What Happens in the Ruins is book two in Kelsey McKnight’s What Happens series, and unfortunately, I somehow missed book one. This book had great potential and the wonderful descriptive aspect was simply delightful and left me felling like I actually could picture this amazing vista. And while I love everything even remotely leading towards kilts, a sex Scot and that alluring brogue, I was somewhat disappointed with the lead characters, as I struggled to connect with Sorcha and her spoilt, trust fund persona. An OK story, but not great; other than the beautiful landscape descriptions.

3.5 stars rounded up, just to make it comparable with recent ratings I've given.

Artist and whiskey heiress Sorcha MacKinnon is known as a free-spirited party girl but her image is mostly a carefully crafted facade to hide her lingering pain at the loss of her twin brother and keep her from getting too close to anyone. But when a childhood friend comes back into her life and helps her rediscover her passion for painting, things may be changing and Sorcha is terrified. She's known Daniel Gordon her entire life, despite the fact that they've become distant since university, he's still her friend and she's not supposed to be feeling what she's beginning to feel for him. Or for anyone. Right?

As the two spend time together exploring the Scottish countryside, Sorcha tries to deal with the painful past and resist the urge to run and hide from her feelings, and Danny. But old habits die hard and soon she'll have to decide what he truly means to her or risk losing him for good.

Firstly, I loved getting to see the main characters from the previous book in the series moving forward with their relationships. Secondly, I loved Sorcha as a secondary character in the previous book, but I could hardly stand her in this one. I don't generally care for first person narration so maybe that was part of the problem, but her thoughts and inner monologues just came off as overly dramatic and whiney. They were mostly about things she hates, or tolerates but doesn't actually like and how she felt so alone, even though she acknowledged all of this to be her own doing. She had understandable reasons I supposed, but her continuing to callously hurt others she cared about and run away time and again to protect herself just got on my nerves. The descriptions of Scotland were lovely, but Sorcha's spoiled rich girl tendencies and immaturity made it difficult to relate to her. Danny was perfect, really overly so and he put up with way too much and deserved so much better treatment, but I couldn't even roll my eyes at him because they were too busy rolling at Sorcha.

I'll definitely continue this series because I still love the characters, but Sorcha was a disappointment for me overall.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Other than being a nice travelogue of the Highlands of Scotland, this book was rather tedious. The first half didn’t have much plot and the second half had the heroine, Sorcha, going back on forth about what sort of relationship she wanted with the hero. He was great and treated her wonderfully, but I couldn’t see what he saw in her except that the author keeps telling the readers that he had loved her since they were kids.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

First of all I love all things Scottish, and have been disappointed in the past reading some books based in Scotland. This one did everything right! The setting, the description, the love story, the brogue, kilts... it was just lovely. I really enjoyed the entire story. Thank you to netgalley for the ARC.

I managed to finish this book which showed great potential but it didn't live up to the promise. The descriptions of the Highlands were wonderful. The characters, not so much. Basically Sorcha comes across as a spoiled little rich girl. It is hard to relate to a character who lives off her trust fund.

What Happens in the Ruins is the second book in Kelsey McKnight's What Happens series and can be read as a standalone. I enjoyed both Sorcha and Danny and liked that they were childhood friends. That being said, I did feel like they lacked some depth. I liked the story a lot but felt it was a little too fast paced. All in all I enjoyed this one and think it is a solid contemporary romance. It is perfect if you want a quick read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I thought this was a cute child good friends turned to lovers story I have not read any of the other books but this one was cute but it was Kind of fast paced

"What Happens In The Ruins" started off in a good note and I was anticipating a good old friends turned lovers trope but unfortunately this failed to meet my expectations. The characters lacked depth and the storyline was a little too fast pace and boring. Just wasn't a good fit for me which ultimately cause me to dropped the series.

I loved Sorcha in “What Happens in the Highlands” and this book offers a much deeper and nuanced look at a truly complicated woman. Her childhood friend Danny is the perfect match for her though it takes her a long time to overcome some very deep wounds to accept it. He comes back into her life while she is struggling creatively as an artist and their friendship is renewed and romance born as he takes her to wonderfully described Scottish kirks, castles, lochs and countryside to spark her talents. While the two share a history - including a horrible tragedy - Danny needs to work hard and be patient to get her to see that they can share a future. Also nice to see so much backstory involving Rosie and Lachlan and Sean and Katie!

Sorcha is an artist strugglig to find her muse. When she re-connects with childhood friend Danny, he sets out to help her paint again. As they grow closer will she let him in, or is she still too haunted by the things that happened in her childhood?

3.5☆

What I liked:
The writing style
The characters
Part of a series: What Happens
Standalone
HEA
Epilogue

I look forward to reading the next book in this series.