Leaving London and her ex-husband Luc behind, Katie and her 14-year-old daughter Poppy move into their very own, very ramshackle cottage near the village of Christmas Steepleton on the Dorset coast. 

Harvest Cottage has been unloved for many years, so the job of bringing it back to life is a slow and expensive one. So, with funds running low, Katie jumps at the chance when a film company asks to use the cottage as a location.  But even as things are looking up, as harvest time passes and autumn chill starts to bite, the prospect of a cold winter in the country is daunting.

Some light relief comes from new friend Gabriel, so different from Katie’s exuberant but arrogant ex Luc. Will their friendship blossom into something more romantic, or will the reality of a tough country winter send her and Poppy scurrying back to the comforts of town? 

Let Jane Lovering spirit you away to the perfect country escape, far away from the bustle of the city. Just right for fans of Emma Burstall, Fern Britton and Kate Forster.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

… living with a fourteen-year-old gave a whole new insight into exactly how phoney people could be, although teenagers weren’t truly ‘people’ yet, more ‘humans in training ’.

 

… there’s not much of a dating pool round here. More of a puddle!

 

You’re the first woman to make me feel that I haven’t wasted my life making quilts and learning to crochet rather than strutting bare-chested down the street with power tools strapped to my body.

 

The other two men were just standing staring at Gabriel as though he’d suddenly ripped his clothes off to display Jean-Claude van Damme under his coat… Karen’s mouth fell open and the cocktail cherry dropped out.

 

I never knew bullies kept on being bullies when they were grown up… I thought you grew out of being a shithead like you grow out of wanting a fringe and sucking your thumb.

 

They looked a bit shocked and I realised that this was Poppy’s first exposure to a properly poorly person. My mother, despite her aches, pains and general incessant complaints, was fit and well and her grand -mère had the air of one who had had herself embalmed at the age of seventy to save time later.

 

My Review:

 

While continuing with my adoration of Jane Lovering (and I am totally enamored now), I giggle-snorted and smirked my way through this highly amusing tale, and will be honest and say I also barked a few times at the keen visuals and humorous imagery this talented wordsmith painted with her clever arrangements of words. Her crafty wordplay and impressive vocabulary skills rival Webster’s, although I believe he had a lot of help in amassing his.

The storylines were fresh and engaging and populated with an interesting mix of uniquely peculiar yet oddly intriguing characters, as well as a profoundly obnoxious teen named Poppy who was greatly annoying and had me wanting to glue her lips together.   Poppy could be the poster child for birth control and the prime example of why many Brits send their offspring to boarding school. But of course, I was a total delight at age fourteen.