Whisky Business by Elliot Fletcher

Thank you to NetGalley & Harpercollins publishers for providing me with the ARC 🩷

My first read from Elliot Fletcher, and I'm very excited to continue the series with the rest of the Macabe Brothers.

I do love a story & a playlist, personal fave of the 1975 so I will always vouch for that!

The sexual tension in this book was a massive win for me, I absolutely love this and the story pet name 'princess' for April and this would normally be an ick, however imagining it from this swoony Scotsman 'Mal' did the trick.

As they attempt to save the distillery the pair have to spend more time together *forced proximity for the win!*

I adored the smut from the book and loved their relationship. I can't wait to read the next in the series 💖

I devoured this book in a day!!! Mal is quite possibly the sweetest book boyfriend I’ve ever read about!
Cannot wait for the next book in the series now!

I devoured this book in a day!!! Mal is quite possibly the sweetest book boyfriend I’ve ever read about!
Cannot wait for the next book in the series now!

A great read, the story of April and Mal. She is back home in Skye from her Hollywood life after losing her grandfather. Mal is not happy that she is back. A great read, looking forward to the next books in this series.

Honestly thought I was gonna love Whisky Business to be hones. It did kind of end to have fallen short in some aspects.

Though this one was cute, I admit. The storyline reminds me of It Happened One Summer with the sunshine/ actress x grumpy trope and the rest of the premise here.

Half of the story was plotty, I enjoyed the events going on with the distillery and April's navigation and Mal's not so good relationship for like half of it.

The developments were good, and the characters were striking. I love that they were really present and have a presence in the story.

The romance, on the other hand, was pretty shaky for me? I mean, I can see and feel the tension and the chemistry, I just don't think the development part here was that good? Although there are smutty scenes that I find really good, I just felt that I wasn't really convinced with their romance.

With that being said, I also feel like I'm not really fond of Mal. He's really kind of a little bit too spiteful for me. I understand the trope of grumpy mmc, but there's time I feel like he's just being to much.

I also think that the 2nd half wasn't plotty anymore? It was more on the smutty, in my opinion, especially after the 1st smut scene. I was hoping it could remain plotty, but that didn't feel like that at all after their first love scene, which disappointed me.

Overall, I think this was okay. I'm still looking forward to the next instalment of this series. 3.25⭐️

This book is already out, so check it out. This might be your cup of tea and might be your next fave read ♡


~Thank you, netgalley, and the publisher for the review copy opportunity~

I adored this book. 



This story follows April, a famous actress, moving back to her childhood home and where she reunites with Mal, a shy, grumpy distiller.

 loved the chemistry between Mal and April. This story is full of banter and a slow burn romance. This book does contain a 3rd act conflict, which personally I do not mind. It was done really well and the characters worked their issues out like adults. It’s a great summer read and I would definitely recommend!

This was hands down one of the BEST romance books I've EVER READ! 😍

A pretty big call, but THIS BOOK HAD EVERYTHING I wanted in a romance read and I now have a new favourite romance author in Elliot Fletcher! YAY!!

This book has:

😠BROODING MISUNDERSTOOD LOVE INTEREST!
I love a brooding bad boy, but Mal was even better. A brooding Scot who was so perfectly imperfect, dealing with his own anxiety in as positive way as he could was so empowering and honestly, very sexy.

💞NOT JUST ROMANCE BUT ACTUAL FALLING IN LOVE!
I mean, obviously, a romance is going to have a love story, but most don't reach THIS LEVEL. I felt like we went along for this ride where these characters were so genuinely FALLING IN LOVE and it was glorious!!

🌶️The perfect amount of SPICE!
This book was STEAMY but the steam felt so LOVING. There was an enemies to lovers situ, but there was no hate shagging, it all just felt like it came out of so much mutual respect and love which was HOT AF.

🚩ZERO TOXICITY!
It's amazing how much toxicity shows up in romance books, and it it SO REFRESHING when characters are working on themselves, trying to understand each other and communicating effectively!

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿SCOTLAND
There seems to have been some artistic license taking with the Scottish weather. I lived there for two years and never wore a pair of shorts. 😅 I don't think I even left the house without a jumper in that whole time, but I am willing to accept this just because SCOTLAND!!! 😍

If you are thinking about reading this, JUST DO IT!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC! x

When I first saw the amazing cover of Whisky Business I thought it was a cowboy romance but it is in fact about a brand new obsession of mine thanks to this book : a broody Scotsman and his whisky business (Mal is one hundred percent heart eyes emojis).
I also immediately loved April’s character and her story.
I have a weak spots for series where each sibling gets a book and Elliot Fletcher definitely started out strong with Whisky Business. The romance made me swoon by how sexy and amazing it was.
Honestly, I deliberately took my time reading this book because I wanted to savor every single page of it.
Such an amazing book, I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

REVIEW: Whisky Business by Elliot Fletcher 🥃🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Romance is a new world to me, whilst I can enjoy F1 romance because of the F1 aspect, I struggle to get into more contemporary romances due to always feeling like there’s something missing.

