The Good Chase

October 27, 2014
Martine’s second Highland Games contemporary (after Long Shot) is a tender romance for grownups, full of characters with genuine feelings. Whisky expert and bar owner Shea Montgomery won’t mix business with pleasure, so at first she turns down wealthy financier J.P. Byrne’s proposition at the Highland Games festivals where he plays rugby and she conducts tastings. Though they do eventually hook up, she remains wary of being seen as the rich man’s bauble she was during her previous marriage. Shea prefers “Rugby Byrne” to the “Bespoke Byrne” she sees when he overcompensates for his dirt-poor past. He tries too hard to fix things for those he loves, including his family and Shea, who dreams of producing whiskey rather than serving it. Martine falters only with the disaster she invents to separate the twosome late in the story, but the joyous reconnection and triumphant conclusion almost make up for the melodrama.

December 1, 2014
Martine's Highlands Game romance features the woman owner of the Amber Lounge whisky bar (the author explains that this is the way it's spelled in Scotland). Shea Montgomery also runs a whisky stand at the highlands games events, where she shows high-paying customers not only how to drink whisky but also how to describe its flavors and how to enjoy it. Shea dreams of owning her own distillery someday, but can't imaging being able to afford it. Of course, after falling in love with the rugby-playing private banker, J. P. Byrd, she finds herself, once again, struggling with the conundrum of accepting money from a lovershe had married a rich man, and that did not work out. Martine expertly sets the stage with all the elements of romance: a woman on the brink of professional success, a handsome man ready to accompany her, a vengeful ex-lover prepared to sabotage her, drunk best friends, and a heroine whose knowledge of the subject at hand is rich enough to be realistic, and entertainingly so.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)