A month living under canvas on the Yorkshire Moors with five strangers wouldn’t normally be her idea of a good time, even if there is prize money to be won at the end of it, but she’s all out of options.
Joining her in this wild goose chase, being filmed for a TV show, are farmer Seb, whose marriage is creaking but who is desperate not to lose his family. Sheltered Ruth who needs an opportunity to show she can make her own decisions. Glamorous socialite Kanga, who has been living a lie. American Junior who has his own secret that has led him there. And last but not least, mysterious and brooding Mac, who Izzy can’t help but be drawn to.
As the fickleness of nature tests them all to their limits, this disparate group come together to face the challenge. But when Izzy finally tells them the truth that has brought her out on the Moors, will that be the end of their adventure or the beginning of her future? Because what Izzy really needs is a place to call home, and someone to share it with could be even better…
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
… he looked disgruntled to the point that his gruntle might be waving farewell forever. I smiled at him… He turned a look on me that was so sour I could feel my tongue dry out.
I watched Kanga stare at his muscles. They were improbably large; he looked as though someone had taken an ordinary man and inflated him with a bike pump in strategic areas.
Mutinously and showing all the team-working ability of a bunch of cats, we each set off on our allocated tasks.
How come you’ve got such unusual names? Dax and MacKinley? It sounds as though your parents thought they were having Labradors.
It had been so long since I’d had a proper wash of any parts of me that didn’t see daylight that I was beginning to think I might be eroding. If I got fully undressed, I might discover that I was nothing more than a flaky shadow and a strange smell.
I could almost feel the cash registers in our heads start to click as we all mentally spent £ 250,000, and then reality asserted itself once more.
My Review:
This was an active and busy tale with keenly detailed scenarios and colorful descriptions that placed me in the thick of it. Despite living in the tropics and reading under a ceiling fan, Ms. Lovering often had me feeling cold and achy along with the shivering characters who were stuck on a freezing moor in nylon tents while being filmed for a reality program. And what an odd, uncomfortable, and annoying to be around collection of people they were. While the storylines often had a tense edge to them with a sense of impending doom and fear of discovery, they were also amusing as well as observant, and thoughtfully contrived.
Jane Lovering is the bestselling and award-winning romantic comedy writer who won the RNA Novel of the Year Award in 2012 with Please Don’t Stop the Music. She lives in Yorkshire and has a cat and a bonkers terrier, as well as five children who have now left home.