Snow is falling in Honeybourne and Spencer is bringing home his American fiancée Tori for a traditional English Christmas with all the trimmings. But when his hippie mum and dad meet her high-maintenance parents, sparks of the wrong sort start to fly. Then Spencer bumps into his first love Jasmine and unexpected feelings come flooding back.
Millie is run off her feet with Christmas orders at the Little Village Bakery and new baby Oscar. Thank goodness her cousin Darcie is here to help her. Although she does seem to be rather flirty with Millie’s boyfriend Dylan.
Will Darcie ever find true love of her own? And is marrying Tori a terrible mistake for Spencer if his heart is with someone else?
Review: This is the second book by Tilly Tennant in her Honeybourne series, based in the village of the same name. It is described as 'A feel good festive romance to curl up by the fire with' and it think that it lives up to that representation. Even had I not read and enjoyed the first book in the series, just the cover of this one would have drawn me to it, filled as it is with a wonderful snowy scene displaying all the festive goodies that might be conjured up in the Little Bakery at this time of year.
While the first book about Honeybourne dealt primarily with Millie Hopkin, a newcomer who reopened the once thriving village bakery, this one focuses mainly on another of the villagers, Spencer, who is returning to the village for Christmas. Spencer has been working in Boulder, Colorado, on a teaching exchange, and is bringing his American fiancée, Tori, home with him. Both sets of parents are also going to travel to the village for Christmas, where they will meet for the first time. A quaint little village, lots of snow and delicious baked goods; what could possibly go wrong?
Although the story does revolve predominantly around Spencer and Tori and their trials and tribulations, all the players from the previous book are there. As with any small village, there are some real characters, from the incredibly nosy Ruth who pops up just when she's not needed, to the rather zany Jasmine and her handsome brother Dylan. I don't want to give away any spoilers for the first book, so I will just say that there is plenty of drama going on for each of the characters in this instalment too.
I enjoyed this book just as much as the previous part. The fact that it is set around Christmas added an interesting extra dimension, and rewarded the reader with some mouthwatering descriptions of festive fare cooked up in the bakery. It could possibly be read as a standalone, but it might be a struggle to place all the characters and figure out what had happened before. With Tilly's nice, easy to read style of writing, I would suggest just simply reading them both! I hope that there will be more from her about this village, as I'd love to find out what happens with Spencer and Tori in particular.
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