#Review: A Wedding at Heatherly Hall by Julie Houston @JulieHouston2 @AriaFiction #publication day #familydrama #romcom #RespectRomFic #AWeddingAtHeatherlyHall

Back in September of last year, I was delighted share the cover of A Wedding at Heatherly Hall, the third in the Westenbury series from the wonderful Julie Houston (you’ll find my post here) – and today it’s a pleasure to share my publication day review. Published today (29th February) by Aria Fiction, it’s now available as an ebook and in paperback: my thanks to the publishers for providing my advance reading copy.

I’ve loved reading so many of Julie’s books that I’m not going to even try to run through them all again this time – but if you pop her name into my search box, you’ll find all my many reviews. She’s a quite wonderful storyteller, with surprises around every corner, and I always particularly enjoy the way she weaves in a lot of laughter alongside the emotional moments she does so very well. And this Westenbury series has been one I’ve particularly enjoyed, as the Quinn triplets – Eva, Rosa and Hannah – have coped with their inheritance of Heatherly Hall and done all they can to honour their legacy and improve its fortunes while grappling with their very complicated private lives. Have you read the other books in the series, I wonder? The first was The Village Vicar, published in January 2023 (you’ll find my review here – and it’s free via Amazon Prime), the second The Girls of Heatherly Hall (review here, and also free via Amazon Prime). While this latest book would be perfectly readable as a standalone, I do think it might really help to understand the dynamics between the large cast of characters and to have lived through the many earlier twists and turns with them.

But let’s take a closer look…

Romantic entanglements, A-list weddings and missing diamonds… it’s going to be a busy spring in Westenbury!

 

Sisters Hannah, Rosa, and Eva are on a mission to sustain picturesque Heatherly Hall, in Yorkshire’s Westenbury village. So when they hear the legend of the Jet Set – a necklace with a rare diamond, commissioned by royalty and hidden in their hall – they plan a fundraiser: an Agatha-Christie style am-dram production and treasure hunt.

 

As if that weren’t enough, music superstar Drew Livingston and Bollywood legend Aditi Sharma have chosen their hall for a wedding in just six weeks’ time, and the pressure is mounting to pull off the wedding of the decade.

 

Staging the play, unravelling the mystery of the diamond, and meeting the demands of an A-list bride and groom without their lives unravelling seems impossible. But these three sisters know that with family by your side, anything can be overcome…

 

Perfect for fans of Katie Fforde, Jill Mansell, and anyone who loves a warm and witty romance with a dash of intrigue.

Engaging, more than a touch chaotic, emotional at times, and extremely funny – this book really is the author at her wonderful best, one I thoroughly enjoyed, and the perfect conclusion to this excellent series.

Hannah has now hit her stride as she runs day-to-day operations up at the Hall, but still has plenty of moments of self-doubt – and she still has that rather unfortunate self-destruct button as far as her personal life is concerned. Eva’s wrestling with the shared care of her children and her part-time work at the family dental practice, while organising the Hall’s art-focused activities: Rosa, the village vicar, is settling into family life but with some significant challenges to come when a figure from their past resurfaces to make things even more difficult.

But they have a strong team in support – and when asked, at short notice, to stage the high profile wedding of a rock star and a Bollywood actress, they’re happy (well, fairly…) to take it on. In addition though, they’ve also agreed to put on a murder-mystery (without the murder though…) on the following night, an am-dram production and treasure hunt set around a long missing set of jet jewellery (with a central extremely valuable diamond) originally intended as a gift for a visiting Wallis Simpson.

There’s a tremendous amount going on in this book – I’ve hardly scratched the surface with that brief synopsis – with emotional and practical challenges, romantic entanglements and disasters, constant interference from their horrendous older sister (with some more associated surprises), and the unexpected (and totally wonderful…) involvement of Paddy’s elephant (yes, really… I did say “chaotic”, didn’t I?). There’s even a historical thread exploring what really happened on the night that jewellery jet set disappeared – and that was something I rather enjoyed.

The book’s many characters, familiar and new, likeable or otherwise, are so superbly drawn and the author’s firmly in control of every unexpected twist and turn and complication of the different concurrently unfolding stories. There’s drama aplenty (and have I mentioned the many real surprises?), and a few really touching moments to bring a tear or two – but also a good measure of the author’s trademark humour, both character-driven and gentle and a little more raucous at times, always perfectly judged.

I read this book in a couple of sittings, and have to say I loved every moment – I’m going to miss my visits to Westenbury and Heatherly Hall, and having to leave these wonderful sisters behind, but I’ll look forward to seeing where the author’s writing takes her in her future endeavours. While you might love it best if you’ve read the two books that came before – not critical, just a recommendation – this is a book I think so many other readers would enjoy every bit as much as I did.

About the author

Julie Houston lives in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire where her novels are set, and her only claims to fame are that she teaches part-time at ‘Bridget Jones’ author Helen Fielding’s old junior school and her neighbour is ‘Chocolat’ author, Joanne Harris. After University, where she studied Education and English Literature, she taught for many years as a junior school teacher. She now teaches just two days a week, and still loves the buzz of teaching junior-aged children. She has been a magistrate for the past nineteen years, and, when not distracted by Ebay, Twitter and Ancestry, spends her time writing. Julie is married, with two adult children and a ridiculous Cockerpoo called Lincoln. She runs and swims because she’s been told it’s good for her, but would really prefer a glass of wine, a sun lounger and a jolly good book – preferably with Dev Patel in attendance.

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