Review: Love Lessons

Love Lessons by Sarina Bowen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Ian Crikey has bought a run down property and is doing it up himself, he hosts a Friday night party which gets a bit raucous, the cops are called and an overzealous newbie arrests Ian. When Ian's mugshots appear on TMZ in filthy clothes and shaggy hair/beard the team management are not pleased and haul him in to give him a good telling off and tell him to clean up his image.

Vera is the personal shopper who set up her own stylist business and has roped in Charli from the previous book as her assistant. She is sick and tired of being unable to work from her home office because Ian Crikey is banging, sawing, and otherwise making a noise outside her house. When his rowdy party gets louder and louder she has no choice but to call the police, no way is she going to confront a huge scary hockey player.

When Vera realises that she was the cause of Ian being arrested, and warned by the Bruisers she is mortified and tries to make it up to him by offering to style him - something that he refuses, although he does (grudgingly) allow her to trim his hair and beard. However, Ian thinks Vera is a rich snob and notices the way she looks at him - obviously thinks of him as a bit of rough.

It seems that fate wants to bring them together, not only are they neighbours but they are also the only two singles invited to spend a week in Neil Drake's family villa in Italy (Neil being married to Charli and a friend of Ian's).

Three years ago Vera got dumped by her long-term boyfriend and he made some very cutting remarks about her prowess in the bedroom. He's recently got in touch and invited her to be his plus-one at a swanky charity gala and Vera is determined to show him what he missed/prove him wrong so she asks Ian for tips on the art of seduction.

I'm a sucker for these dating-guru helping her to seduce the man of her dreams only to find that the two of them have more in common. Obviously Vera's ex is a narcissistic manipulative user. Ian doesn't know that Vera is the one that got him arrested. Vera doesn't think anyone as handsome/rich/charming/worldly/ripped as Ian could possibly fall for her. Ian doesn't think he's good enough for someone as successful and cultured as Vera.

Loved it.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

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Review: Bombshells

Bombshells by Sarina Bowen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sylvie Hansen gets called up from Canada to the Brooklyn Bombshells, a female ice hockey team. Not only is she ecstatic about playing hockey professionally, it also gives her the opportunity to sort things out with her is he/isn't he boyfriend Bryce Campeau who happens to play for the Brooklyn Bruisers. Bryce grew up in Sylvie's home so her parents were surrogate parents for him, Sylvie had a crush on him but he seemed to treat her as a cute little sister, until the night of her mother's funeral when he made some promises to Sylvie about being together. Since then nada, despite Sylvie's attempts to get him to commit (to anything).

Anton Bayer is also on the Brooklyn Bruisers team, he's had some bad publicity (leaked photos of him and four women in a bed type of stuff) and his (professional) performance has suffered. This season he's determined to live clean, stay away from the women and get his act together, otherwise he may find himself off the team.

Anton is immediately smitten by Sylvie, but you don't make moves on your teammate's girl. But when Sylvie asks for help in flirting to get Bryce's attention he can't say no. At first they are just really good friends, but one night of comforting turns into something more, and now Anton is breaking every rule he set himself because if Bryce finds out there will be ALL the drama.

Loved it.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

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Review: Death Under a Little Sky

Death Under a Little Sky by Stig Abell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jake Jackson is a former London police detective. His eccentric uncle has died and left him his palatial (but off-grid) rural retreat 'Little Sky' and sufficient funds to live comfortably for the rest of his life. He has also paid/obtained water and electricity in perpetuity and restricted Jake's ability to do anything other than live in the house. Jake and his wife have drifted apart after several miscarriages and so they see this as an ideal opportunity to make a break. He will keep his inheritance in its entirety and she will keep their London home.

The facilities in the house are unusual, there's a purpose built library with built in speakers, a doomsday-style basement, secret compartments etc, but no bath, shower, washing machine or phone!

Jake rather enjoys going feral, living alone, speaking to no-one. Even when he does venture out the nearby village is tiny, consisting of just a few other residents. There's no supermarket or bank but the local village store (incredibly) stocks a wide range of wonderful local produce and the owner also runs a sort-of pub in her basement.

Whilst enjoying a local treasure hunt which is rather macabrely a bag of bones with other residents and celebrating his victory, Jake discovers that the 'bones' which should have been a bundle of sticks and logs from the shop-keeper's log store have been substituted for he thinks are human bones. While the local police tend to believe the bones have been dug up from a local grave in rather a poor taste joke to haze the newcomer, Jake isn't so sure and seeks to discover whose bones they are and how they got into the sack.

