Echoes of Scotland Street
(On Dublin Street, #5)
By: Samantha Young
Publisher: NAL
Published: Oct. 7, 2014
Genre: New Adult Romance
Rating:

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Shannon MacLeod has always gone for the wrong type of man. After she drifted from one toxic relationship to the next, her last boyfriend gave her a wakeup call in the worst possible way. With her world shattered, she’s sworn off men—especially those of the bad-boy variety.

Cole Walker is exactly the sort that Shannon wants to avoid—gorgeous, tattooed, charming, and cocky. But his rough exterior hides a good man who’s ready to find “the one.” He’s determined to pull Shannon from her self-imposed solitude and win her heart.

As Shannon opens up in the face of Cole’s steady devotion, the passion between them ignites to blazing levels. But when Shannon’s past comes back to haunt her, her fears may destroy the trust Cole has built between them—and tear them apart for good…

Shannon has always been into the “bad-boy”. Not the bad-boy appearance but literally the kind of guy you don’t want to be in a relationship with. The ones that cheat on you, abuse you, hit you, she’s dated them all. So when she moves away to start her life over, she’s not too thrilled to have a boss who comes on to her at every corner. Sure they may have met once when they were kids but that is not enough reason to flirt with her at work. Not to mention that Shannon is convinced he’s just another bad-boy to add to her list. However, as she spends time with him and her co-workers, she is brought to the realization that looks can be deceiving.

I will admit that when I first started reading this story I felt a little left out. Every review I read gushed about Cole, but in the beginning of the story, he’s a little too much. I mean, right off the bat he’s flirting with Shannon. Sure, they may have met briefly when they were kids but surely that’s not enough reason to hit on your new employee. He crowded her at every turn and gave her “panty dropping” looks every chance he got. I was getting ready to throw in the towel when I realized that Cole was a character from the second book in the series. So I grabbed a copy of Down London Road and started reading that to familiarize myself with Cole. I will admit that after reading DLR I wasn’t so turned off by Cole anymore. I mean, he was still extremely unprofessional and it wasn’t okay or even remotely “sexy” but I felt like I knew the creep. So to those of you haven’t read DLR, I suggest it before going into this one.

I like that if you are a fan of the series, the author makes sure to bring back all of the characters and secondary characters from those stories. So it’s like a reunion in every book. I have not actually read every book in the series but after reading DLR I was familiar with who they were.

This was a great story that deals a lot with close knit friends and family. There was always some event or gathering taking place to where Cole and Shannon would be brought together. I liked that, for Shannon at least, the romance was slow building. It took her a long while to be able to trust Cole. She’d been burned a lot and was very cautious around guys. Considering the childhood that Cole had, I’m surprised he wasn’t a bit more stand-offish. He wasn’t reserved at all and I thought that a little odd given the abuse he endured from his mother.

I also found that this series seems to be a bit repetitive. Someone jumps to conclusions thinking the worst of the other. So that person backs off and distances themselves from said person. Only to have the other person realize they were wrong and then come graveling back for forgiveness. I’ve only read 3 books for the series but they’ve all followed that theme. I mean Shannon literally looked at EVERY male in this book and thought “player” “bad-boy”… mind you, one of them was gay, the others were happily married and Cole was well, Cole. I just wish there was something different in this story.

Don’t get me wrong, this was still an enjoyable read but you definitely wouldn’t want to go into these reading them back to back like I did with DLR and this one. I loved On Dublin Street but I don’t think I will be continuing with this series.

“That’s how people describe me. ‘Oh, Shannon, you look cute in that picture.’ et cetera. I suppose it’s better than ‘You look like you’ve been pulled through the bushes backwards,’ so I’m not complaining.”

 
Previous reviews from On Dublin Street
On Dublin Street
Down London Road