Book Review - Sunrise at Strawberry Farm by Kellie Hailes

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Title: Sunrise at Strawberry Farm

Author: Kellie Hailes

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Orion Dash

Publication Date: 25th May 2020

Rating: 4 Stars

First love can be as sweet as strawberries...

Hannah Beety never thought she'd be back working at her family's strawberry farm, but when her mother falls ill, she knows it's time to go home. Returning to help in time for the summer harvest, Hannah's forced to face up to the broken hearts she left behind...

After a decade, Grey Walker cannot believe that the woman he had planned to marry, start a family and live a cosy life with is back. Working side by side with Hannah as they prepare for the annual Strawberry Festival brings back all the memories of his first love he'd tried to bury. But as the summer days lengthen, could letting her in mean losing his heart, again?

Well it's the sign of a good author when you spend most of the book wanting to bash the two main characters heads together repeatedly until they see sense. As after all I cared that much about their happiness, it was driving me just slightly demented that they couldn't quite work it out for themselves! 

And I really enjoyed the descriptions of the Strawberry farm and how it worked, and the way it celebrates at the end of picking season.  I was interested in the family dynamics of Hannah's family and how they acted towards her.  Hannah and Grey though as much as I did enjoy reading about them, I didn't completely mesh with either of them. 

In fact my favourite characters were Mr "flirts with everything" Matt, who is one of the strawberry pickers being used this season, who is a breath of fresh air whenever he cropped up.  And I also loved Amethyst, Hannah's best friend, and movie star, who is rather down to earth. and just such a warm character and she added a great dimension to the stilted family dynamics once she came to start on the farm. 

It's a truly lovely story that evoked the feelings of summer, of strawberry picking while having main characters whose minds are set, you have to wonder whether they they will ever get together, not to mention whether Hannah will ever feel as though she is a valued member of the family or not. 

Thank you to Orion Dash and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.