Until now.

This blew me away. The slow burn romance was believable and felt right for our two main characters. The sexual tension wasn’t overpowering and the chemistry between our characters felt raw rather than forced and rushed.

I also really enjoyed the fact this was set in my beautiful bonnie Scotland for one huge reason - the humour and banter. This had me howling with laughter because the stuff being said felt like classic Scottish banter - slightly sarcastic, slightly insulting but full of love.

This was a perfect contemporary romance to help me understand the genre a bit more and has since prompted me to pick up several others. Cheers Elliot, yer a ten hen!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

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3.25

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

Unfortunately I couldn’t get into this book. It started off promisingly but I quickly bought the ebook (in the hope of better formatting) and then the audiobook to try and finish this. There was just no part of the story or characters where I felt invested or interested. That is why I’m rating it 3.25 because there were some cute moments and nothing was wrong with the book, it was just not for me.

A gorgeous and steamy read that will whisk you away to dreamy Scotland. The chemistry between our main characters was delicious and I really enjoyed the slow burn romance.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Buckle up, buckle down, and grab a snack. This is about to be an essay.

Combine grumpy x sunshine, enemies to lovers, and forced proximity with a celebrity trying to start over and a small town scottish man with social anxiety, and you are ready for an explosion on the page!

"I wanted to prove my devotion with bloody knuckles.'

I don't even know where to start with this review. This book absolutely blew me away. The writing style was fluid, poetic, and so easy to read. It is obvious that the author has put so much thought into the book and the way they wrote it. From the style to the representation, this book was everything I look for in a romance. The scottish elements were so special - not only did the characters have scottish accents, but the culture was so beautifully written. I loved the small town culture, the fact that everyone knew everyone else, and nothing was private. This worked, especially since the FMC is a celebrity. This was also written in dual pov, which meant we got to see the relationship develop from both the FMC and MMC's point of view. I love being able to read the MMC's point of view, and there were some absolutely beautiful quotes to ome from him.

This was a TRUE grumpy sunshine. Mal is a little bit of a douche at the beginning, but we soon see that he isn't a horrible person. He is merely a man with severe social anxiety. I loved seeing that representation and even found myself nodding along at some of his anxious moments. The fact that April calls him Gruffalo was one of the best parts of the book and had me screaming. There was medical trauma representation, another element that I was in tears over. And they have dogs that fall in love?? Could this get any better?

Yes. Yes, it could. When I tell you that the sexual chemistry was OFF THE CHARTS, I mean OFF. THE. CHARTS. I love a book where the sexual relationship is written well and, too often, that doesn't happen in a romance book. Elliot Fletcher achieves it beautifully. I loved the slowburn build-up, the original sexual attraction, and, eventually, the scenes between the two characters. But so little of their love is actually based on sex - which just makes this better. They love each other and fight for each other hard before they even start having sex and their relationship only gets better after they begin a sexual relationship.

'A thousand lifetimes wouldn't have prepared me for you.'

AND THE END? Perfect in every way.

Easy five stars. I'll be talking about this book forever.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this e-arc!

I adored this book. I LOVE books set in Scotland and this did not disappointment. I loved the representation in this book. Malcolm was perfect from his clef palette to his anxious ways. He needs wrapped in bubble wrap and protected at all costs. His immediate nickname for her being princess, top tier! The way they seamlessly fell into routine with one another, their lives becoming effortlessly intertwined with one another.

I enjoyed that that 3rd act conflict wasn’t major but they worked it out like adults, it felt real and not over dramatic. April really was fully fleshed out and made for a great read.

I loved the plot of the book, I loved that we got to see them as a couple in the book and I’m a sucker for an extended epilogue.

A solid 4.5 stars from me, highly rate and will 100% recommend!!

This is the first book I've read from Elliot and I really enjoyed it.

This story follows April who's a famous actress moving back to her childhood home and theres Mal who is a shy, grumpy distiller.

The chemistry that was between April & Mal was hot from the get go. Sometimes, the miscommunication between Mal & April a little annoying but it didn't stop me from enjoying it.

This story is a grumpy x sunshine, spicy, second chance, slow burn romance, soooo swoony and full of banter. It’s a great summer read

2.5 stars
I really wanted to love this book and had high hopes since I do love a bit of a celebrity romance. April Sinclair, a once rising award-winning actress returns home after her grandfather dies, leaving her his house and whisky distillery, only to find her teenage crush living and working there, and he's not happy to see her.

