A spooky romance that unfolds in a non-linear way. The protagonists Jake and Stella have lived parallel but different lives. He grew up as a British boy living in Hong Kong, her an Italian girl living in Edinburgh. And they’ve both made mistakes – her a long time ago, him quite recently.

Their lives are both shaken up by traumatic events. He’s injured in a crowd crush at Chinese New Year; she sees a man on a bridge and flees London. They end up meeting at a hotel in a remote part of Scotland, and their flirtation begins.

But it’s quite a winding and circuitous path to get there. The story is told in a non-linear fashion – every few pages, we change time or perspective, jumping around their two lives. Their backstory unfolds slow and deliberately, and several key questions are left hanging until the very end.

I found the first part of this story quite slow, but I’m glad I stuck with it. Once it got going, and once they both met, I was drawn in and intrigued. It wasn’t clear that this would actually be a romance, or if it was more of a mystery, and their pasts were entwined in as yet unknown ways. (I’m glad they weren’t!)

I enjoyed it by the end, and I think the pieces come together in a satisfying conclusion.

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