn a decent profit.

Valerie Buchanan has been making whisky alongside her father since she was forced to leave her job at a powerful Edinburgh Marketing and PR firm after a terrible betrayal. Her father refused her marketing advice and the distillery was in serious trouble before his sudden death. Even though she’s heartbroken that she’s lost the distillery, she plans to keep The Grange, the country house has been in the family for generations. Even if that means making a deal with Roderick McGowan.

Roderick arrives at Balbrea, he realizes that all the smooth talk in the world isn’t going to change Valerie’s mind. He’s going to have to resort to other tactics. Valerie doesn’t see many billionaires in the Western Highlands and she’s more than willing to entertain a meaningless fling with a big-spender. But when the two are caught in a Highlands snow storm and have a little too much Scotch, they might strike a deal. On forever.

114 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 28, 2016

Reviews

[Dorel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 2nd book I read by Blaire Edens. This book's story line was okay. I liked the hot & steamy scenes. I liked Valerie & Roderick's characters. I enjoyed the ending.

[Marcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Valerie Buchanan fled Edinburgh after her lover who was also a client to the Marketing and PR firm where she worked, lied and betrayed her. She never intended to stay at Balbrea long, but she loved working with her father at the Balbrea Distillery, the only one left in Scotland that still made single malt the way it was made in the eighteenth century. However, her father died leaving debts. Wealthy Roderick McGowan bought it at a foreclosure sale for pennies on the pound, sight unseen, envisioning building a resort hotel next door. While she no longer has her parents, Valerie is not going to sell her ancestral home for any price. Roderick only cares about the bottom line and will hire someone to run the distillery, he just needs to fine land for his hotel. He hires her as a consultant until he can find people to manage and run the distillery. While the two of them are very different, they are both fighting an attraction for each other, until one night they are force together in a snow storm. They each have been hurt badly. He believes his mother abandoned her 3 sons to live in the Highlands, while she was so hurt by not only her lover but by the those who believed his lies, that she never wants to return to Edinburgh. These are two people who long for each other, but it takes each of them stepping out of their comfort zone. I very much enjoyed reading this story.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fairly quick read with a HEA. Roderick is the typical alpha male who meets his match in the feisty Valerie. She stands her ground and wants nothing from him which he finds refreshing. Slowly they build a relationship and help each other overcome long buried fears. This was well written and instantly sucked me in. I found myself vested in both characters and the plot. A great read. I volunteered to read this book.

[B. Brumley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hair pulling, Scottish highlands, whisky, AND a Gerard Butler lookalike MC?!

#BestFirstChapterSurprises

Roderick McGowan was the best kind of alpha (billionaire CEO, cut-to-the-chase kind of fella). Valerie Buchanan was a sassy, independent heroine. When they meet over sheep (<---yes, that would be livestock), sparks fly. Smooth writing, light reading, and a couple of fun characters... straight through to their happily ever after. I was having a miserable day, but this interrupted a pretty serious case of the sucky Mondays and brought a smile.