Return to Half Moon Farm by Holly Hepburn

 

When Daisy’s mother falls ill she is forced to return home. With her twin sons in tow, she moves back to Half Moon Farm, her family’s ancient hop farm.  

But a new life in the Kent countryside isn’t necessarily as idyllic as it might seem. Daisy’s relationship with her mother is complicated and the tumbledown farm isn’t the only thing that needs rebuilding. Daisy and her sons must adjust to life with estranged family, a leaking roof, and no WiFi.

Luckily for Daisy, she might yet find some distraction in silver fox farmer, Drew, or in the haughty heir to the nearby estate, Kit, who she can’t seem to avoid.

Daisy must learn to juggle her new life, the boys, and the daunting task of updating the farm. But there are secrets lurking in her family’s past that might throw everything into further disarray…

It seems to be becoming a New Year tradition for me in that New Year means a new Holly Hepburn book and what a great way she always kicks the reading year off for me and her new release Return to Half Moon Farm is no exception.

This is a storyline that will take you on a journey uncovering long hidden family secrets as well as repairing relationships that have been damaged along the way. Set in the beautiful Kent countryside the setting lures you in and gives you that comforting and familiar feel which instantly makes you feel at home.

Daisy and her twin boys Campbell and Finn really kept me entertained during this book, the boys brought humour and light-heartedness to the storyline whereas Daisy was the one who added more depth to the storyline juggling building bridges with her mother after a long time whilst trying to repair all that is wrong at Half Moon Farm and its heartbreaking history as well as carrying on with her illustrations too.

There are a vast amount of characters in this book who we are introduced too some you will love instantly others take a little to warm to and others you will dislike from the get go and for me that was Drew. I couldn’t put my finger on why each time he appeared in the book rather than feeling excited for Daisy having this handsome hardworking and caring man around I felt uneasy every time he appeared he plain and simply gave me the creeps!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and its little surprises we encounter long the way. There is a touch of romance for Daisy weaving through the pages but my attention was piqued more by the love letters that were found from way back in war times.

This book was another fantastic read by this author and it has made a perfect start to 2024.

Escape to Darling Cove by Holly Hepburn

Today it is my stop on the Escape to Darling Cove blog tour and WOW does Holly Hepburn kick us off to a good start to the year.

Eve has always lived on Ennisfarne, an idyllic island just off the coast of Northumberland and only accessible when tides are low. There she runs a bar overlooking Darling Cove, a heavenly horseshoe-shaped beach named after her seafaring ancestors, whose links to the Farne Islands stretch back centuries.

Logan is a famous photographer desperate to evade the limelight after a difficult break-up. Renting a cottage from Eve, he chooses Ennisfarne in the hope of anonymity but is immediately spellbound by its natural beauty.

The pair don’t get off to the best start, butting heads over Eve’s adorable but boisterous Chocolate Labrador. But when Logan's true identity is revealed, Eve realises her new tenant isn’t quite the man she thought he was. Is it too late to start again or will Logan’s island escape be over almost before it’s begun?

What a start to 2023 book releases! Holly Hepburn has kicked us off with a brilliant start with her new novel Escape to Darling Cove which is full of likeable characters with new beginnings and a comforting uplifting feel.

The setting of Ennisfarne is truly idyllic and sounds like a perfect tranquil place to recharge your batteries whilst discovering lots of historical elements too and wrap that up in the strongest sense of community spirit and you are in safe hands as one of our main characters Logan found out.

The chapters alternate between Logan who has burnt out and needs time away to recharge and relook at his life and career out of the limelight and then we have the loveable strong dependant Eve who is a local who keeps Ennisfarne working with new ideas and events to keep the tourists coming. There is nothing that Eve can’t turn her hand to and she was admirable and no-nonsense taking but also had the biggest heart of gold to go with it.

Ok so the love story was predictable but that didn’t matter one ounce because both of the characters self-discovery was enjoyable to watch, they are both incredibly hard working and passionate people who on one level their lives are polar opposites but on another there are many shared interests and they both struggle to get the work and life balance right.

Holly Hepburn has such a beautiful writing style that even on the gloomiest days her writing brings brightness and joy that changes my mood instantly. I loved my visit to Ennisfarne and enjoyed meeting Eve and Logan too so this is definitely one I recommend reading to start your new year reading off on a high.

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The Little Shop of Hidden Treasures by Holly Hepburn

 

When Hope loses her husband, she fears her happiest days are behind her. With her only connection to London broken, she moves home to York to be near her family and to begin to build a new life.  
 
Taking a job at the antique shop she has always admired, she finds herself crossing paths with two very different men. Will, who has recently become the guardian to his niece after the tragic death of her parents. And Ciaran, who she enlists to help solve the mystery of an Egyptian antique. Two men who represent two different happy endings.

The Little Shop of Hidden Treasures is the latest release by Holly Hepburn and I fell in love with this book right from the moment I saw the cover, shallow of me I know! The little cosy welcoming street on the cover depicts the street that houses the Emporium so well and I completely lost myself in this story.

Hope is a young widow who is taking a new path in her life, moving back to her childhood roots to be closer to her family but her next step she wasn’t so sure on until she stumbled across the spellbinding Emporium that she remembers from her younger years and her next step seemed to have found her.

In her early days in her new job a discovery is made that opens up a new project for her but will she find more than she is looking for in her research.

This is so much for than just a cosy little romance that I usually love to escape into this storyline has so much to discover and I was as intrigued and invested as Hope in discovering the background to the story of Elenor Lovelace and each time a new piece of information was revealed and the story be completed another exciting little tit bit would emerge to continue and spark my intrigue again.

The storyline does touch on loss and grief and the way it can affect people in different ways but it is by no means a depressing novel it is full of hope, healing and new beginnings. Little Brodie in particular touched my heart and even I was grinning like a Cheshire cat towards the end when her healing process took a step in the right direction.

