Molly Baker is living her best life.
Thirty-eight years old, she lives on the twenty-five-acre Hope Farm in Buckinghamshire, surrounded by (mostly) four-legged friends and rolling hills. There's Anthony the anti-social sheep, Tina Turner the alpaca with attitude, and the definitely-not-miniature pig, Teacup.
Molly runs the farm as an alternative school for kids who haven't thrived in mainstream education. It's full on, but she wouldn't have it any other way. So when the well-groomed Shelby Dacre turns up at Hope Farm asking to enrol his son Lucas, Molly isn't fazed.
But Lucas is distant and soon Molly realises he might be more of a handful than she anticipated. And then there's the added problem that his dad is distractingly handsome. Molly has her beloved farm to think of - could letting Lucas and Shelby in be a terrible mistake, or the start of something wonderful?
Looking for an uplifting read I turn to Carole Matthews and
her book Happiness for Beginners has been on my TBR pile for way to long now
and so it seemed the perfect time to pick this one up.
Our heroine is the lovely Molly who has dedicated her whole
life to her animals, here farm is quite different from a traditional farm because
this place is a safe space for children with various difficulties be that
mental health issues, learning disabilities or just those who have lost their
way and need a place to escape and find their worth and confidence again.
There is a young newcomer to Hope Farm in the form of Lucas
who is the local TV stars son and he is at a loss as to what to do with his uncontrollable
son.
What an absolute joy this book was, it is easy to see how
Molly became so isolated and dedicated to her farm because looking after the
charismatic mix match of animals really is a 24/7 job added to that the work
she does with the students that help out on the farm and there really isn’t any
time for herself but she was so content with this.
Lucas was a character who really touched my heart,
misunderstood, lonely and hurting I just wanted to reach into the pages and
pull him out, I was really hoping that Molly and Hope Farm could reach him and help
him.
The animals played such a strong part in this book and I wouldn’t
be surprised if the author spent sometime on the farm researching this book
because the attention to detail from the feeds, their characteristics and needs
as well as the financial strains was all covered in great detail. I can’t not
mention the secondary characters in this book because both Alan and Bev were
great characters and a big support to Molly too and even bring a little humour
to the storyline too.
There of course is a romance or two blossoming through the
pages which we expect with a Carole Matthews novel but it was one that was far
from straight forward so made it even more exciting.
If you are looking for a comforting uplifting read to perk
you up then this book will certainly do the trick.
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