Met with threats and hostility from the local residents, Jake's investigations lead him and the local vet Livia into danger.

I'm torn with my review of this. I did enjoy the mystery although I question how much Stig Abell knows of the British countryside, his book is populated by in-bred locals, fey incomers, and lots of 'don't go into the woodshed' comments, yet they have organic this-that and the other at the local store whereas in my limited experience you are more likely to get plastic cheese and sliced white bread.

Also the romance was very much a man's take on the way women behave and IMHO not very realistic (and as an aside, there was far too much talk of pubic hair - is the man obsessed?). Also, Livia has a full-time job and is the mother of a six/seven year old daughter yet she seems to have loads of time to go gallivanting around detecting and showing her pubic hair to Jake (sorry - but really).

In fact, I have just downgraded my review from three and a half stars to three stars because the more I think about it the more ludicrous the set up seems. Jake has acres of land, he goes for a five mile run every day then plunges into the lake to swim, he then sits in the sauna (which he and the local can-do handyman built from scratch, naturally) before barbecuing a tender steak on hot stones and serving with some greens he's grown in his vegetable patch - puhlease!

Stepping back it seems like Stig Abell wants to give Jake all the skills and tools (money) to do whatever he wants whilst also forcing him to live in a small village and effectively putting him back into the 19th century by giving him no phone or internet.

I am absolutely astonished that this novel won the 2024 CrimeFest Debut Crime Novel of the Year and that Lee Child and Ann Cleeves raved about it in the blurb - I even thought the identity of the murderer was blindingly obvious(view spoiler)[, he was the only one no-one suspected (hide spoiler)].

However, I will give the second book a try to see if the series settles down.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: The Last Guy On Earth

The Last Guy On Earth by Sarina Bowen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fifteen years ago Clay Powers and Jethro Hale were roommates in a tiny one-bedroom apartment, teammates on a minor league hockey team, the Busker Brutes. It was a case of opposites attract, Clay was from a rich family of professionals, a people-pleaser desperate to 'fix' the issues with the team, sensitive, and prone to tension headaches. Whereas Jethro didn't finish college, his father was a drunk who walked out on the family, and his mother was a drunk who drove her car into a telephone pole, his sister is hooking up with a low level drug dealer and Jethro is having to work side jobs to make rent. For a few brief months the two of them became close physically without ever really putting a name to their relationship.

Fifteen years later, Clay is the youngest coach of a professional hockey team, the Colorado Cougars, and Jethro is a goalie with two championships under his belt and fifteen years in Denver. Then, boom, Jethro is traded to Colorado over Clay's head and neither of them are happy. Clay may have made his feelings very vocally known, not realising that Jethro is within earshot. Now there's tension in the locker room and both of them are remembering just what happened fifteen years ago.

I loved this, I'm a sucker for an opposites attract second chance romance, throw in some seriously ripped athletes and take all my money. But it wasn't just wall-to-wall banging (although there's a fair amount), there's also loneliness, betrayal. lost love, I confess I shed a tear at times.

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Review: Happily Ever After

Happily Ever After by Jane Lovering
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two and a half stars.

The blurb:

Andi Glover loves nothing more than a good book.

Any book in fact because when you’re raised by unconventional parents who think school’s for squares, alongside a deeply conventional sister who escapes home as soon as she can, fiction is eminently preferable to reality.

The only problem is that fiction isn’t the best way to learn about the real world. When Andi starts her new live-in job at Templewood Hall for the eccentric Lady Dawe and her enigmatic son Hugo, it’s tempting to think she’s fallen into the pages of one of her favourite gothic novels.

But the plot twists at Templewood Hall are stranger than fiction and it’s not long before Andi questions if she’s living in a romance novel or a whodunnit.

I rarely use the blurb for books - because that's not a review - but in this case I felt it was the only option. This book vaguely reminded me of Northanger Abbey, a naïve young woman with a vivid imagination goes to stay in a stately home and lets it run riot. The trouble is, all of the characters are eccentric, Lady Dawe who is in love with her late father-in-law, her mysterious elder son Jasper who renounced his inheritance, the skittish younger son Hugo, the surly cleaning lady/cook Mrs Compton, and the vaguely threatening gardener. Don't even get me started on the cat ('the Master') who appears to be the only sane creature there. This really is a case of throwing the kitchen sink at a plot with almost every conceivable protected characteristic (if I can put it that way) thrown in. Yes there was some misdirection but also some of it was blindingly obvious to this reader from an early stage.

