I loved Lucy Dillon’s Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts and Walking Back To Happiness. Both of these books have such a cosy feel to them and very believable storylines. Having enjoyed these books so much when I heard Dillon was releasing another book this year based in the same town as her previous two books I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy.
In The Secret of Happy Ever After we follow the lives of friends Anna and Michelle. Both are facing obstacles in their lives which they need the help of others to help them get around. Michelle is very career driven and decides to take on the shop next door to her own shop, but she has to keep the shop as a book shop for a year at least and who better than to take control of the shop than her friend Anna whose passion in life is working with books. The storyline includes the usual Lucy Dillon content with the dogs but the book also flows mainly around the topic of reading and books which for me and for main character Anna is a dream come true.
Although the book centres around both Anna and Michelle we pick up a lot about the characters around each of them so there is always something going on all the way through the book which keeps it flowing at an even pace all the way through.
Although we know both Anna and Michelle have something emotional that they are battling in their lives I felt more connection with Anna as we know straight from the off what it was that was a constant battle and a cause for upset for her so we really feel for her the whole way through the book. Whereas with Michelle we don’t find out what it is that is causing her heartache until the near end of the book so at some times her character came across as a little cold and hard until we find out what lies beneath.
It is obvious from when we first meet Michelle that she has skeletons in her closet and I think this is one of the first books I have read where I couldn’t guess what secret she was harbouring so I was very shocked when it was revealed towards the end as it was totally unexpected this managed to keep me intrigued all the way through this book. Due to the festive cover I was hoping there would be more of a festive feel to it but having said that I still really enjoyed this book and it is really one you can read any time of year.
There is such a lovely mix of characters in this book and this mixed with a believable storyline made for a beautiful read which I would pick up again and that I would also highly recommend.
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