4.5 sweet happy romantic stars
This is such a feel good read. Life has dumped a pile on Elizabeth's life plans. She lives in the fast lane, demanding job, social media addict, no real friends (no time) no pets, no family. It's all about work, till there is no work. This girl doesn't know how to do free time, or how set her phone off. She receives a message from England, from a man claiming to be her uncle, claiming to hold her land, too bad she doesn't have an uncle right ?
The truth is a windy road, she must travel to learn who she really is and what she really desires in life.
Gods I love this author's work ! She writes such charming characters and dogs. I can't wait to get my hands on more from her ( )

Who could resist the cute pup on the cover of this book?! When Elizabeth winds up on "permanent hiatus" from her job in the gaming world, she thinks things will never get better. Initially distrustful of an email from an elderly man in England, purporting to be her dad's brother, she winds up going to a small village in England. There she meets this Rowan and Trudy and see this family land she supposedly inherited. The story was just what I needed--a smart, quaint rom-com with some very cute dogs and sheep! Bess discovers a lot about herself and some family secrets in a very pleasant way. ( )

I bought this book based on a Book Riot recommendation and a look at Goodreads. What a disappointment! The romance was not convincing. I did like the parts with the dogs, but otherwise it was a waste of my time. ( )

Thanks to Chick Lit Central and Berkley Publishing for a digital copy of this book. All comments and opinions are my own.

Who can resist the cover of this book? This was a sweet rom-com that was easy to read and enjoy. Likable characters, a family with a few sad secrets, animals including the adorable puppy on the cover, a young woman at loose ends who meets an attractive single guy when she travels to a small English village...we know how this will end but sometimes that's just what we want. This book was like comfort food (a warm chocolate brownie or macaroni and cheese - or both!). I highly recommend this heartwarming novel. ( )

Elizabeth Barnes's father, a professor of English, died six months ago, leaving a will that required that his ahses be scattered in a particular river in England. This request was a complete surprise to her and she has no real notion of what to do about it. She was also, until quite recently, very busy, as the Chief Marketing Officer of a video gaming company in San Francisco. Now, though, she's unemployed and her reputation is toast, because she was working for a company that run by a completely unethical woman she used to think of as a friend. No one even wants to interview her for a potential job.

And she gets a call from a complete stranger, who claims to be her uncle, her father's brother, and he says that she has an inheritance, some property in the little English town of Fargrove. Reluctantly, she heads off to England, to meet the uncle her father never told her about, and hopefully sell that property to give herself a cushion while trying to rebuild her life.

She's not prepared to like her English relatives, the little town of Fargrovc, a local brewery owner, or the abandoned puppy she finds.

She finds a lot of surprises in Fargrove, some of them about her father and his family, and some of them about herself. It's a whole different way of life she discovers, in Fargrove, with at best spotty internet access, while trying to rebuild her old life, which depends on maintaining her social media presence and not letting the followers and influencers she needs forget about her.

There are points at which I wanted to give her a good shaking. Elizabeth arrives in Fargrove thinking that every sound a dog makes that isn't barking is growling, and spends weeks being terrified of Major, her aunt and uncle's herding dog, who is all too clearly trying to charm her. This is, though, an essential part of Elizabeth's education. She's honestly quite a decent and kind person, if one with habits and assumptions about the world that could only work in certain subsets of the tech industry.

James Holworthy, the brewer, Reid the beekeeper and coffee shop owner, and Harriet and Des, along with Rowan and Trudy Barnes, are well worth getting to know. Rowan, we learn, is a very successful artist, with a long career, and a collection of his own works that needs to be organized and cataloged. And I've only barely mentioned the puppy Elizabeth rescues in a rainstorm, Georgina, he is delightfully charming and manipulative, as all good puppies are.

Be patient with Elizabeth through the first part of the book, and this becomes a very rewarding story.

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, and am reviewing it voluntarily. ( )