I've got to say I think I preferred Jane Lovering's earlier novels, I have been underwhelmed by her most recent novels. Maybe I should stop requesting them and accept we have moved in different directions.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Available on Kindle Unlimited.

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Review: A Fashionable Indulgence

A Fashionable Indulgence by K.J. Charles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Harry Vane was the son of two radicals, he spent his childhood on the run and abroad because of their anti-government stance. After their deaths he returned to London and took up work with Silas in his bookshop, whilst also helping him to secretly print radical tracts and newsletters in the basement.

Then after getting drunk and indiscreet in a pub with a stranger one night, Harry is astonished to be visited by a aristocrat to be told he is the long-lost grandson of an illustrious member of the Vane family and potentially heir to a fortune. The aristocrat, his cousin Richard, has been ordered by Harry's grandfather to make him presentable for society and Richard can think of no-one better than his friend Julius Norreys. Julius may have a cutting wit and be a dandy but he knows everything that is needed to turn Harry from a guttersnipe into a gentleman.

Harry feels torn, whilst he hated being dragged from pillar to post by his parents, and being rich feels like a much easier life, he can't help but feel grateful to Silas for taking him in and looking after him all those years. He may not be the same sort of radical as his parents but that doesn't mean he supports the suppression of the masses either. Added to which, he feels altogether too friendly to Julius but feels there would be no way an aristocrat like him would ever be involved with another man.

Set against the backdrop of the Peterloo massacre and the calls for reform of the rotten boroughs (how vividly I recall those names from history lessons at school and how remote I felt at the time). Harry is torn between a life of privilege and standing up for his principles.

Hate the covers for this series but this was an enjoyable read which really brought home the struggles of the time for fair representation and LGBTQIA+ rights.

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Review: The Players

The Players by Minette Walters
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Four and a half stars.

England, 1685, the scars and division between Catholics and Protestants still run deep after the Civil War, neighbour informing on neighbour, spies everywhere. Charles II had done much to bring stability to England but after his death without legitimate heir his younger brother James (James II) ascended the throne.

When Charles II's illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth launches an ill-advised Protestant rebellion in the West Country, it is quickly quashed and Monmouth escapes the battlefield only to be captured shortly afterwards. In the following days and weeks thousands of 'rebels' are arrested across Devon, Dorset and Somerset. Where Charles had adopted an attitude of let bygones be bygones, James was still smarting over his father's (Charles I) execution and consequently decided to charge all rebels with high treason, for which the sentence was hanging, drawing and quartering. His agent? Judge Jeffries, who later became notorious as Hanging Judge Jeffries as a result of his adherence to James II's desire for revenge.

So far that's historical fact, what Minette Water does is to weave a fascinating and engrossing human tale around these historical facts featuring lady Jayne Harrier (who I now gather - thank you Google - is a character from another book by Minette Walters) and her enigmatic son. Her light touch is wonderful, no turgid historical politics, just a clever man, and two clever women who try to save as many 'rebels' as possible.

I absolutely loved this, I don't want to go into more detail about the story because so much of it depends on the cleverness unfolding gradually. This was a bit of a blank spot in history for me so it was wonderful to have it brought to life so vividly and so clearly, so often family relationships are so complex I get totally lost (don't get me started on the sheer number of Elizabeths and Henrys during the Wars of the Roses) but this was wonderfully clear and I loved the way that all the characters had light and shade. My only gripe was that I could have read a book twice as long!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Promise Me Sunshine

Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Lenny has been a bit of a mess since her best friend, Lou, died from cancer. Best friends since school days and room mates, their bond was closer than sisters. Now she can't face her parents, can't face going back to the apartment they shared, she is barely holding it together and is scraping a living with short-term babysitting gigs.

A plum job comes up, looking after seven-year-old, Ainsley for her busy single mom. Unfortunately, her technique for building rapport and comforting Ainsley when her mother leaves are seen by Ainsley's uncle Miles as irresponsible and immature so he tries to get her fired, arguing that he can look after Ainsley just as well or even better.

Miles too has known heart-breaking grief and recognises it in Lenny, he offers her a step-by-step plan to learn to live again IF Lenny can help him to connect to Ainsley and her mother, his half-sister who he only met shortly before their father died.

