Hello Again by Isabelle Broom

Philippa Taylor (Pepper to her friends) has big dreams. When she closes her eyes, she can picture exactly who she ought to be. The problem is, it's about as far away from her real life in a small coastal town in Suffolk as she can imagine.

So when her elderly friend Josephine persuades Pepper to accompany her on a trip to Europe, she jumps at the chance to change her routine. And when Pepper bumps (literally) into the handsome Finn in Lisbon, it seems as though she might have finally found what she's been looking for.

But Pepper know all too well things are rarely as they seem. Her own quiet life hides a dark secret from the past. And even though she and Finn may have been destined to find each other, Pepper suspects life may have other plans as to how the story should end. 

With our current situation we can only look out our windows at the sky and dream of flying away to holiday in idyllic locations but I really felt like I needed a holiday fix and if I can’t leave my home I knew I could escape in another way through Isabelle Brooms impeccable ability to transport us through her vivid writing style to picturesque countries around the world.

Pepper has been existing not living after a devastating tragedy that happened to her family when she was younger has shaped her life but when her dear friend Josephine asks her to be her travel companion to revisit countries close to her heart she takes the leap and little does she know that this is going to put her life on a new path.

We escape along with Pepper to Lisbon, Hamburg and Barcelona each country so idyllic and inviting in their own little ways as we soak in the sites. Isabelle Broom has such a skill in writing about countries history, cuisines and hidden spots that intrigue me in each one of her books this one included. Lisbon has never been somewhere on my list of places to visit but it sure does appeal to me now and I long to walk the pretty little streets that Pepper and Josephine walked.

It was so lovely to see Pepper beginning to relax and enjoy her life as she tried new things along the way and this of course was helped by a certain meeting of the incredibly handsome Finn who she meets in Lisbon but there was always that black cloud of her past and the effect it has had on the relationship with her mum as well as the effect it has had on her own life which gives a more emotive feel to the storyline and as we get to know Pepper more throughout the storyline I longed for her to find confidence in herself and to start living the life she deserves.

I found myself racing through the pages keen to see where Pepper was going to travel to next and to watch a sweet romance blossoming, there were a number of parts in the book that were unexpected and this just made the storyline all the more captivating where it was unpredictable.

The characters were so well developed that I really cared for them all and found myself a little deflated having finished the book not wanting to leave Pepper, Finn and Josephine behind but this book was a great little tonic that I absolutely loved and have already found myself recommending this to friends and fellow bookworms.

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