I'm shivering: it's always freezing at Tillingford Hall in January.
My hand is poised to knock on Guy Tillingford's study door. Since when does my closest friend, my ex-fiancee, close his door to me, expect me to knock?"
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I am required to make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from the publisher. I have not been paid for doing this and all opinions are my own. I am Bookshop.org affiliated, which means I earn a very small amount of money if you buy from there using my direct link. Although I include purchase links to Amazon, I am not affiliated with them. I include them to make it easy for you to navigate to them if you so wish.
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The Blurb
Sahara Seaton-Smyth's ex, James, is never coming back; her brother Seb is moving out; her modelling career has stalled; and she's just adopted an orphaned piglet.
Meanwhile, her friend Guy Tillingford is losing his calm. His fiancee Alice's due date is also looming while Tin Tub Productions are filming a documentary about Tillingford Hall in the run-up to the gala ball.
Sahara has the chance to return to the spotlight as a TV presenter, but she's reluctant until she learns she'll be working with her old friend, historian Dr Tom Pemberton.
Now widowed, Tom is juggling single parenthood with TV stardom. His son Cory has retreated into video games, while daughter Xanthe, a gifted violinist, is struggling with sudden fame.
Can Sahara help Tom? When she receives unexpected news about her health, will it bring them closer - or push them apart?
With Alice's due date so close to the ball, who will have that first dance?
My Review
Publishing tomorrow, this book makes for delightful reading.
Although this is the fourth book in the series, I haven't read the previous three and that did not impact my enjoyment of this lovely novel.
Set in the English countryside and revolving around a stately home in which a television series is being filmed, the author has created a wonderful backdrop into which she has placed her characters.
The main character is Sahara. She is an ex-model who has come through the other side of a life of alcohol, drugs and anorexia. She has now got her life back on track and I admired her for moving forward so positively with her life. The author portrayed her character very well and Sahara was a delight to get to know on the page.
In fact, all of the characters were well drawn and came to life on the page. I enjoyed observing the chemistry develop between her and her old friend and colleague Tom. His children, Xanthe and Cory, were wonderful creations and I really enjoyed the way they were portrayed. The author clearly understood her characters very well.
The character interactions with Muffin, the fast-growing piglet, were delightful. There was much amusement around him and I couldn't help but laugh.
Although the book refers to some difficult themes, they largely take place off the page. However, Tom and his children are grieving the loss of his wife, but it is handled sensitively.
This was a heartwarming, feel-good romance novel with a very satisfying ending. I was gripped throughout and enjoyed every page. I highly recommend this book if you like contemporary romance... with a naughty piglet thrown in.
Book Details
ISBN: 978 1068749484
Publisher: Lumina Publications
Formats: e-book, audio and paperback
No. of Pages: 311 (paperback)
Series: Book 3 in the Tillingham series
Purchase Links
About the Author
I wrote my first book when I was five. It was about a cow and a bed because those were words I knew how to spell. Then I wrote ‘The Crazy Book’ about some kids who went back in time and lots of stories about bunnies.
I fell in love with romance when I read MM Kaye’s The Ordinary Princess, a touching children’s book about a sassy runaway princess called Amy, which was one of the first books to turn traditional fairy stories on their head. And later, Jane Austen and all the classics, until I finally picked up a Mills and Boon in my twenties and my fate was sealed.
Love stories, whether about romance, friendship or camaraderie, how we feel about other people, how we treat them, how we make mistakes and are forgiven and learn to forgive in our turn, are at the very heart of our human existence. You can tell those stories in a light-hearted way but that doesn’t change the depth of the message that true love is the greatest of all the virtues. Even The Bible is a love story between God and his people (and that ending when you think it’s all over, but it isn’t, is just the best plot twist ever).
My stories are set in and around the modern-day fictional village of Tillingham in Jane Austen Country in leafy mid-Hampshire.
The first book in the Tillingford Hall series is Summer at Tillingford Hall (published August 2024). A Little Treat on Honey Street, about Laura and her quest to save the Tillingham community shop and Christmas at Tillingford Hall are both scheduled for publication in 2025.
I write from a posh shed set in a beautiful garden in South-West London. I live with two cats, three grown-up children and my husband, a hunky gardener with a growing collection of tractors. When I’m not writing, working as a charity fundraiser or looking after my family, I’m to be found in the kitchen, baking cakes (which I try not to eat) and cooking home-grown veg (which I do).
You can also find Flora at:
(ARC and media courtesy of the publisher)
(all opinions are my own)
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