This book started strong for me, but I didn't feel any real character development, nor feel any real chemistry. Malcolm was a straight up dick to April while lusting over her. April had to play a bit of a 'manic pixie dream girl' for him. While its explained why he was horrible to her but I don't feel he properly made it up to her. Given he was shy due to his cleft palate it felt like an over-the-top reaction. I hated his - originally derogatory then term of endearment - use of ‘princess’. I just couldn’t buy the two together and once they got together I ended up skimming to the end because it was basically sex fest. I have no problems with spice but not when it’s just to substitute for any real connection that lead up to it. Then Malcolm getting whiny when April finally got a legit acting job sealed the deal. I can only be grateful the author didn’t make her give up the opportunity.

The plot also brushed aside any deep issues that were slowly building and papered over with many sex scenes. Why bother introducing hints about why April’s career went from BAFTA and Golden Globes on the way to Oscar before she becomes a reality contestant and just basically fob it off in half a page? Why did her agent let her manager get away with fucking her career? All of this just wasn't explained well. Worst still, when April finally gets a chance to get her career on track, Malcom was a dick and she had to explain she was taking it to save the distillery instead of, perhaps wanting to work because she loved it and missed how her career ended up in the toilet. He should've been supporting her. So yeah, sorry this book was not for me.

Thanks to Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for the ARC.

This was such a sweet and easy read!

The chemistry between April & Mal was sizziling from the get go, yet the steady growth of their relationship felt completely authentic, which only made me love them more.

At times, I found the miscommunication between them a little frustrating, but as the book went on and I read more about Mals past, it did make sense as to why it was there.

I would have loved to have gotten to know a little more about Aprils past, there were snippets in there but I felt the book was more centred around Mal.

Overall though, it’s a great summer read!
Thank you very much NetGalley for sending me this e-ARC!

Whisky Business follows the story of a famous actress moving back to her childhood home which handily has a whisky distillery on site complete with a shy, grumpy distiller. This is a very spicy, grumpy x sunshine, second chance, slow burn romance which loves a pet name and is full of swoony romance and banter.

I absolutely loved all of the characters in this book, especially the dogs, and found the family/town dynamic really interesting. This book touches on some sensitive issues amongst the romance including anxiety, loneliness, grief, family illness, online trolls/the entertainment industry but these topics did not seem out of place for me, They were incorporated into the book well and didn’t seem to come out of nowhere or be poorly timed which really pushes up the rating for me,

The author has fantastic music taste and I loved the playlist that accompanied the book. Having each chapter have a song associated was something I hadn’t seen before but really enjoy (especially when I’m a big fan of 90% of the songs).

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It’s a lovely summery read although perhaps be careful if you’re reading it in public and the person next to you takes a look over your shoulder in the second half. Especially around the TV scene…that’s an interesting one,

I want to shoot myself in the foot for not picking up this book before. Easily one of my top reads of this year! 💓I’ve never been a whisky girlie but maybe I need to rethink my priorities.

Tropes:
🧩opposites attract
🧩forced proximity
🧩grumpy x sunshine
🧩small town romance
🧩mental health rep

The longing and pining from Mal, the way he would go out of his comfort zone for April was everything. Mal might have been shy and had difficulty finding the right words to express himself but with April… Oh boy did that man have a dirty mouth 🥵🥵. Somebody cool me down ASAP. I LOVED LOVED LOVED how his use of nicknames went from taunting her to loving 🥰. I swear this man worshipped the ground April walked on.

Loved how naturally their relationship progressed, based on their childhood crushes but also taken in consideration everything that has happened between them since then. Without the book being very long I loved the character growth and development. From the difficult family dynamics to the mental health rep I loved how the book was written. The characters and side characters aka the pets, the friends and family make up this cute spicy small town romance a 5 ⭐️ read for me.

In the three days that it took me to read this book I don’t think there was a second I wasn’t thinking about Mal and April. I need the second book of the Macabe brothers like I need air!

Thank you Netgalley, HarperCollins and Elliot Fletcher for a copy of this new edition of Whisky Business! All opinions are my own

beautiful stunning gorgeous

i read this last year, and wanted to reread ever since. thanks to Netgalley, this was made possible!

i absolutely love Mal and April, the emotional maturity, the tension and the slow burn were just perfection. Elliot’s writing is beautiful, I could picture myself at the manor in Skye and it made me feel almost nostalgic for something i’d never experienced.

Mal is just ahhhhh!! What a sweet, sweet man… He is so deliciously clueless. April is such a beautiful character too, I love that she finds her passion again throughout the story.

This book was simply adorable. The main characters were so well developed and. Their journey throughout left me feeling satisfied. I loved when it's opposites attract and this book does it well. I really appreciated that there was no third act break up.