ECHOES OF SCOTLAND STREET (On Dublin Street # 5) by SAMANTHA YOUNG

&G: It’s always such a joy picking up the next Dublin Street book and losing ourselves in Samantha Young’s beautiful writing. She really has a talent for transporting the reader into the moment. You can almost see, feel and hear the streets of Scotland in her stories.

Every time we pick up the next book in this series it feels like catching up with old friends because that’s exactly what this series has come to represent; friendships and family. We feel as if we really know these guys as we’ve experienced their highs and lows triumphs and tragedies, and we love this crazy ever growing clan. And wow is it growing!

Cole Walker though is on another level entirely. We’ve watched Cole Walker grow from a troubled, sensitive beautiful boy into a charming, romantic, loyal, loving, sexy and family orientated young man.

“So, are you a hero, Cole Walker?”

Our hearts have ached over him and for him and to say he’s a special character to us is an understatement. We love this man with all our hearts! Cole truly is a remarkable character. He loves easily protects those he loves with a passion and we guess we feel kind of protective towards him which may account for the issues we sadly had with this story.

Shannon and Cole initially met when they were just 15 years old and this meeting was sweet, innocent and in some ways fate for what was to come. Little did they realise at the time the effect that chance meeting would have upon their lives.

They meet up 9 years later, Shannon running from some pretty bad relationships and personal issues and Cole a very successful Manager and well respected tattoo artist.

Cole still retained the boyish charm we’ve always loved him for and we fell in love with him all over again and in a lot of ways this gorgeous, giving young man and the wonderful secondary characters saved the story for us.

“Delicate, beautiful, fragile. I want to protect you while at the same time I want to shatter you.”

Now Shannon was a different story altogether. We loved her at 15, and thought she was perfect for our Cole. The heartfelt impression we got from such a short meeting was tremendous. After all it was going to take a special lady to win us over.

“Are you real Cole Walker?”

We’re sad to say Shannon wasn’t that for us. Whilst we absolutely wholeheartedly empathised with her and her troubled past as it truly was heartbreaking and painful, we couldn’t warm to her at all. We felt sorry for her and wanted her to find her slice of happiness though.

“Because I’m scared of you, Cole Walker. I’m scared you’ll hurt me or I’ll hurt you…”

Now, for the heartbreaking bit and why we struggled with this story. One reason only, and that was Shannon. She came across as aloof AND TREMENDOUSLY JUDGEMENTAL and not just with Cole but pretty much anyone she came into contact with. We kept reading how everyone who met her immediately fell in love with her but from what we read and experienced through the story, well, we didn’t feel it. To us her continued actions and hurtful words made her childish, annoying and downright cruel. Shannon really didn’t exude much warmth until quite late in the story and sadly by then it was too late for us. Her angst was way too over the top when Cole had done NOTHING to deserve this treatment; seriously what did the poor bloke do? It became drama for the sake of it and her character was taken too far. We tried; we honestly really did, but she just didn’t win us over and we came to the conclusion that Cole deserved much better. Harsh but true and it hurts our hearts to be this honest but we have to be.

“You’re like two different people. It confuses the fuck out of me.”

The saving grace for us and what made this story special in our eyes was without a doubt watching Cole grow into the beautiful romantic and sweet man he’s become. This guy had a shitty start; we saw it and lived it. Watching him grow, face his fears and seeing him succeed in life retaining his pure as gold heart, well, it was pure Dublin Street magic and the reason this series is so special to us.

‘I felt a part of something here. I felt part of a family.’

So yeah; sadly, we didn’t feel the relationship between Cole and Shannon to the depths we had hoped. It could quite possibly be that the author wrote and developed such a magnetic, warm and truly beautiful hero, she had us so incredibly invested in him that we wanted the best for Cole, we wanted him to find someone who projected the same beautiful characteristics, who was as soulful and loving as him and we didn’t feel Shannon possessed these qualities sadly.

“..and still somehow you made me feel like the nothing, like I had something to prove. You of all people.”

In saying that, we’re certainly looking forward to Logan’s book and hopefully catching up with a redeemed Shannon and the gorgeous Cole in the future to see how they’re getting on in life.

Fans of this series who’ve been with Cole since the beginning will revel in catching up with this beautiful man. What an absolute sweetheart he is! He had us in tears several times in this story.

**Reviewed from an ARC copy provided with thanks by the publisher**