Sit back on a sunny Somerset terrace and watch Posy fall for the neighbour she loves to hate, whose melting brown eyes and taut muscles are almost as annoying as his hot temper…
When twenty-seven-year-old Posy arrives at picture-perfect Oleander House in the Somerset village of Astercombe, she is enchanted. Adopted when she was just a baby, Posy is excited to re-connect with her birth family and help out on the family cider farm with its old stone walls and bees buzzing in the hedgerows.
There’s just one tiny problem – her new next-door neighbour, haughty, handsome vineyard-owner Lachlan. Lachlan has taken an instant dislike to Posy, and after a furious argument when she ventures on his land, she’s pretty certain there’s not a heart of gold beneath his frosty exterior.
Yet as she falls in love with the flower-filled hedgerows and apple-green fields of her new life, she discovers more about her grumpy neighbour. Even though he acts like the world is out to get him, she can’t ignore the sad expression in his dark eyes.
And when Posy discovers the heartbreaking secret that is tearing Lachlan apart, she understands why he has shut the door on the world and vows to help him, as well as the vineyard, which has fallen on hard times. Yet just as Lachlan lets Posy in, a terrible night threatens to destroy everything she has begun to care about and puts someone she loves at risk. Will her dream life in the country come at an awful price?
Review: I am a great fan of Tilly Tennant’s writing and was looking forward to reading her new book with its summery cover promising a bumper crop of apples and perhaps romance. The story lived up to my expectations; I was quickly immersed in the world of Tilly’s characters and found the book a quick and easy read, perfect for summer or any other time of the year.
The story revolves around Posy, who was adopted as a baby and is meeting her birth family for the first time at the age of 27, nobody having known of her existence until then. Her only living relatives, her uncles, live in a grand house in the village of Astercombe in Somerset, where they run a cider farm. Posy has been brought up in London, and has trained as an interior designer. She is absolutely charmed by the countryside around her uncles’ property and the friendly people in the village, and is delighted to be able to spend some time there and learn about their orchards and cider production. However, the neighbouring property is a vineyard owned by Lachlan, a dour scotsman who seems to have taken an instant dislike to Posy. Whilst others give the man a wide berth, Posy determines to find out what is behind his gruff exterior and at the same time help him restore the fortunes of his vineyard. Just as they seem to have reached an understanding, a near tragedy almost forces them apart again, but is there some attraction between them?
I enjoyed reading this uplifting story about Posy discovering a new life and secrets about her past and can recommend it to other readers. The author’s descriptive writing conjured up images in my mind of the picturesque countryside and wide open spaces that so appealed to Posy and her adoptive mother. All of the characters in the story are likeable in their own ways, but I think I liked Posy’s adoptive mother most of all; she is so respectful of Posy’s feelings on discovering a ‘new’ family even though it could change their relationship. I loved the sound of the little village of Astercombe and would love to go and explore. This is a perfect book for anyone wishing to escape from events in the real world for a few hours and get lost in Posy’s world instead.
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