Book Review - A Home From Home by Veronica Henry - Blog Tour

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Amazon UK

Title: A Home From Home

Author: Veronica Henry

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Orion

Publication Date: 25th July 2019 

Rating: 4 Stars

Sunshine, cider and family secrets...

Dragonfly Farm has been a home and a haven for generations of Melchiors - arch rivals to the Culbones, the wealthy family who live the other side of the river. Life there is dictated by the seasons and cider-making, and everyone falls under its spell.

For cousins Tabitha and Georgia, it has always been a home from home. When a tragedy befalls their beloved great-uncle Matthew, it seems the place where they've always belonged might now belong to them...

But the will reveals that a third of the farm has also been left to a total stranger. Gabriel Culbone has no idea why he's been included, or what his connection to the farm - or the Melchiors - can be.

As the first apples start to fall for the cider harvest, will Dragonfly Farm begin to give up its secrets?

A Home from Home is the very best of Veronica Henry's storytelling - gorgeous scenes you wish you could step into, a cast of characters who feel like friends, and an irresistibly feel-good family drama crossing three generations.

For years there has been a long running feud between the Culbornes of Rushbrook House and the Melchiors of Dragonfly Farm.  And yet as the events unfold in this book, we see just how connected the families history's are, whether they are aware of it or not. 

I loved meeting Tabitha and Georgia and seeing just how Gabriel fitted into everything.  There are secrets galore in this story, some of which I had more of an inkling towards than others. 

This is a really enjoyable family drama, where although the focus is on the current generation, we discover all sorts of interesting things about many generations of the family.  And then there is Gabriel's life which is up in London, with his partner and young daughter. I found his job rather interesting, not seen a knife maker before in books. 

There is a huge amount of story packed into this novel, but at no point does it feel overwhelming. It's all really easy to follow but its now as I'm trying to work out what to say that I'm thinking, just how many storylines I've read, and different threads that needed to come together.  It really is incredibly fine writing. 

I adored the setting of Dragonfly Farm, and would have loved to get to know great uncle Matthew even more, than what we do see from him.  He sounds like a rather special man.   

I really enjoyed reading A Home From Home, its full of love, family relationships, potential romances, a real sense of family history and some surprises along the way.   Really glad I have had the chance to read this latest book from one of my favourite authors. 

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

Please do follow along with the rest of the stops of this blog tour! 

Book Review - Christmas at the Beach Hut by Veronica Henry

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Amazon UK

Title: Christmas at the Beach Hut 

Author: Veronica Henry

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Orion

Publication Date: 15th November 2018 

Rating: 4 Stars

Everyone adores Christmas . . .

Especially Lizzy Kingham. But this year, she is feeling unloved and underappreciated by her family. The present-buying, decorating and food shopping have all been left to her. So she wonders ... what would happen if she ran away and left them to it?

Lizzy heads to her favourite place: a beach hut on the golden sands of Everdene. There she meets an unlikely collection of new friends, all running away from something. But the spirit of Christmas gets under Lizzy's skin: soon the fairy lights are twinkling and the scent of mulled wine mingles with the sea air.

Back at Pepperpot Cottage, her family are desperate to find her. For Christmas isn't Christmas without Lizzy. Can they track her down in time and convince her she means the world to them, every day of the year?

How lovely to be back at Everdene and at Christmas. I really do love the setting and all the beach huts. and this time around it is a whole new cast of characters, so the book can be read easily as a standalone. 

What frustrated me slightly was how long it took for all the different threads to come together in any way.  The chapters flicked between different focal points, and one or two of the stories that sounded really interesting weren't focused on as much as I would like, and in the case of Jack and Nat, I was utterly confused the first two times they appeared as I couldn't get to grips with them. 

However I was enjoying everything I was reading and once I felt everything joining up as you would expect in books like this, it all made complete sense and at that point I found the book was an even better story. 

The blurb focuses on Lizzy and she is the lynchpin of the novel, all threads keep coming back to her.  She runs away from her family home a couple of days before Christmas as she is sick of being taken for granted, and what struck me most was her family's reactions and how dealt with the situation. 

Meanwhile at the beach huts, the others that have also decided on a different Christmas as arriving, and with their own baggage and reasoning.   

I loved seeing just how much Lizzy cares not just about her family but about the other people she has only just met. She has a gift for bringing people together and for managing to create Christmas out of nothing. 

Harley is the other main character in my eyes, he is also on the run but for different reasons and also finds himself in Everdene.  He is a young adult, and just wants what is best for his mum, but is scared of the situation his family is in and knows staying away would be for the best for a bit. 

