I’m really delighted today to be helping launch the blog tour for Summer at Forget-Me-Not Cottage by Helen Rolfe, and sharing my publication day review. The second book in her Little Woodville Cottage series, published today (26th June) by Boldwood Books, it’s now available as an ebook (free via Kindle Unlimited), paperback and audiobook. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my advance reading ecopy (provided via netgalley).
I’m making rather a habit of discovering Helen’s series part way through – I paid my first visit to Heritage Cove with the fifth in the series, Finding Happiness at Heritage View, and loved it there (you can read my review again here), and really wish I could find the reading time to catch up on the others (you’ll find them all here). And true to form, I sadly missed the first book in this series, Christmas at Snowdrop Cottage – sorry Helen! – because it looks absolutely lovely, although it was very easy to catch up with Belle and Sebastian’s story through their involvement in this latest book. Let’s take a closer look…
Welcome back to Little Woodville.
Visit old friends and new in this super, summer escapist read.
Morgan Rosewood finds herself at a crossroads in her life after returning home to Forget-Me-Not Cottage to care for her ailing mother. She and boyfriend Ronan, had plans, big plans, but all these hopes and dreams are put on hold when Morgan’s mum suddenly dies.
Morgan’s emotions are in turmoil but she sets about the task of clearing the house and running her late mother’s vintage market stall.
Nate Greene has his own reasons for staying away from Little Woodville. Nate needs to reconcile his past and tackle the long overdue task of decluttering the place he once loved – his abandoned wood workshop, filled to the brim with his creations.
He secures a stall at the local market to showcase his wares and it isn’t long before the workshop reignites the passion he once shared with a special person.
Thrown together Morgan and Nate have their own personal battles to overcome.
Can the beautiful little Cotswold village teach two lost souls what matters, and more importantly, will it give them each something they didn’t come here for? Love…
What a perfectly drawn location – it’s something the author always does so very well, with such wonderful descriptions that you can smell the flowers in the beautiful cottage gardens and immediately feel entirely familiar and comfortably part of the setting. And the very real people who live there – perfectly drawn, immediately making you feel part of the community. And then there’s always such a well-told story at the book’s heart…
Morgan’s relationship and plans were put on hold when she needed to care for her mother – and after her death, she now wants to clear the carefully chosen stock that fills Forget-Me-Not Cottage by continuing the market stall they used to run together. And being part of such an embracing community, she’s beginning to wonder whether the future she had all mapped out is what she really wants. And her decision becomes increasingly difficult with the arrival of Nate – who is also still hurting (and feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt) following the death of his own mother after her slow decline with Parkinson’s, concerned about his father who’s now living alone. By chance, they find themselves sharing a market stall, where he sells his woodwork creations – his real passion – alongside her vintage pieces, and their easy friendship begins to build into something rather more.
The slow-burn romance is just so perfectly handled – two damaged people who I really took to my heart, and a developing relationship I entirely believed in. And then there’s the wider community – the people with their own stalls on the market, wrapping Morgan with love as she’s so very aware of her mother’s empty chair, and the wonderful meals hosted by Belle and Sebastian making sure that no-one ever feels alone. The whole book just has the loveliest emotional touch – a few tears at times, the sadness of loss, but a lightness and joy as Morgan and Nate grow closer, and plenty of opportunities to laugh and smile with the lovely community they’re very much a part of.
This really was the loveliest read – filled with warmth, friendship and family, with the relationship at its centre absolutely everything I wanted it to be. If you enjoy the same books that I do, it’s one I’d highly recommend you add to your summer reading list – I loved it.
About the author
Helen Rolfe is the author of many bestselling contemporary women’s fiction titles, set in different locations from the Cotswolds to New York. Most recently published by Orion, she is bringing sixteen titles to Boldwood – a mixture of new series and well-established backlist. She lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and children.
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