Beth has her issues, banning music from her life because it’s too painful to allow it in. You really feel her emotions and are desperate for things to improve for her. So when she has the opportunity to not only to improve her career, the chance to move away from her despicable housemates into a shared house on Nightingale Square suddenly arrives. The residents of the care home were very entertaining and Greta in particular raised a few smiles. I can only hope when I'm so old I am taken care of at a place like that! Beth's activity ideas were brilliant. I loved the quirky, fun characters that we meet in the care home where Beth works, they add a sense of fun and it was marvellous to see how Beth grew a special community within the home.

I’m a huge fan of this author and her wonderfully escapist books which are just what I need at the moment. Tess needs a break from life she works in the family business and she’s recently lost her mum and her father is so demanding so wants to get away. She use to love going to wynmouth a little seaside town she decides to flee there as a cottage she loves is free. She takes what she thinks is her mother’s diary’s to read to. He is,’ she said, her voice drifting away a little. ‘We’re in the Cayman Islands and it’s as hot as hell. We’re going to swim with stingrays later . . .’

About the Author

Her tone confirmed that she, as well as Dad, had worked out that there was more behind my premature return than I had let on. I always look forward to a Heidi Swain novel and this one was high up on my reading list! The sunshiney cover screamed summer and the location looked so picturesque that I couldn't wait to delve in and read all about Tess and Sam! The romance naturally weaves around everyday life. Not the sole focus but still important. I love this in Heidi Swain’s books. One of the things that the cafe owner says to her is whatever happens make sure you have all the facts. Does Tess listen, she goes on to make one assumption after another and makes a mighty mess of her own making burgeoning on the irritated side and makes one faux pas after another. The biggest faux pas is the assumption she makes about her father…. we find out at the end of the book I guessed half of it but got more than I thought. As this is book 4 (but could easily be read as a standalone), it was so nice to be reunited with some of the previous characters. I'm sure I have said it before but the Square and the Grow Well garden really does sound idyllic with all the wonderful residents and a proper sense of community.

I think the fact that this novel has the message of slowing down and taking a moment to smell the rose does mean that it moves at a slower pace to previous Heidi Swain books. I feel like it took me longer to get to the crescendo and the ending than in some of the Wynbridge novels where there is always a hive of activity and multiple characters are living their own drama filled storylines. I don't think there was an issue with the pacing, it is just slower than I have come to expect from a Heidi Swain book. Heidi’s books are always pure comfort reads to me, I love that I know what I’ll be getting (roughly) and that I get to spend time with some familiar characters in a well known and loved location. Nightingale square is definitely the place to be in the summer and the fair that this is focused on sounds absolutely incredible, a proper country fair but even bigger and better! I was so disappointed with this book! I had heard so many good things about Heidi Swain books and about this one in particular so I thought I’d give it a go...

Chapter 1

When she moves in, she starts getting involved in the community and a friendship with Eli. Things are looking good in her life when also she becomes the Activities manager at the care home. Life is sweet. But when things from her past come to light, life seems to get complicated. Along the way, Tess has matters of the heart and head of her own to contend with too. I was rooting for her, such a likeable character. I thought I had it all sussed out but there was a twist or 2 at the end I did not see coming! The same can be said for the other man she can’t seem to help running into – the handsome but brooding Brodie. So we have our main girl Tess, who is very much the over achieving worker, trying her best to please a distant father. You soon get the sense that the relationship she has with him is fractured, and this is one of the issues that Tess needs to work through as the story goes on. At the beginning of the book she's working long hours, not taken a holiday in far too long, and is generally just at the end of her tether. She's deciding whether to take a holiday when she finds a bunch of letters from her deceased mum which convinces her that yes, she needs to get out of town for a while. And so she does! I didn’t like the way that Tess jumped to so many conclusions in the story and ended up being made to look stupid...