As the book progressed it was Harley's personal growth was the best to see and I loved seeing him develop even over the short time frame of the book. 

Although its a story set around Christmas it to me fell short of making me feel festive and so I think it could easily be read at any time of year.  

This was an enjoyable book, but as a huge fan of the author, I know that I have enjoyed others a lot more than this one.   

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

Book Review - A Family Recipe by Veronica Henry - #HolidayReading Book 25

Book 25 of 28 read on my holiday to Cyprus in June 2018.

The Amazon Purchase link below is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Amazon UK

Title: A Family Recipe

Author: Veronica Henry

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Orion

Publication Date: 17th May 2018 

Rating: 5 Stars

What's the secret ingredient to your happiness?
Laura Griffin is preparing for an empty nest. The thought of Number 11 Lark Hill falling silent - a home usually bustling with noise, people and the fragrant smells of something cooking on the Aga - seems impossible. Laura hopes it will mean more time for herself, and more time with her husband, Dom.

But when an exposed secret shakes their marriage, Laura suddenly feels as though her family is shrinking around her. Feeling lost, she turns to her greatest comfort: her grandmother's recipe box, a treasured collection dating back to the Second World War. Everyone has always adored Laura's jams and chutneys, piled their sandwiches high with her pickles . . . Inspired by a bit of the old Blitz spirit, Laura has an idea that gives her a fresh sense of purpose.

Full of fierce determination, Laura starts carving her own path. But even the bravest woman needs the people who love her. And now, they need her in return . . .

Wow what a fascinating and enthralling story, I was hooked from the beginning, and given chapter 1 was set during WW2 and I'm not a history fan, that is saying something. 

In fact I was very interested in the occasional wartime chapter which was telling the story of Jilly and Ivy as young women. 

The present day storyline featured Laura, her husband Dom, grown up children Willow and Jas and her grandma Kanga. 

At the heart of both past and present stories is the house, its garden and the family recipes that have passed through the generations. 

The book has fabulous writing, interesting storytelling, and a knack for transporting you between the pages so that you forget your real life exists. 

Even when I wasn't reading this my mind was still on the story, it really got under my skin, and with the various perspectives gave a good look at all the key characters and their motivations. 

A top notch read from an always talented and one of my favourite authors, Veronica Henry,

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

Book Review - The Apple Orchard by Veronica Henry - Book #66

Amazon UK

Title:  The Apple Orchard

Author: Veronica Henry

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Purchased

Publisher: Orion

Publication Date: 13th April 2017

Rating: 5 Stars

In the charming town of Peasebrook, there's a place for everyone. War vet Joe has made new friends and a new home for himself here, overlooking a beautiful apple orchard. But when tragedy strikes and Joe is left out in the cold, it will bring them all together in entirely unexpected ways . . .

A delightful but incredibly short story, set in Peasebrook. It is a small heart warming tale about a man's life who is a bit down on his luck and how the community feel about him. 

I loved even this short visit to Peasebrook, as it was the setting for the authors two most recent full length novels, and I loved seeing characters that I have met before in this. 

The Apple Orchard is the sort of book that is ideal as a quick read in a lunch break...in fact I didn't even finish eating before I had hit the end of the story!  

Often short stories can feel rushed or you don't get too much sense of any depth on characters, but that is definitely not the case here. This a  rounded look at one person's life and feels like the perfect length for this piece of writing. 

Thank you to everyone that voted for Veronica Henry this week, it was a very close contest, and given how little I've been reading in the heatwave, it was a relief that you picked the nice quick book for me! However I wonder what will win this week! 

Book Review - The Forever House by Veronica Henry

Amazon UK

Title: The Forever House

Author: Veronica Henry

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Orion

Publication Date: 18th May 2017 

Rating: 5 Stars

Would you know your forever house if you found it?

Hunter's Moon is the ultimate 'forever' house. Nestled by a river in the Peasebrook valley, it has been the Willoughbys' home for over fifty years, and now estate agent Belinda Baxter is determined to find the perfect family to live there. But the sale of the house unlocks decades of family secrets - and brings Belinda face to face with her own troubled past.

Well everyone is looking for their forever home, some are luckier than others in that they are already living in it, others have to face the heartbreaking decision to move away from their perfect home, for all manner of reasons. 

And that is exactly what is happening with Hunter's Moon, a gorgeous property in Peasebrook. Sally and Alexander need to downsize and sell up, for a very good reason, but they have been very happy in the property for over 50 years. 

As we watch them explain to family why they are selling, we also see them reminisce over their first meeting, and Sally's arrival at Hunter's Moon and the first few months with the Willoughby family. I often have issues with sections of the books being written purely in the past, but in this case, I was so wrapped up in Alex and Sally's story, that I forgot it was the late 1960s, and just wanted to know how things worked out. 

