Rachel takes a temporary job on a remote Scottish island to work looking after the borders who go there. Fraser also lives and works on the island.

This book is certainly different to what Elizabeth Haynes normally writes. Dont go to read this book expecting a thriller. The story that is set around a man and a woman in a remote setting can only mean one thing.

Both characters have their own back story and how they came to be on the island. There is also another character Lefty thrown in for good measure.

So the story rumbles on slowly and Rachel and Fraser get it together, several times. I'm not against sex in books but this had just a little bit too much. One reviewer has said this book is fifty shades on an island and I tend to agree.

I didn't dislike the book, did skip the sexy bits but it certainly wasn't what I was expecting. ( )

Give me a book set on an island and I'll jump at the chance to read it. Make that island a Scottish one and I'm even more excited. Then make it a remote Scottish island and I'm off the scale! You, Me and the Sea is that book. It's set on the fictional island of Must, not far away from the real island of May. It marks a departure in style for Elizabeth Haynes, but proves her versatility as a writer and I hope that she might write more in a similar vein.

Rachel finds herself arriving on Must and escaping her Norwich life, even if only for a while, when she takes up a temporary position looking after the bird observatory on the island. The very definition of remote, there are only two other permanent residents, one of whom shouldn't actually be there. Fraser is a bear of a man, scary at first but then all of his many kindnesses are introduced. He doesn't want to share 'his' lighthouse with Rachel but he has no choice. And then there's Lefty, a young lad, a stowaway. Why is he there?

From the moment I settled down to read and spotted the map at the beginning, to the wonderful ending, I was captivated by this book. The setting is amazing and incredibly well-drawn. I really felt as though I could put myself there on the island. It's quite inhospitable but it grows on Rachel and it definitely grew on me too. Like many readers I'm sure, I would love to be able to visit it and am sorry it's not real (it certainly felt real).

The cast of characters is tiny. There are the three inhabitants and a few other characters who have minor roles. To keep a story about so few people so intense, so moving, so full of raw emotion, and so enthralling says a lot about the author's writing abilities. I could have carried on reading about the people and the island way past the end point.

You, Me and the Sea is a story of love, passion, revenge, loss, fear and vulnerability. There's still a hint of the author's gritty crime/thriller writing in there (this is definitely not a fluffy romance) but ultimately it's a beautiful story of three lost people finding their way amidst the stark landscape of a Scottish island. I absolutely loved it. ( )