seriously romantic: sleepless in scotland by may mcgoldrick

the latest book in the pennington series, sleepless in scotland, follows the adventures of younger sister phoebe. she's a woman ahead of her time, and is fiercely independent and strong-willed. she has been secretly working as a journalist and ends up in the vaults of edinburgh looking for a source. there she encounters a murderer. and there she is saved by captain ian bell.

she has admired him for years, he was the older brother of her dearest friend who never noticed she existed. but he does now. from her close call he becomes obsessed with her safety. he's already experienced one loss that he feels to blame for, he cannot handle another. and the more time he spends with phoebe, the more he really sees her. enough to know that the loss of her would be devastating.

of the pennington siblings, only millie has a significant presence. i can only imagine that at some point we'll get a proper story for her. but as it is, phoebe's story is really enjoyable. and i particularly enjoyed the moments where the characters confronted mortal danger. there were also enough red herrings so as to keep the murderer somewhat of a surprise. i had figured it out before the big reveal, but did spend some time suspecting the wrong character.

**sleepless in scotland will publish on august 7, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/st. martin's press (swerve) in exchange for my honest review.