3 Star
When Lucy Bagshaw’s life in Boston falls apart, thanks to a scathing editorial written by her famous artist mother, she accepts her half sister Juliet’s invitation to stay with her in a charming seaside village in northern England. Lucy is expecting quaint cottages and cream teas, but instead finds that her sister is an aloof host, the weather is wet, windy, and cold, and her new boss, Alex Kincaid, is a disapproving widower who only hired her as a favor to Juliet.
Despite the invitation she offered, Juliet is startled by the way Lucy catapults into her orderly life. As Juliet faces her own struggles with both her distant mother and her desire for a child, her sister’s irrepressible optimism begins to take hold. With the help of quirky villagers, these hesitant rainy day sisters begin to forge a new understanding…and find in each other the love of family that makes all the difference.
Kathryn - 3 Star
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting out of this novel but I was pleasantly surprised by the relationships that came out during the telling of the story. The sisters were troubled but their past gradually came to light and they became closer as they began to appreciate each other. The older sister, Juliet, was really hard to empathize with but obviously Lucy found her tricky too. She was a hard nut to crack and I'm certain that Lucy stayed only because they were the only family each other had and she didn’t really know where else to go. Lucy obviously also yearned for some connection to her half-sister as their mother had hurt her so deeply and publicly.
The novel had a fairly simplistic story line with a few details about the girls past that gradually unfolded but nothing about the plot was particularly intriguing for me and I found myself a tiny bit bored I'm afraid. This also might be blamed on the tiny print though of the epub I was reading. The small print forced a slower read and perhaps meant I didn’t become as involved as quickly in their tale as I might have done.
I loved the descriptions of the scenery, the weather and the nuances of village life. The different villagers and the children Lucy met at school made her come alive for me and really set a scene you could visualize.
I liked the novel but I wasn't wowed by the story-line. That's fine though, sometimes a good read is all you need.
Thank you to Penguin Random House for our review copy. All opinions are our own.
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