Wednesday 30 May 2018

Book Review - Spring on the Little Cornish Isles by Phillipa Ashley

Amazon UK
Title: Spring on the Little Cornish Isles
Author: Phillipa Ashley
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: 19th February 2018
Rating: 5 Stars


Jess has lived at the idyllic flower farm on the Isles of Scilly her whole life, but when her boyfriend Adam leaves without explanation, Jess discovers that even her little slice of Cornish heaven can be lonely.

For the first time in Will’s life, he’s met someone he can’t stop thinking about. But nothing is simple when the woman of your dreams is working for you.

Gaby is running away from painful memories, and where could be more perfect than a remote island off the Cornish coast? But to put the past behind her, she must keep moving … however much she might want to stay.

What a picturesque and gorgeous setting for a book, and by that I'm referring to not only the Isles of Scilly, but also Jess and Will's flower farm.   

In fact I was so taken by the sheer amount of narcissi that are being grown on the farm that I have just had a google to see what they really look like.  O so not my favourite sort of flower, but I can appreciate the hard work that goes into flower farming. 

So can Gaby who has arrived at the farm as a picker for a 6 month contract, although it takes a while for us to know the real reasons she has moved so far from home to pick flowers.  She is a gutsy plucky character that I enjoyed getting to know. 

And her banter with Will is really entertaining.  In the meantime, I felt as though I knew a bit about Jess and her boyfriend Adam as she is Maisie's best friend and Maisie's story was the main one in the first book of this trilogy.   I really enjoyed getting to know her a lot better although the course of true love never did run smoothly! 

Having recently read a run of short novellas with rather shallow characters, it was pure pleasure to delve back into a good length book, full of characters with real hidden depths to them. I loved everything about these characters and had great sympathy for most of them at one point or another. 

There are sections of complete light relief while others are more serious but one thing that ties the book together is superb writing and storytelling.  Although this is book 2 of a trilogy, it can easily be read as a standalone as the focus of this book is different, and I am already looking forward to the next release. 

I had been worried that I had forgotten everything about the series but the first pages where I am reminded of the various islands names a lot of the info came back to me, plus a few short character recaps brought me back up to speed with the series. 

Full of beautiful flowers, great locations some action packed scenes and fully formed characters, this is a fabulous book that I am delighted to have found the time to read. 

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


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