Review: An Education in Edinburgh

An Education in Edinburgh by Holland Rae
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"An Education in Edinburgh" by Holland Rae was a short, sweet story released as part of the multi-author Ticket to True Love series. It is likely to appeal to fans of the insta-love trope, which is not a particular favorite of mine, and I can't say that it worked very well for me here. That said, the main characters, Isla and Alistair (aka Ali), were fairly likeable, and being forced to spend a week together exploring the city of Edinburgh at least gave them an opportunity to build on their initial attraction before they declared their love for each other.

Aside from my dislike of the insta-love between Ali and Isla, there were a number of things about the story itself that didn't make sense to me. For example, how could there possibly have been no other bedroom besides Ali's available for Isla to sleep in? What was the plan if Isla's mother had been able to go on the trip as originally planned? Would she have been forced to share a bedroom with Ali too? As a single, middle-aged woman traveling alone, I can't imagine why she would have agreed to that. Besides, I would think that the trip organizers would have ensured that they had an even number of men and women to pair up when taking registrations to avoid just such a situation, given the potential liability issues involved. Also, if there really weren't any other bedrooms available, what was the big deal about Isla having to pick a roommate while she was on the plane? Who exactly was she choosing between?

I was also somewhat confused about the woman on the plane with Isla who gave her the spring water from True Springs, Pennsylvania. I wasn't able to find any further explanation in the novella, but my guess is that True Springs is supposed to connect all of the books in the Ticket to True Love series. Assuming that is the case, it would have been nice if that had been explained in a prologue to the story, since each novella is supposed to be able to be read as a standalone.

Finally, I must note that there were a fair amount of typos and missing words in the text, especially in the second half of the story. Additionally, Ali's brogue seemed really off to me, which I found to be a distraction at times. For example, I think "din" was supposed to mean "don't" or "didn't." However, a true Scotsman probably would not use a contraction there, but rather "doonae" or "dinnae" for "do not" or "did not." In any event, I would have been fine with Ali's dialogue being written in plain English so I could imagine his voice in my head, rather than having to try and figure out what the author was actually trying to convey.

Overall, I wouldn't say that this was a terrible story, but neither was it a keeper for me. I don't think I can recommend it.

*ARC provided by the author via BookSirens. All opinions expressed are my own.

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