It’s a real pleasure today to be joining the blog tour and sharing my review of Finding Friends at the Cornish Country Hospital by Jo Bartlett, the second book in her lovely new series: published on 26th March by Boldwood Books, it’s now available as an ebook (free via Kindle Unlimited), in paperback, and as an audiobook. Many thanks, as ever, to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my advance reading e-copy (provided via netgalley).
I really thought my life might be a little emptier without spending time with the midwives of Port Agnes – you’ll find the Amazon page for all the books in that series here , and if you pop the author’s name into my search bar on the right hand side, you’ll find reviews of all the but one of them. But as soon as I picked up the first book, Welcome to the Cornish Country Hospital, I could tell this was yet another series I was going to love – the perfect introduction to the new set of characters, a few familiar faces I was delighted to see, a focus on friendship and family, and such a well-told story with that special emotional touch that’s rather become one of the author’s trademarks (you’ll find my full review here). Yes, I was already completely hooked – and really looking forward to reading the second in the series…!
A fresh beginning…
Esther Hamilton, is finally finding her feet after her split with her horrible ex, and is looking forward to her new single life. She has a job she loves in the busy Accident and Emergency department, a new home and for the first time ever, a chance to just have fun with her good friends. Love is very much off the cards…
An old friend…
Until the arrival of Joe Carter – the brother of Esther’s best friend, Danni. Joe is also newly single and still as gorgeous as ever, but Esther can’t lose her heart to Joe. If it all went wrong, she’d lose two of her best friends.
A second chance at love?
But working together over a troubled patient, the connection between them is undeniable. And when Esther’s parents’ marriage hits trouble, Joe is there for her, offering her support, and Esther knows she’s fallen hard.
Are they brave enough to take a risk on love, or are they destined to remain friends forever?
Day-to-day life in the Accident and Emergency department of the Cornish Country Hospital is so perfectly captured in this engaging read – the routine and the drama, the relationships between the individuals who work there, the lives and challenges of the individuals who find themselves needing their care.
Esther works, as a nurse, alongside her best friend Danni, the doctor we got to know so well in the first book in the series – their friendship is particularly special, and she certainly needs her support when her path continually crosses that of her arrogant and cheating ex, surgeon Lucas. They even share a home – but, very aware that Danni’s relationship with the lovely Charlie is moving to another level, she comes up with a solution that works for them all. And she finds herself living next door to Danni’s brother, Joe – visiting from Australia, working with the hospital’s psychiatric team – and finds herself as drawn to him as she always was, but feeling that a relationship would be the wrong thing for them all.
But Joe certainly proves a useful ally when Esther finds herself in difficulty after caring for a young man who’s suffered a particularly traumatic loss – the book’s main story line, sensitively handled as always, but escalating with particular drama as his mental health gives increasing cause for concern, with quite a few moments that really had me on the edge of my seat. But that’s all balanced by the unfolding story of Esther’s parents, now both retired, having also moved to Cornwall – their fresh start just isn’t working out, with an increasing distance between them, and her mother Caroline has no idea what she can do to put things right. The way the author handles the issues between them is just excellent – their situation is one that older readers couldn’t fail to empathise and identify with, and I found myself feeling very deeply for them both as their layers of secrets were slowly peeled away.
As always, this is such a beautifully told story – well drawn characters, a slowly developing romance, very real issues bringing an edge of darkness, but warmth and lightness to be found in the relationships, with plenty of touches of humour too. It’s entirely readable as a standalone story, but I very much enjoyed catching up with the individuals I’d so enjoyed spending time with in the first book in the series – and I’ll certainly be very much looking forward to my next visit.
About the author
Jo Bartlett was born a stone’s throw from the English Channel and still lives near the sea in Kent. Jo has had numerous bestsellers in the UK, Australia and Canada, including a UK Top 10. Since joining Boldwood Books in 2021, Jo has had a further eight bestselling novels in The Cornish Midwife series.
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