Review: The Great Village Show by Alexandra Brown

Tindledale is in a titter. The Village Show competition is coming around again and after last year’s spectacular failure, the villagers are determined to win. Meg, teacher at the local school, is keen to help and to impose some much-needed order.

After a terse encounter with a newcomer to the village, Meg discovers that it is celebrity chef and culinary bad boy, Dan Wright. Meg thinks he is arrogant and rude but rumour has it that Dan is opening a new restaurant in the village which could really put Tindledale on the map!

As things come together, villagers old and new all start to come out of the woodwork, including new arrival Jessie, who seems to have it all. But first impressions can be deceptive and Meg discovers that when it comes to Tindledale – and Dan – nothing is ever quite as it seems… 

Review: ok so I have to state firstly that I didn't realise this was a sequel to The Great Christmas Knit-Off, which I love and secondly, I really didn't enjoy this one as much as the first book. I loved resisting Tindledale and catching up with all the characters, I was pleased to find out that the village spirit was still strong, but I just felt like there wasn't as much happening to excite me in this novel.

Character-wise, I love that fact that the main protagonist in this sorry was a head teacher, I could really tell that, either Alexandra Brown has worked as a teacher herself, or else she has done some very good research because all of the teaching details are accurate. There was one tiny detail that only a teacher could pick up on and that was the fact that the head teacher of a school took her cross-stitch into school incase she had a any time at lunch time to do it, this seriously wouldn't happen. I knowi haven't worked in this particular tiny school with only 49 pupils, but headteachers just don't have time for lunch let alone cross stich at lunch, but it was nice reading about somebody that was so relatable to myself and to a lot of other readers, I'm sure as she has a grown up son who has gone off to uni leaving an empty nest! 

The idea of the village show was a lovely one and I really enjoyed finding out about the history of the village show in Tindledale, because of course many of the residents there will remember the village show in its hay day and so I thought this part was very well written and interesting too. But aside from some dramas with food and with protestors, I didn't feel that a lot really happened. Of course there is a love story too, but again, I felt that this wasn't as much as I was expecting it to be. 

Overall this was an enjoyable read, one that I actually listened to on audiobook in one sitting and lovely story for summer, but I would have loved a little more to happen and Tindledale to be the buzz of excitement that it was during the knit-off!