Obviously as with every house sale, you need an estate agent, and Belinda Baxter is the one in charge of finding Hunter's Moon its new forever owners. I loved her philosophy towards selling houses, and frankly wish she was in charge of my current house move!  Belinda hasn't had the easiest of pasts, so watch out for her past and present colliding in a couple of ways during the book. 

One of the many things I loved about The Forever House was the setting of Peasebrook, which has featured in Veronica Henry's books in the past, and I also spotted nods to at least two other of her books with mentions of places or buildings. I suspect there may have been minor cameos from previous works but I can't quite put my finger on them. 

I thoroughly enjoyed everything that I read about the entirety of the Willoughby family, both past and present, all 3 generations of them that are present in the book, from Alex's mother Margot, to his sisters, to his children with Sally, Leo and Jess.  We only really met Leo, and he is a lovely young man, that is determined to help his parents as much as possible. 

The Forever House is an incredibly good book, for what appears to be central to the story, a house and an estate agent, neither of which are my favourite topics currently, being 3 months into the stress of a house move myself! Regardless I was hooked on the story, and fascinated by Sally and Alexander when they were younger. I also really enjoyed Belinda's story, which posed a few surprises itself. 

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Orion for this copy of the book which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Book Review - How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry - Blog Tour

Amazon UK

Title: How to Find Love in a Bookshop

Author: Veronica Henry

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Orion

Publication Date: 16th June 2016 

Rating: 4. 5 Stars

Nightingale Books, nestled on the high street in the idyllic Cotswold town of Peasebrook, is a dream come true for booklovers.

But owner Emilia Nightingale is struggling to keep the shop open. The temptation to sell up is proving enormous - but what about the promise she made to her father? Not to mention the loyalty she owes to her customers.
Sarah Basildon, owner of stately pile Peasebrook Manor, has used the book shop as an escape from all her problems in the past few years. But is there more to her visits than meets the eye?

Since messing up his marriage, Jackson asks Emilia for advice on books to read to the son he misses so much. But Jackson has a secret, and is not all he seems...

And there's Thomasina, painfully shy, who runs a pop-up restaurant from her tiny cottage. She has a huge crush on a man she met and then lost in the cookery section, somewhere between Auguste Escoffier and Marco Pierre White. Can she find the courage to admit her true feelings?

How to Find Love in a Book Shop is the delightful story of Emilia's fight to keep her book shop alive, the customers whose lives she has touched - and the books they all love.

What a highly enjoyable story, with a loveable cast of characters. The opening couple of chapters hooked me in instantly, as they alternated between Emilia starting to come to terms with her father's death, and having a bookshop to take care of, and the story of how Julius, fell in love, and started up the shop, for him and his baby daughter Emilia all those years ago. 

After such a beautiful opening to a book, I was very glad to see it got even better, as we are introduced to the various characters whose lives were touched by Julius Nightingale. For a character that does't appear in the book in the present, his spirit was present in almost every chapter, and he seemed like a wonderful man, as he touched so many of the villagers lives. 

There is Sarah who used to escape to the bookshop, as a break from her life as lady of the manor, her daughter Alicia who is about to be married, but is it to the correct man. There is Jackson who is working for the developer that wants to buy the bookshop and turn in into apartments, but instead discovers just what Nightingale books is all about. 

And then here is Thomasina who is very shy, but has a clear crush on someone and has a love of cookery and cookbooks. She teaches cookery at a local school, and has taken one pupil under her wing, and its lovely to see Lauren's development as they work together in Thomasina's one-table pop up restaurant. 

A whole community comes together to help Emilia work out if she should keep the shop and her clear legacy or sell up and move on. At times I really wasn't sure which way it would turn out. There are so many other characters whose stories we learn a lot about, and the focus of the chapters changes regularly, as to the various people that live in Peasebrook. Even the name of the town conjures up a charming place to live. 

The bookshop itself, Nightingales was cosy shop, with a fabulous cast of booksellers, that clearly knew what they were doing and seem to love books as much as Emilia. They had fantastic knowledge, and June who helped run the shop while Julius was ill, has some rather hidden depths to her. 

All in all How to Find Love in a Bookshop is a wonderful story, easily one of Veronica Henry's most enjoyable books, and yet also felt quite different to so many of the other books being released this year so far with bookshop in the title. This doesn't read like a love affair to books, but as a real story with a lot of heart, and endearing characters. 

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

Please do take a look at the rest of the stops on this blog tour, for more How to Find Love in a Bookshop fun!