I don't know how to review this, I did really like it and Miles is an absolute sweetheart under the gruff exterior - he just wants to make everyone safe, but it was also so very sad. Even now I feel sad just thinking about it!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Bad Reputation

Bad Reputation by Emma Barry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cole James was a teenage actor on a much loved long-running teen drama twenty years ago (ish). The character he played always made stupid mistakes (I thought of him like Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl/Joey from Friends) but everyone loved him for it. Unfortunately, Cole let it go to his head and got a reputation for partying hard off screen too. He's spent the past few decades trying to learn to act properly (as opposed to showing off his abs on demand) and has rehabilitated himself one small role at a time guided by his agent. Finally, the work has paid off and he has been cast as the male lead in the next series of Waverley (think Bridgerton but in the Scottish Highlands and I don't think it is anything to do with the Walter Scott novel of the same name). This role could lead to him getting meaty roles, with depth of character rather than the shoot-'em-up fast car films he's been doing.

Maggie Niven was a High School drama teacher until certain elements in her town tried to stop her directing a play that had 'subversive elements'. Maggie felt so strongly that her students should be allowed to perform the play, which only reflected the truth of some children's experiences, that she took on the school district publicly. Unfortunately her notoriety didn't help her keep her job, or her boyfriend who didn't want to be associated with her in case it lost him business. Whilst appearing on a daytime women's chat show (think of the UK TV show Loose Women), Maggie is approached by the producer of Waverley who asks her to be the intimacy coordinator for the next series. I have to admit I didn't understand the story with this play (although since You Know Who was elected and started signing executive orders willy nilly I can see where that could happen) or how standing up for the right to put on a controversial play automatically qualified her to be an intimacy coordinator, but never mind.

Cole and Maggie hit it off from day one, but Cole's co-star and best friend is a tougher nut to crack, she dismisses all Maggie's attempts to discuss scenes or how she feels about them, yet Maggie notices that she has not had any nudity in any of her films since she was about eighteen and Maggie suspects there may be some drama there.

As Maggie and Cole work together, especially when Maggie advises a young actress that despite signing a waiver she can still make stipulations about what she wears and how love scenes are shot, Cole realises that he has been equally as exploited over the years, made to expose his body at the drop of a hat, never consulted about how he feels about the characters he plays, and he becomes very conflicted about playing his character in Waverley, who treats women very badly initially. Maggie helps him to understand his character's motivations, why he loves and leaves one woman but would sacrifice himself for another, etc.

But how would the outside world view an off-screen romance between an actor and the intimacy coordinator? And how would it affect Maggie's second career?

I saw this available on NetGalley and thought the premise of a romance with an intimacy coordinator felt weird, hence I didn't request it. But I had read Chick Magnet and recently read an ARC of Bold Moves so when it became available on Kindle Unlimited I snapped it up. Oddly, I think I liked it more than Bold Moves which felt too close to the TV series Queen's Gambit.

So anyway, thoughtful forty-something romance that I really enjoyed.

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Review: The Prince and the Player

The Prince and the Player by Nora Phoenix
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two and a half stars.

This is clearly part of a series where young royalty go undercover for a year to 'find themselves'.

Prince Tore is fourth in line to the Norwegian throne, he had a chance of playing professional football (soccer) for the Dutch team Ajax but his father forbade him, saying his duty was to the throne and country. However, (don't ask, plot hole) he has now persuaded his father to allow him to attend college in the USA at Hawsley College for one year - a college which happens to have a pretty good soccer team.

Farron is the soccer captain and a year above Tore. His father was from a wealthy family which disowned him for marrying Farron's mother. Then when his father died they washed their hands of Farron, his mother, and his siblings. Life has been tough, Farron has had to work to support his family, and act as a father figure to his siblings. You could say he has a chip on his shoulder about rich people.

When Tore joins the soccer team Farron is beyond annoyed that this rich kid just waltzes in and snags a spot. Even worse, Tore plays European football where he can rove the field looking for opportunities whereas the Hawsley team play strict positions, leading him into clashes with Farron.

Soon, inevitably, the smouldering looks of hatred turn to lust and after a particularly heated argument they kiss, despite both of them believing up until that point that they were heterosexuals. Yeah, not so keen on the 'gay for you' vibe.

