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

Note: An advance reader copy (ARC) was provided by the author.

Ah, young love... More often than not, your first love turns out to be your first heartbreak, and in the case of Callie Ironside and Lewis Adair, that's exactly what happened. There love story plays out in Northern Twilight, the fifth novel in Samantha Young's The Highlands series set in, you guessed it, the Scottish Highlands. If you're a longtime reader of Young's, you'll recall that Callie and Lewis are the next generation in The Adair Family and The Highlands series, the former being the spin-off of the latter. Lewis is the son of Regan Penhaligon and Thane Adair (There with You, The Adair Family #2); Callie is the daughter of Sloane Harrow and step-daughter of Walker Ironside (Beyond the Thistles, The Highlands #1).

Callie has loved Lewis for years, and the same can be said for Lewis, but he also dreams of a life beyond Ardnoch. When doubt overrides love, the unthinkable happens--Callie and Lewis break up. He goes off to London for university at 18 with hopes to follow his father's footsteps as an architect. On the other hand, Callie remains in Ardnoch, choosing to go to Paris at 22 to pursue training to become a pastry chef. She has relationships start and end, but upon learning her latest romance has concluded, Lewis decides to take his father up on his offer to work with him just as Callie returns home to work with her mother at the bakery they own. They were each other's first love, but could they be their last--and forever--one, too?

l loved seeing Callie and Lewis grow and mature in this novel. There was no doubt that they loved each other immensely, but when you're young, you may have other dreams that go beyond a fairy tale-styled happily-ever-after that's solely focused on romance. I think going through that break-up allowed these two to have experiences that they may not have been able to actually have had they stayed together. I also appreciated the fact that their respective parents and families allowed Callie and Lewis to make their mistakes. After all, they learned important life lessons because of those stumbles. Like the books before it, Northern Twilight matched the romance with suspense impeccably well, and it easily snags five stars.

Release Date: 08 August 2024

Date Read: 30 July 2024

Learn more about Samantha Young.

Purchase Northern Twilight on Amazon.