ECLIPSING MADDIE

A trip to Scotland and an unexpected inheritance throw lives into disarray in McConnell’s novel.

Jenna Hamilton is unhappy both in her career and her marriage. One day she receives a fateful call from the lawyer of Lady Madeleine MacDonald. As it turns out, Jenna has inherited the Lady’s estate at Glenfraoch in the Scottish Highlands, which feels a million miles from Jenna’s home in Missouri. To her, Lady MacDonald was simply “Maddie,” her childhood best friend. Upon her arrival in Inverness, Jenna is surprised by the offer of a lift from Quinn MacGregor, a man she almost had an affair with 12 years earlier when they were witnesses at Maddie’s wedding. Quinn takes her to Glenfraoch, where Jenna finds herself in the middle of a small Scottish community of quirky supporting characters as well as on a slightly predictable course of a will-they, won’t-they romance with Quinn himself, which at times is overextended. The author, however, adds spice to the story with a few unique supernatural aspects. Jenna reveals that Maddie once believed in magic and spells. She loved horses and hoped she might return to Earth as one after her death; what follows is an adventure for Jenna and Quinn in which, to honor Maddie’s memory, they gather unique ingredients to perform a spell for her during an upcoming eclipse. It is a refreshingly eclectic storyline that primarily focuses on Jenna’s dealing with her Scottish inheritance and deciding whether to pursue her heart’s desire with Quinn. McConnell’s vivid descriptions of the lush Scottish setting are sure to dazzle readers: The depiction of Jenna’s surroundings, Maddie’s estate, and the excursions taken by Jenna are immersive and beautiful, making establishment of place one of the high points in this oddly intriguing novel. The author also does an admirable job of examining the enduring nature of a friendship “forged by the fire of adolescent pain and strengthened by time” and the processing of grief.

An engrossing story of finding happiness in unexpected places for those who enjoy offbeat romances.