Anyway, they try to get it out of their systems but are just falling for each other for real. But no-one knows Tore's true identity and that secret is going to bite him in the posterior.

So this gave me The Prince and Me vibes (loved the film), but a bit too much. The soccer descriptions seemed okay but frankly there wasn't much more than Tore running, passing and scoring. I'm not sure we know more than two other players on the team (and them only because they share a room with either Farron or Tore). Also the writing felt stilted, I get that Tore speaks 'posh' with an English accent but Farron also had the same tone of voice.

As a devotee of all things Alexis Hall, I would say this is not in the least bit comparable, the characters had no depth. Am okay read.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Subtle Blood

Subtle Blood by K.J. Charles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Will and Kim are happy and as settled as two gay men from different social classes could be in the 1920s. Then Kim is called to a gentlemen's club (one from which he was asked to resign), his older brother has been accused of murdering a fellow member after a heated row. Kim and Will go along to the club and note a few oddities, not least of which is that the dead man appears to have a large (comparatively) tattoo under his watch strap - reminiscent of the defunct Zodiac gang. Kim's brother refuses to explain what he argued with the deceased about, admits he tried to pull the murder weapon out of the body and is generally doing everything to make himself look guilty. Then Kim's father orders Kim to do everything (pull strings, bribery, etc) to get his brother off the charges because he didn't do it!

I really enjoyed this third foray into the Will Darling adventures. My only gripe would be that it felt a little too similar to the previous one and had shades of the Asimov Foundation series which I recall (actually I think totally erroneously) as ending each book thinking they had found Earth and then starting the next book with a 'whoops no, that wasn't the real Earth' and repeat.

Anyway, loved the book, love the series, hopefully one day KJ Charles will write a fourth book.

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Review: Wes and Addie Had Their Chance: A Love Story

Wes and Addie Had Their Chance: A Love Story by Bethany Turner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Wes and Addie were small-town childhood sweethearts in Adelaide Springs, Colorado. Then he abruptly walked away from her on their wedding day without a word. Initially heartbroken, Addie joined the Airforce and became an analyst for the CIA where she met her husband Joel. Meanwhile, Wes went into politics under the aegis of his long-last father in Washington and eventually married another girl from their small town a few years younger than Wes and Addie.

Twenty odd years later, Addie's husband is dead, killed in a hush-hush CIA operation so secret that Addie couldn't tell anyone he'd died for eight months and Wes' wife has died of cancer. Addie has returned home to live with her father after leaving the CIA and Wes is the front-runner for next President of the USA, although he would probably not get a single vote in Adelaide Springs after dumping Addie all those years ago.

Wes is on the brink of a massive announcement, he's not going to run for President, and decides to secretly return to Adelaide Springs before breaking the news, not realising that Addie has also returned home ... in fact she drives the taxi that collects him from the airport.

There felt like a lot of dissonance between the blurb and the artwork which both promised a light-hearted rom-com and the reality which was darker and more introspective. Also, this felt like it was part of a series with other couples (and I have just checked and at least one other couple have their own book) so characters had whole back stories which weren't explained and/or their relevance to the story at hand seemed stretched.

Overall, it was okay.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Playing for Keeps in Starr's Fall

Playing for Keeps in Starr's Fall by Kate Hewitt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Maggie is a widow, she and her son have decided to move to Starr's Fall and open a Board Games café, which is far cry from their consumeristic, McMansion, keeping-up-with-the-Joneses lifestyle encouraged by her late husband's high-flying job. Her son is an introvert, happier playing online games than participating in team sports, which led to him being bullied at his last (private) school and they have agreed that he will be home-schooled for the foreseeable future.

Zach has a reputation as the town lothario, having dated every woman under forty within a 20 mile radius (allegedly). He and his sister inherited the family store after their parents retired to Florida but he is finding it an uphill battle to get his sister to agree to any changes to make the store more profitable. Overall, he feels firmly pigeon-holed by all and sundry and no-one can allow him to change. Sure, he was an entitled jerk of a jock in high school but he also gave up his college plans to nurse his mother when she got cancer.

Maggie doesn't have the bandwidth for romance, especially not with a guy ten years younger who looks like a male model, especially when her new-found friends tell her he's a player. But Zach is a good friend to her son, confessing that he too plays online games (in fact the same one) and they start to fall in love.

