Audiobook Review – 500 Miles from You (Scottish Bookshop, Book 3) by Jenny Colgan, Narrated by Eilidh Beaton (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: 11 hours and 3 minutes
Publisher:‎ HarperAudio
Release Date: June 09, 2020
ASIN: ‎ B07XY9Z7QK
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the Scottish Bookshop series
Source: Borrowed audiobook from Library
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Lissie is a nurse in a gritty, hectic London neighborhood. Always terribly competent and good at keeping it all together, she’s been suffering quietly with PTSD after helping to save the victim of a shocking crime. Her supervisor quietly arranges for Lissie to spend a few months doing a much less demanding job in the little town of Kirrinfeif in Scottish Highlands, hoping that the change of scenery will help her heal. Lissie will be swapping places with Cormack, an Army veteran who’s Kirrinfeif’s easygoing nurse/paramedic/all-purpose medical man. Lissie’s never experienced small-town life, and Cormack’s never spent more than a day in a big city, but it seems like a swap that would do them both some good.

In London, the gentle Cormack is a fish out of the water; in Kirrinfief, the dynamic Lissie finds it hard to adjust to the quiet. But these two strangers are now in constant contact, taking over each other’s patients, endlessly emailing about anything and everything. Lissie and Cormack discover a new depth of feeling…for their profession and for each other.

But what will happen when Lissie and Cormack finally meet? ”

Series Info/Source: This is the third book in the Scottish Bookshop series. Each of these books features a new set of characters but takes place in the same location London/Kirrinfeif. I borrowed this audiobook from my library.

Audiobook Quality (4/5): This audiobook was well done. The narrator was easy to listen to and did a great job with the characters’ voices and conveying emotion. I don’t have any complaints about the audiobook quality and would recommend it to those who enjoy audiobooks.

Thoughts: This was okay, but the weakest book in the Scottish Bookshop series so far. The premise of the book is that after Lissa is involved in a horrible accident she switches jobs with Cormack (who is an NPL in a small town) in order to get her out of London so she can deal with her PTSD.

I really enjoyed the first part of the book; it was fun and cute to watch Lissa and Cormac switch jobs and adjust to completely new environments. Watching London-born Lissa try to adjust to the small Scottish town of Kirrinfeif was hilarious at times; the same was true for watching Cormack adjust to London.

Both Cormack and Lissa are Nurse Practitioner Liaisons (NPLs) and reading about the people they take care of and their jobs was fascinating. This ended up being a very “day in the life of” type of story and was intriguing for a while, but then started to drag on a bit too long. In fact, the pacing of the story ended up being a big issue for me.

This would have been a 4* read for me if not for the final portion of the book. I didn’t really understand why all the near misses between Lissa and Cormack had to happen. Then after spending all this time with them running back and forth, the ending felt super rushed. Even though Lissa and Cormack had been talking back and forth for a long time; it felt awkward and rushed when they finally met in person.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this was okay but IMHO the weakest book so far of The Scottish Bookshop series. I really did enjoy the different settings and Lissa and Cormac’s day to day work. However, I thought the romance was really weak and the ending felt very rushed. The whole story needed more consistent pacing and ended up leaving me feeling disappointed. I am on the fence about whether or not I will read more of these books when they are released. I enjoy the London/Scottish settings and in previous books I have really enjoyed the story as well but this installment was weak.