E-galley Review: Northern Twilight (The Highlands #5) by Samantha Young

I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Northern Twilight by Samantha Young
Series: The Highlands #5
on August 8, 2024
Genres: Adult Contemporary Romance
Pages: 354
Source: the author
Format: E-galley
My Rating:
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Blurb:

She’s the girl he left behind. He’s the boy she tried to forget. But after seven years apart, one passionately reckless night will tie them together forever …

As teenagers, Callie Ironside and Lewis Adair were inseparable. So much so, Lewis still can’t work out where it all went horribly wrong, or why he’s spent the last seven years in London away from the love of his life.

Callie knows exactly where it all went wrong and while she tried to move on—learning pastry techniques in Paris and dating French men—returning home to Ardnoch to work in her mother’s bakery only reminds her of the future she lost with Lewis.

But when a visit to London brings them unexpectedly together, the passion, pain and animosity between them leads to a one-night stand. For Lewis, it’s the beginning of winning Callie and his life in Ardnoch back. For Callie, it’s a mistake that’s shaken up the devastating heartbreak she fought hard to forget. However, Lewis is determined to fight for her, and proves it when their night together results in more than just unresolved feelings.

As they come to grips with impending parenthood and the mistakes they’ve both made, Callie and Lewis will not only have to decide to fight for a love that has endured so many years apart, but a mysterious adversary who seems intent on destroying the future they’re building together.

My Review

I adored the little friendship/love story that started with Lewis and Callie as kids in their parents’ books, so I was extremely excited to read this one! We got some of the sweet stories from their past when they were teenagers, and then we found out that they had of course broken up and things weren’t good between them now. When the two of them meet up for the first time since they broke up, things get pretty tense, and then later intense, as they let their drinking help them get physical again.

Callie of course runs away before Lewis wakes up, and goes back home. Things seem perfect at home, her mom is like her best friend and she loves working at the bakery with her. Soon though, the small town atmosphere makes itself known with the gossip and how people are saying things behind her back. I kind of felt for her a bit, even made me think of myself as a bit of a mooch with how my parents have always been there for me as well.

Lewis is all grown up and not at all what I would have expected from what we knew of him in the books when he was a kid. He’s a tattooed motorcycle riding architect. Okay, so the architect bit wasn’t a surprise, lol. But he wants Callie back, and decides to give up on his London job and take his father’s offer to come work at the firm back in Ardnoch so he can be close to her and figure out a way to get her back.

As the blurb says, their one night together leads to a surprise pregnancy. Although the fact that he knew the condoms in his wallet were old and thought about that made me figure that was coming, because I hadn’t read the whole blurb before reading this. I just always know I’ll read this author’s books, so I don’t bother with the blurb other than maybe to see who the characters are and if I know them from other books. I did like how the two used the pregnancy to get to know each other and did find their way back to each other.

Like the other books in the series there was some danger and suspense from bad people. I kind of clued in to what was being looked for when Callie’s house got broken into based on another bit in the story that seemed like we got some random info. Maybe I just read too much and notice all that now. I do like however, that this type of story means we don’t usually get the third act breakup that I don’t care for, and so that made this book lovely as well.

I’m pretty sure all the characters from both this series as well as the one it branched off of were mentioned or showed up at some point in the story. While I’ve enjoyed all the books, they’re not ones I reread like with the author’s On Dublin Street series, so a few names were kind of run together for me. But I still liked getting to see them. A few small details I loved were the “In My Baking Era” t-shirt she had, since I have a similar one that says “In My Librarian Era.” And, one of Callie’s favorite snacks was Irn-Bru, the soda I discovered and fell in love with when I visited Scotland last summer. Also now that I’ve been there, some of the details about when they visited Edinburgh stuck out to me since I’ve been there and recognized what they talked about.

Anyway, this will now probably be my favorite in the series, and I’m excited for the next one, since I’m guessing it will be about Lewis’s little sister Eilidh.