I enjoyed this. I thought the backstory with Maggie's son was obvious (but I won't spoiler it in case others don't) and the tension/disagreement between Maggie and Zach felt a bit manufactured, I think if Maggie took a step back she would have realised that it felt wrong.

Overall, however, another sweet small town romance.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Marble Hall Murders

Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Plus ca change!

Susan Ryeland has returned to England after her romance in Crete had run its course. She is freelancing as an editor when she is asked to assist a writer with a continuation of the Atticus Pünd series, originally penned by the loathsome Alan Conway. Susan is reluctant, not just because her last involvement with the series almost got her killed by her then boss/business partner, but also because the young author, Eliot Crace, is known to be a party-boy, drug addict, and drunk whose previous literary attempts sank without trace. In fact his only merit is that he is the grandson of one of the world's most beloved children's' authors (think Enid Blyton/Beatrix Potter) Miriam Crace.

However, Susan is desperate for a permanent job, not least to pay the mortgage on the flat she has bought in Crouch End, so she agrees to read the first 30,000 words Eliot has produced. Despite herself, Susan is impressed. Eliot has captured Alan Conway's writing style effortlessly and the plot draws Susan in, however, she is suspicious that (much like Alan Conway's books) some of the characters may bear a striking resemblance to people close to Eliot and the book may indeed be a thinly veiled story about his grandmother, alleging that she was murdered.

I haven't read either of the two previous books but I watched and enjoyed both the TV series, although I did find them somewhat confusing at times. I found reading this novel much easier than watching the TV series, whether that is just because I found it easier to distinguish between Susan reading the novel and 'real life' in print I just don't know.

There was a lot of self-referential inside jokes/snide comments about authors who continue series after the original author's death - because of course Anthony Horowitz has done just that with Sherlock Holmes and James Bond, I don't know if that is a feature of previous novels or just this one - I did worry that the novel might disappear up its own posterior but luckily point made he moved on.

I feel very proud of myself for guessing whodunnit, both in Eliot's book and in real life, although I didn't necessarily have the how I definitely got the why - yay me!

Anyway. Kept me enthralled right to the end, thoroughly satisfying.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: One Night at the Château: Escape to Provence with the stunningly feel-good and romantic new story from the bestselling author!

One Night at the Château: Escape to Provence with the stunningly feel-good and romantic new story from the bestselling author! by Veronica Henry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Connie's husband has left her for an older woman. Her children have left home for university/work. Her job as a magazine editor ended when the magazine folded and she is totally overwhelmed by everything, struggling to get out of bed. Then her godmother Lismay calls from her chateau in Provence, France, she desperately needs Connie's help.

Lismay's husband needs a hip replacement but just before they are due to come to London for the operation he has sacked the chef, which Lismay thinks is a delaying tactic. She begs Connie to come out and run the chateau for a few months while they are in London. Connie spent many holidays at the chateau with her parents, and one idyllic summer working there, which culminated in a passionate night with the son of the owners of the vineyard next door. Although they both knew it would never be more than one night, Connie still recalls that night fondly and wonders 'what if?'.

When Connie arrives she discovers the once shabby-chic chateau is now just shabby. Everything is a bit grubby and/or broken. Online reviews are scathing, comparing it to Fawlty Towers.

Connie sweeps in a gets the chateau back up to standard, bringing the website up-to-date and generating new ideas for weekend events. Gradually, she begins to feel like her old self. Then she discovers that her one-night stand, Remy, has retired from international rugby and has returned to help run the family vineyard. Connie is surprised, flattered, and perhaps a little suspicious that Remy remembers her and seems keen to renew their acquaintance.

Interspersed with Connie's story is that of Lismay and her husband, and how they came to buy the chateau in the 1980s. Looking at the blurb for other books by Veronica Henry, this seems to be a common trait, weaving two linked stories thirty or so years apart.

Everything seems to be going well, Connie has got her mojo back, she's threatened her ex-husband with legal action unless he returns the money she inherited from her mother (and invested in the marital home) from the house proceeds before splitting the remainder equally, the chateau is thriving - and then she discovers that Remy has 'betrayed' her. I'll be brutally honest, I have no idea why Connie got so angry/upset and that probably knocked this down from a four star review.

Other than the conflict issue, I loved this, just like biting into a buttery French pastry. I mean who doesn't dream of escaping to Provence, swanning around a chateau, being able to cook fabulous meals at the drop of a hat and having a hunky French ex-rugby player with his own vineyard as a lover?

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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