Just a Highland Fling

I always love a romance set in Scotland, so I couldn’t miss Naina Kumar‘s new book, Just a Highland Fling. Neelu has barely seen her dad since her parents separated when she was a kid. But now her dad is remarrying, so she goes to Aberdeen, Scotland to attend the wedding. While in town she meets Jacob, and they have a memorable one-night-stand… and then it turns out he’s at the wedding, too. He’s close to the bride, Maggie, the mother of his late best friend. But when Maggie runs away at the altar, Neelu, her dad, and Jacob must travel across Scotland to find her. In the process, they’ll all need to open up about their hidden feelings if they want to heal and find love again.

What I Liked:

• Exploring Scotland. I enjoy traveling through the books I read, and in Just a Highland Fling, we get a road trip across Scotland. From Aberdeen to Inverness all the way to Skye, we get a bit of the landscape and a lot of the culture along the way. Sheep, local history, and peppy music all abound here.
• Family connection. Neelu and her dad, Ajit, have had a distant relationship for the past twenty years. She’s still hurt by how absent he was during her childhood, only partly due to him being in Scotland while she and her mom were in California. There’s a lot they need to work through to heal their relationship, and this impromptu road trip may be the perfect time to do so. On Jacob’s end, he lost his parents years ago, and became close to his best friend James’s mom, Maggie. After James passed away, Jacob and Maggie have relied on each other, almost like mother and son.
• Moving on from grief. Jacob has suffered a lot of loss, from his parents to his best friend. Loss and grief play a big role in Just a Highland Fling, adding to how emotional it is. But from darkness comes light: James being in chemo is how they met Ajit, who was also battling cancer. This book tackles tough topics, but handles all of them so tenderly.
• Desi characters. Neelu’s and Jacob’s parents all emigrated from India before settling in Scotland. Neelu and her mom moved to the U.S. when she was five, but Jacob has only lived in Aberdeen. I enjoyed seeing Scotland through their perspectives, taking on so much of the culture (kilts, bagpipes, and wedding songs!), while also retaining a connection to India (food and poets).

Final Thoughts

Just a Highland Fling is a delightful romance for anyone who loves travel (especially to Scotland), overcoming traumas and fears, and getting the couple (or couples!) to find a way to stay together. This was my first time reading Naina Kumar, and I’m excited to go back and read her first two books while waiting for her next.

Special thanks to Dell and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy Just a Highland Fling here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

Just a Highland Fling by Naina Kumar
Audience	Adult
Genre	Contemporary Romance
Setting	Scotland
Number of Pages	352
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARCs)
Original Publication Date	July 21, 2026
Publisher	Dell

Official Summary

“Naina Kumar is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine. Her books are brilliant, witty, sexy, and so damn good.”—Hannah Bonam-Young, bestselling author of Out on a Limb

Sparks fly on a road trip through the Scottish highlands in this delightful forced proximity romance from the bestselling author of Flirting With Disaster.

Neelu Pillai makes a last-minute decision to fly to Scotland for her estranged father’s wedding with one goal: to get through it with as little conflict as possible. But when her tipsy tirade at the rehearsal dinner is the reason her father gets left at the altar, she agrees to help him track down his runaway bride.

There’s just one problem: The third member of this road trip through the highlands is Jacob, the hot desi bagpiper from the wedding who just happens to be Neelu’s recent one-night stand. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other a few nights ago, but now he can’t seem to stand her.

Their journey to Skye is certainly not smooth, but as the two work together through the obstacles, doing their best to reunite Neelu’s father with his bride, they realize that there’s more to each other than meets the eye. And that the electric connection they’d felt the night they met is still as strong as ever. . . .

Fiery first impressions, fierce clashes, and undeniable chemistry make for a bumpy ride through the Highlands in this swoony, witty romance about family, forgiveness, and finding love where you least expect it.