Book Review - A Winter's Wish by Alice Ross

Amazon UK

Title:  A Winter's Wish

Author: Alice Ross

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Carina

Publication Date: 10th October 2016

Rating: 4 Stars

Amelia is at breaking point. She’s just lost her job and Doug, the love of her life, still hasn’t broken up with his girlfriend. Surely a trip to the quiet countryside is just what she needs?

Phil is about to leave beautiful Buttersley for the other side of the world! The sunny shores of Australia will mean a new life with his girlfriend, but something is holding him back…

Ella has never felt this way before – Jake O’Donnell is the most gorgeous man she’s ever seen. And the more time she spends babysitting his kids, the more her feelings grow!

Stan should be happy. He loves his wife and their adorable baby girl more than anything! So why, when everything’s finally going right, are they arguing more than ever?

One thing’s for sure, even when Buttersley’s first snowflakes begin to fall, it’s never too cold for love to blossom…

It is always a pleasure to return to Buttersley, and the village in the winter in fact gains in its charms. There are some familiar characters in the mix, but the focal characters we switch between are all brand new. Hence although this is book 3 of the Countryside Dreams, it can easily be read as a standalone book. 

I really enjoyed all four characters storylines, and although I could see a few plot twists a mile out, it was finding the story surrounding them so much that I wasn't too bothered. 

Amelia is Annie's sister, and when she comes to visit her sister and Buttersley for the first time she is surprised by the village and how it makes her feel. Amelia is considerably younger than Annie, and has worked hard all her life, so she is finding the news of her redundancy hard to deal with. Add in not much of a personal life, and a very messy love affair and she finds herself seeking solace with her family. 

Amelia though needs to win them all over, as she is fairly estranged, and seeing her attempt to connect with Annie's children is amusing, if a bit painful. 

Phil is meant to be moving to Australia for good, giving up his pub and his home, to be with girlfriend Rachel. But he is starting to have second thoughts, and who can blame him after meeting the potential new pub landlords, who wanted to rip out the heart of this pub. 

Ella has very low self-esteem and a huge crush on a married man, but her story takes on a lovely turn as she starts to have a bit more confidence in what she can do. Finally there is Stan, although it was hard to be sympathetic to him at first, given he seems to spend more time at work than with his young baby. However as the story progresses , I found myself warming to him more and more. 

A Winter's Wish just had a lovely small village book feel to it, and its always quite comforting as a reader to return to a place, that you are starting to know quite well. It almost felt like a homecoming, and with the various ups and downs in the village, it was a very pleasurable read. 

Thank you so much to Carina and Netgalley for this review copy. This is my honest opinion. 

Book Review - A Summer of Secrets by Alice Ross

Amazon UK

Title: A Summer of Secrets

Author: Alice Ross

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Carina

Publication Date: 9th May 2016

Rating: 4.5 Stars

One long hot summer. Secrets never stay buried for long…

Portia is determined to restore Buttersley Manor, her family’s crumbling ancestral home, to its former glory. Yet she has a feeling that there are a few forgotten skeletons in the dust-covered cupboards.

Jenny has put her life on hold for far too long. It’s time to finally start living and to dig up those hopes and dreams she’s kept hidden all these years – but is she brave enough?

Rich is happily married with a beautiful wife and lovely daughter. In fact, his world is perfect until a very unexpected consequence of his past walks through the door…

Joe would like nothing more than to travel back in time to when he and Gina were happy. But is it too late to rescue what they once had?

One thing’s for sure, nothing’s ever quite what it seems when it comes to life in the country!

This is my second and definitely won't be my last visit to Buttersley. I really loved the way the four main storylines wove around each other, and the main characters in this I found a lot easy to get to know than the ones in the previous book in this series. 

Although it is book 2 in the Countryside Dreams series, it can easily be read as a standalone as all the focus are on people that are new to the reader, the book just happens to be set in the location. 

A couple of the storylines were a lot stronger than the others, in fact although Portia is a main character, and is heir to Buttersley Manor, it felt like she had the smallest amount of book dedicated to her, but she still had a budding romance in the offing. 

Jenny is a lot more interesting, she has lived with her domineering mother for her whole life, and has barely done anything with her own life. Finally at the age of 50 she is slowly starting to show a rebellious streak which is wonderful to see, and did make me think that if I don't change my own life I may end up like Jenny in the future. 

Rich's story is a bit more complex when a blast from the past shows up, but at the same time shows us his family situation, and work situation and I really liked his whole family. 

And then there is Joe, he is a young twenty something, working as a window cleaner that offers additional services, but is heartbroken, until things slowly start to change, and he has real adult decisions to make which will affect his future. 

The narrative switches between the various characters fairly often, but instead of feeling confused, it didn't take long to get used to it, and to know who was who. I really enjoyed the way the four main strands would interact, even if I couldn't work it out to start with. 

My only slight niggle with the book was the it felt like rather an abrupt ending, but I hope that just means we will get glimpses of these characters in the next book, to find out what is going on with their lives. 

A Summer of Secrets is  a very enjoyable glimpse into the lives of some of Buttersley's residents, and I can't wait to see what happens next in this charming series.

Thanks to Carina and Netgalley for this review copy. This was my honest opinion.