There was a point in Just a Highland Fling where Neelu is in the car with her estranged father and her one night stand antagonist, and I thought, “no one handles emotional baggage like Naina Kumar.” Highland Fling is a lot of fun. I enjoyed it enormously. It’s a good road trip romance with forced proximity, sheep, daddy issues, and a hot Desi bagpiper/poetry professor. What I really loved though was the way Kumar handled big raw feelings and their fallout with delicacy.
Neelu is in Scotland to attend her father’s wedding – the father with whom she barely has a relationship. Before the wedding festivities start she meets a man in a bar and they have a no names one night stand. She doesn’t expect to ever see him again, and certainly not at the pre-wedding dinner. At that dinner Neelu is feeling uncomfortable and after too much wine, unloads on her stepmother-to-be about how her father abandoned her. Instead of a wedding and the flying back home to California, Neelu finds herself driving across the Scottish highlands with her estranged father, her one night stand/enemy, and a whole lot of emotional baggage.
I love a fictional one night stand. It’s a great way for characters to reveal themselves in ways they wouldn’t otherwise. Especially when you go from one night stand to antagonism. I can’t imagine Neelu and Jacob getting together if their first meeting had been the rehearsal dinner. Jacob has already formed an impression of Neelu, based on his understanding of what her father has said about her. But the connection they formed when they first met creates a sweet tension, even when they are glowering at each other. I love that Kumar gives her characters room for nuance and contradiction; they can desire connection and want to protect themselves from harm.
If you haven’t picked up one of Naina Kumar’s books yet, this is a great place to start.
I received this as an advance reader copy from Dell Publishing and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.
