Thursday 13 August 2015

Book Review - Picnics in Hyde Park by Nikki Moore - #HIReadathon

Amazon UK
Title: Picnics in Hyde Park
Author: Nikki Moore
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Harper Impulse
Publication Date: 13th August 2015
Rating: 5 Stars


The last story in the fun & flirty #LoveLondon series from exciting new chick lit author Nikki Moore! The perfect novel for reading in the sunshine … and falling in love with London.

Hot summer romance…or cold revenge?

Super nanny, Zoe Harper is mad! It was bad enough discovering her ex-fiancĂ© Greg cheating on her just weeks before their wedding. But now she’s returned home to London to find her younger sister Melody has been left jobless, homeless, broke and dumped.

Zoe is determined to get revenge on the infamous Reilly brothers for her sister’s heartbreak. So when an unexpected opportunity gives Zoe a way in to uncaring—and dizzyingly gorgeous!—successful music producer Matt Reilly’s world, she jumps at the chance to make him pay.

But living with Matt as nanny to his two adorable, but complicated children, Zoe soon begins to suspect that not everything is as it seems… Matt insists on pushing everyone away including his children, but why? And if his delicious summer kisses are anything to go by, he can’t be that bad surely?

Can Zoe convince Matt to open up a little and help fix this family before she leaves…or worse, before Matt learns who she really is?

Having now read the entirety of the Love London series, there is only one conclusion I can come to, and that is Nikki Moore is exceptionally talented at creating fantastic stories, that keep you interested and that are very romantic. Whoever said romance was dead, has clearly never read a Nikki Moore book. 

As you may be able to tell I loved Picnics in Hyde Park so much. Between two absolutely adorable children, who I am now sad I can't read anything else about, to the way Zoe and Matt interacted, and how she was making him become a better father and more involved in his children's lives, it was an absolute pleasure to read this book. 

Yes this may be the last of the 6 book Love London series, but they can all be read as standalones, including this one, although with Picnics in Hyde Park you do get to catch up with all the couples from the shorter stories, as they all have common link with either Matt or Zoe. So there is some familiarity, but I don't think you would feel as though you miss out if reading a bunch of short stories isn't really your thing. 

There is a strong theme of family running throughout this book, there is the relationship Matt had with his dead wife, how he is coping with his children, 3 years on, Zoe's relationship with her sister and aunt, as well as Matt;s relationship with his brother, These are all examines in various degrees of detail. 

Zoe only took the job as nanny to Matt's children, to try and get answers and perhaps revenge, after he sacks her sister, Melody, with no explanation at all. Zoe is hurting from discovering her fiancee had been cheating on her, and is determined to take Matt down a peg or two. What she doesn't count on is Matt being gorgeous and her falling in love with his children. 

Seeing how the interactions change as the novel progresses between Zoe and Matt is lovely to see and he goes from someone set in his ways, and emotionally withdrawn with his children to a far more loveable man. 

There is one newspaper article in the book that gave me a lump in my throat, and that wasn't the only time the story affected me like that. There so many nice touches in this book, it is great to see. 

Jasper (who is the child the featured in Skating at Somerset House) and his sister Aimee are as different as can be. Aimee is a quiet child who is never happier than with her head in her book, and she reads some very advanced books for only seven years old, and then Jasper is a loveable bundle of energy. 

Hyde Park and picnics are central to the healing processes with this family, and I don't want to say much about them as would prefer not to spoil the plot, but lets just say there is a very good reason this lovely story is called Picnics in Hyde Park. 

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Harper Impulse for this review copy. This was my honest opinion. 

Picnics in Hyde Park is out today. Happy publication day Nikki!

4 comments:

  1. Thanks so much Rachel for the review, rating and tweets. So glad you enjoyed Picnics in Hyde Park.

    Nikki x

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  2. Great review!!! I'm always up for reading an awesome sounding book that has my name in it!! lol

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  3. Oooh, fab review! Well done, Nikki! So pleased for you. Thanks for sharing, Rachel! :) xx

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