The winds of change are sweeping through the idyllic Cotswold village of Lower Leaping.
After a tumultuous few months, Tess Alexander is ready to welcome her first guests to The Garden Retreat, a beautiful lodge in the grounds of Hollyhocks Cottage.
With her daughter Hannah home from her travels in Australia and her mother, Marjorie, acting out of character, Tess has to juggle many demands on her attention. Even her flourishing relationship with dashing Rob Templeton is put to the test when he faces an emotional dilemma from his past and Barney, her beloved beagle, has her at her wits end.
Tess can weather most storms with the unbridling support of her close friends Dilly, Gina and Suzy but when a passing remark in the local pub causes her to question one of those friendships, she wonders who can she really trust?
Can Tess overcome the obstacles in her path to find the happy ending she truly deserves?
Review: This is the second book in the Lower Leaping series from this author. Lower Leaping is a small village in the Cotswolds where the central character in the first book lived in the lovely Hollyhocks Cottage. This new book can be read as a standalone, although reading book 1 first will increase any reader’s enjoyment.
Once again, this story features Tess Alexander, still living in her beloved cottage with her faithful beagle Barney, but now also with her daughter, Hannah, who has returned from her travels with a broken heart. Tess has converted the garden annexe to the cottage into a self-contained retreat and is now ready to offer it to paying guests. Unfortunately, her sense of achievement is overshadowed by a series of worries and not just about Hannah. Her normally content mother is acting strangely, her relationship with Rob Templeton has apparently met a bump in the road, she has suspicions about one of her trusted group of close friends and her ex is liable to turn up whenever he feels like it. Even Barney has decided to go on an adventure. Tess is a strong woman, but can she cope with all of this and come out the other side with her sunny personality intact?
I enjoyed everything about this easy to read story, especially meeting up again with Tess and other characters from the first book in the series. There were also some new additions to the cast, and once again they were likeable and interesting people. I am envious of anyone booking a stay in Tess’s garden retreat; it sounds as though they will be well looked after. In fact, the whole village and its community have been so well described by the author as to make me wish I could visit. I was delighted to find that Tess and Rob were in a flourishing relationship after meeting up in book 1, but it was not all plain sailing. I hope that there will be more from Lower Leaping soon and readers can find out how things are progressing for Tess and the others.
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