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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder books for the arc to review!
I'm a big Jenny Colgan fan already, so was very excited to return to Carso again! This was a really lovely story.
As always, the sense of place was strong and the characters very lovable. Jenny does small town setting so well.
I did struggle a little to understand the financial plot line, and felt the Dwight storyline felt a little underdeveloped. That being said, the main relationship plot line was that of mother and daughter so that was the main focus!
All in all, I enjoyed it and would recommend - a great holiday read too!
I'm a big Jenny Colgan fan already, so was very excited to return to Carso again! This was a really lovely story.
As always, the sense of place was strong and the characters very lovable. Jenny does small town setting so well.
I did struggle a little to understand the financial plot line, and felt the Dwight storyline felt a little underdeveloped. That being said, the main relationship plot line was that of mother and daughter so that was the main focus!
All in all, I enjoyed it and would recommend - a great holiday read too!
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love Jenny Colgan. So many authors do feel-good novels these days, but only Jenny does them with perfectly pitched humour and just enough grit of realness. So when I managed to get my hands on her latest I was extremely excited.
Essie grew up in beautiful, windswept, very remote Carso and couldn’t wait to leave it behind when she left for university. She works in finance and loves her insta-perfect Edinburgh life with her posh boyfriend. I totally understood her fascination with him and his group of friends, and their experience of financial safety that is so alien to her. At the start of the book she loses her job when the firm relocates to Bern, and has to move home temporarily. Where she instantly reverts to the moody teenager she was when she left.
Janey is Essie’s Mum, a popular audiologist in the village, who finally feels safe in her tiny, cosy cottage after the stressful and tumultuous end of her marriage and divorce (which Essie has never quite forgiven her for). She loves Essie desperately but they can never make themselves understood to each other.
While trying to find a new job Essie ends up getting involved in the refurbishment of the dilapidated cottages on Janey’s street. As well as the developments in their lives and the appearance of puppies and love interests alike, the book touches on how investors, holiday homes and AirBnbs have contributed to a housing crisis and shortage of affordable homes for locals - a hot topic in Scotland today.
At the start of the book Essie’s posh boyfriend jokes about her going home being like a cheesy Christmas movie where the city girl rediscovers the meaning of life, starts wearing flannel, and falls in love with the hot woodsman. And yes through the book Essie does come to understand the joys of living at a slower pace, being less interested in shiny material things, and doing what some would call ‘honest work’. But while the happy ending for mother and daughter is never really in doubt, the best thing about the book is the journey to get there.
Despite many of the settings and issues here being close to my heart (and life) this didn’t grab me emotionally as some of her other books do. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I don’t want to be a sobbing wreck after each book I read, but I’ve knocked a star off for it.
Also, a note that a couple of scenes in here are much spicier than I’m used to from Colgan! Maybe a nod to the cosy, spicy novels everywhere these days.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Essie grew up in beautiful, windswept, very remote Carso and couldn’t wait to leave it behind when she left for university. She works in finance and loves her insta-perfect Edinburgh life with her posh boyfriend. I totally understood her fascination with him and his group of friends, and their experience of financial safety that is so alien to her. At the start of the book she loses her job when the firm relocates to Bern, and has to move home temporarily. Where she instantly reverts to the moody teenager she was when she left.
Janey is Essie’s Mum, a popular audiologist in the village, who finally feels safe in her tiny, cosy cottage after the stressful and tumultuous end of her marriage and divorce (which Essie has never quite forgiven her for). She loves Essie desperately but they can never make themselves understood to each other.
While trying to find a new job Essie ends up getting involved in the refurbishment of the dilapidated cottages on Janey’s street. As well as the developments in their lives and the appearance of puppies and love interests alike, the book touches on how investors, holiday homes and AirBnbs have contributed to a housing crisis and shortage of affordable homes for locals - a hot topic in Scotland today.
At the start of the book Essie’s posh boyfriend jokes about her going home being like a cheesy Christmas movie where the city girl rediscovers the meaning of life, starts wearing flannel, and falls in love with the hot woodsman. And yes through the book Essie does come to understand the joys of living at a slower pace, being less interested in shiny material things, and doing what some would call ‘honest work’. But while the happy ending for mother and daughter is never really in doubt, the best thing about the book is the journey to get there.
Despite many of the settings and issues here being close to my heart (and life) this didn’t grab me emotionally as some of her other books do. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I don’t want to be a sobbing wreck after each book I read, but I’ve knocked a star off for it.
Also, a note that a couple of scenes in here are much spicier than I’m used to from Colgan! Maybe a nod to the cosy, spicy novels everywhere these days.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Classism
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated