Book Review - Fixing A Broken Heart at the Highland Repair Shop by Kiley Dunbar

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Title: Fixing A Broken Heart at the Highland Repair Shop

Author: Kiley Dunbar

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication Date: 24th July 2025

Rating: 4 Stars

Every book in the Highland Repair Shop series can be read as a standalone.

Never take broken for an answer...

When her career stalls and her boyfriend betrays her, Ally McIntyre’s dreams shatter into a hundred little pieces. Which is apt, given Ally’s family has built a haven for the worn out and broken: the Cairn Dhu Community Repair Shop and Café in the heart of the Scottish Highlands, famous for its band of expert fixers (and delicious baking). But repairing gadgets and restoring heirlooms is one thing, fixing herself is quite another.

Jamie Beaton is on a temporary summer transfer to Cairn Dhu as a Special Constable, though there’s a deeper, sadder reason that’s drawn him to the Highlands. When a scandal threatens the repair shop and Ally and Jamie’s paths cross, an instant connection – and attraction – sparks. Could finding new love, and the missing piece of Jamie’s past, help Ally’s heart to heal?

As the long summer days draw in, however, Jamie must leave. An unexpected job offer also comes Ally’s way, which could take her far from the Highlands. Should she take a leap into the unknown? Where does she truly feel whole?

Full of wit, love and community spirit, this is the first novel in a gorgeously feel-good new series by bestselling author Kiley Dunbar.

Kiley Dunbar and novels set in Scotland seem to be a match made in heaven.  She has a wonderful knack of really making you feel a place, and I definitely feel as though I was experiencing the Cairngorms in the Highlands through the pages of this book. 

And the setting of a repair shop was rather special too, especially as it's a volunteer run one, predominately the brainchild of the McIntyre family, and one that Ally helps out with once a week, on top of her other jobs. 

But when the reputation of the repair shop and cafe comes under scrutiny it is Ally who realises she needs to do something and in as a result ends up changing her life. 

She also strikes up a friendships with Jamie, a trainee volunteer Policeman, who is on a short placement in the highlands, in part to gain experience and in part to see if he can reconnect with memories of his mother.  And Ally is able to help in more ways than you may be able to first imagine. 

I loved how everything fitted together, with some lovely community moments, some drama, a hint of romance, and curiosity as to what is going on with Ally's twin brother Murray. 

This is a heartwarming story and I'm already keen to return to the repair shop in the next book in the series.  A very solid start to a new series, one that I feel will really grow in impressiveness as it continues. 

Thank you to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.