The friendships and community feel in this novel really gave the book a welcoming and uplifting feel and although I read this book as a whole I can imagine those who read it in the four parts felt like being reunited with old friends each time. It did feel a little drawn out, like it could have been a little shorter but I think this probably worked well for the individual parts and only had a little effect when put together as a complete book but I still enjoyed this book thoroughly none the less.

The romance was a little predictable but also faced realistic bumps along the way so this didn’t affect my enjoyment of the novel especially when there were other things going on around the romance element to keep you intrigued.

Holly Hepburn has kicked the year off with a book of discovery, healing and romance that I definitely recommend.

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Coming Home to Brightwater Bay by Holly Hepburn

 

On paper, Merina Wilde has it all: a successful career writing the kind of romantic novels that make even the hardest hearts swoon, a perfect carousel of book launches and parties to keep her social life buzzing, and a childhood sweetheart who thinks she’s a goddess. But Merry has a secret: the magic has stopped flowing from her fingers. Try as she might, she can’t summon up the sparkle that makes her stories shine. And as her deadline whooshes by, her personal life falls apart too. Alex tells her he wants something other than the future she’d always imagined for them and Merry finds herself single for the first time since – well, ever.

Desperate to get her life back on track, Merry leaves London and escapes to the windswept Orkney Islands, locking herself away in a secluded clifftop cottage to try to heal her heart and rediscover her passion for writing. But can the beauty of the islands and the kindness of strangers help Merry to fool herself into believing in love again, if only long enough to finish her book? Or is it time for her to give up the career she’s always adored and find something new to set her soul alight?

The best thing about reading is that even when we are in lockdown we can discover so many new places we never even knew existed and that is exactly what happened when I got swept away in Holly Hepburn’s new release Coming Home to Brightwater Bay.

What makes this book even better is that our main character Merry is an author and Merry is struggling with writers block along with a breakdown of her relationship. An opportunity to escape everything and to attempt to find her love of writing and some inspiration arises with a Writer in Residence retreat to the Orkney Islands, but will the words flow and will she find more than she hoped in Brightwater Bay?

As much as I love reading I am also interested in the author journey, how they find inspiration for their novels, the research they take to make their stories come to life and the pressures of deadlines and writers block that the majority of authors face at some point and so this book was an absolute dream to read because we follow Merry through each of these points and I found it really insightful.

I was blown away by the animals and places the author introduces us to in this novel and I was completely shocked that I had never even heard of Skara Brae, I instantly found myself Googling the place just to check that it was real and it is now somewhere I am desperate to explore myself after lockdown. The way Holly Hepburn describes each place she visits made them so alluring, they were easy to visualise.

There is a love triangle (at one point a square!) that added to this already wonderful storyline and I never quite knew if Merry’s heart was going to be stolen by the steamy Magnus or the dependable sexy librarian Niall or if indeed romance would truly blossom at all and the suspense of this only added to my enjoyment of the storyline.

There is a wonderful community spirit bringing so many friendly characters together and they all helped Merry in one way or another during her stay.  Although the book was released in four parts I am pleased I waited to read the whole book as one as I don’t think I could have waited for each part to be released!

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A Year at Castle Court by Holly Hepburn

Sadie is a single mum, nursing a broken heart. Her best friend from childhood, Cat, is burned out from working long hours as a chef in Paris. In need of a change, they decide to invest in their dream – running their own handmade biscuit shop in gorgeous Castle Court, a three-storey food court tucked away behind Chester's bustling streets.
 
They soon discover that Castle Court has its own community – a little haven of delight against the stresses of the outside world. But not everyone welcomes the new business; the patisserie owner is less than pleased by what she sees as direct competition and Greg, who runs the fancy bistro that dominates one end of the courtyard, doesn't think Sadie and Cat have the talent or business acumen to succeed. Luckily, there's support in the form of the delectable Jaren, who owns the Dutch waffle house opposite Smart Cookies, and Swiss chocolate-shop owner, Elin. And if all else fails, the friends can drown their sorrows in Seb's cocktail bar on the third floor!

I have just finished one of my favourite books of this year, A Year at Castle Court by Holly Hepburn. This was one of those books that each time you have to put it down you are longing to return to the pages to see what lays ahead for the characters next.

Best friends Sadie and Cat have both recently been through a significantly bad time in their lives and are about to embark on a new adventure together opening their own biscuit shop Smart Cookies located in the idyllic setting in Castle Court in Chester.

The storyline is full of ups and downs as challenges in both business and the women’s personal lives are sent to try test them. I take my hat off to them both as the amount of problems they both faced would make me crumble but having each other as well as the community support from the other shop owners of Castle Court sure helped the women in their times of need.

I instantly warmed to both Cat and Sadie as our main characters and I was routing for them and their business to thrive. I loved the supporting characters in this book too they really helped to shape the storyline from the sweet but strong minded little Lissy and her lover of dinosaurs to the friendly and supportive Earl and Andrew and not forgetting the loveable Adam and Jaren.

I loved watching the business grow and my mouth watered from the descriptions of the delights on offer not just in Smart Cookies but also from the other businesses from the Dutch pancakes to the chocolate delights.

The author has clearly done her research for this book not just for the biscuit making but also for the facts on Adams bees. Holly Hepburn has created such a sweet and addictive storyline that touches on some delicate issues and then wraps us up in friendship and romance. The writing style is so easy to follow and she creates such an energetic buzz to the storyline and manages to describe things so vividly I almost felt as though I was there at Castle Court surrounded by the old buildings.

I absolutely loved this book and I am pleased that my last book of the year was one of the best. I can’t wait to read more books by Holly Hepburn and I will definitely be recommending this one.

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