Things haven’t always been straightforward in Poppy’s life but her dreams are finally within her reach.
She's moving into a cottage in beautiful Nightingale Square, close to the local community garden, where she can indulge her passion for making preserves and pickles. She may not have the best relationship with her family but she is surrounded by loving friends, and feels sure that even her grumpy new neighbour, Jacob, has more to him than his steely exterior belies.
But the unexpected arrival of Poppy's troubled younger brother soon threatens her new-found happiness and as the garden team works together to win community space of the year, Poppy must decide where her priorities lie and what she is prepared to fight for …
Review: I loved being back in Nightingale square. It is always wonderful to be back in Heidi Swain's world but when it is one that is still quite a new world, it is great to catch up with people and find out what has changed in the square. If you loved Sunshine and Sweet peas and loved Kate and Luke then you will please to know we get to catch up with them in this novel too, your curiosity about where they are now and how they are doing is definitely satisfied.
Of course this novel follows a new resident of Nightingale Square, Poppy. I love how independent Poppy is and how much she has always had to stand on her own two feet. She does value family and friends but she is quite capable of making her own happiness. I love watching her relationship with her brother change and develop over the course of this novel. Ryan is another great character and I think the life that he leads is one that a lot of young people find themselves in but it isn't written about enough in books. He is a decent guy and we also don't get to see decent acting teenagers a lot within the pages of a novel-very refreshing.
I love the fact that Poppy also has existing relationships with people in the square through friendships and jobs and so she fits right into the community. There is also a little bit of romance in this novel, as you may have expected, and it is just achingly slow burn. It is wonderful to watch and just the kind that will have you hugging yourself with delight!
Ryan's storyline in this novel is defiantly a bit of a departure from the kind of things that this author usually covers in her books. He deals with some tough stuff and tries to deal with everything that is thrown at him on his own without any help from an adult. As I have already mentioned though, the things that he is dealing with are things that a lot of teenagers have to go through and have to deal with day to day. They are not written about enough in books and so I loved seeing Heidi Swain tackle them in this novel. Every issue was handled incredibly well.
This book definitely provides some escapism and some romance but does also deal with the real world and things that go on within it. I think that Heidi has balanced these things well in this novel and it is definitely another hit for her. If you like a little bit of romance, some awesome friendships and real representation of what primary school teachers are like then this is definitely the novel for you. Pop it on your summer TBR now.
No comments:
Post a Comment