Published By: Boldwood
Pages: 285
Released On: 22/02/2023
Pia Temple has always had a soft spot for Jackson Moody following a passionate teenage love affair that burnt out over one long summer, more than ten years ago. First loves can be hard to forget, and the devastatingly gorgeous Jackson, is harder to forget than most.
After putting aside her ambitions while she cared for her parents, it is finally time for Pia to think about herself. So, when she’s offered the perfect job running the social calendar at Primrose Hall, with a dreamy flat included, how can she refuse? There’s only one problem… The new owner of the refurbished seventeenth-century manor house set in the idyllic Primrose Woods, is none other than Jackson, the man she’s thought about every day for years.
In a whirl of weddings and craft fairs, literary festivals and tea parties, Pia blossoms in her new role. But with the delectable Jackson a daily distraction, maybe this isn’t the dream job after all – especially when Jackson’s unfeasibly beautiful ex-girlfriend Tara, comes back to visit the hall…
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review and spot on the book tour.
A day is always made better by the release of a new Jill Steeples novel. I only found her books last year and she’s already becoming a go-to author for happily-ever-after uplifting stories.
I liked the references to the previous book in the Primrose Hall series. Yes it is a sequel, and yes it does mention characters and hint towards things that happened in previous ones, but you don’t have to have read the others to enjoy this one. It works completely fine as a standalone.
Jackson is a delicious man. In looks and in personality, he just comes across as the proper alpha male hero who is handsome, strong, sensitive, caring and protective, and I am here for it. Pia is a lovely character too. Unassuming and with a heavy heart, but she’s confident and passionate and she makes an excellent sparring partner to Jackson. The secondary characters such as Ronnie and Rex are also fabulous additions. My favourite character probably has to be Bertie, the Dalmatian, he steals every scene he’s in.
I love this feeling of family in the book, within blood relations, between friends, between staff, and between the community. That, and the gorgeous manor house, gorgeous animals, and a gorgeous man, just makes it the perfect book for me. It’s also about the importance of second chances. Second chances with love, with family, with friends, with employment and with home.
It’s not all fun and sunshine. It touches on topics such as physical illness, injury, mental health, house moves, job losses, controlling behaviour, relationships troubles etc. but in a mature way. They’re not just shoved in for a surprise effect, they’re sensitively woven in, giving this happy uplifting book a sense of reality.
When people say they read as an escape, this books really shows you why. For the few hours it’ll take you to read it, you really focus on nothing else. You’re warm and cosy and happy, and it’s a great book to lose yourself in.
Jill Steeples has this amazing ability to effortlessly weave together people and their stories, through multiple books but also keeping each story its own. You can tell the care and love she has for her characters like they’re her own family.
People say that the thing wrong with these kind of happily-ever-after books is that they’re unrealistic, fantastical, too goo to be true, life isn’t like this, it doesn’t all end up happy every time. And I think they’re missing the point. These books are meant to stretch reality, they’re meant to be a fantasy, they’re meant to be positive and happy and that’s why I read them. Yes, I do love a good thriller and mystery and whatnot. But if I want cheering up, or I want a book I know will be comforting and uplifting and take me out of my head, then I go for one of these. And I think that’s what makes them so successful. They’re an entrance into a world of positivity. And for me, that’s a plus point, not a negative. It’s what is right with them, not what’s wrong.
If anyone asks me to recommend a feel good book to them, I can’t go wrong with a Jill Steeples offering, and this just gets added to that list.
I sure hope there’s more in this series to come. It’s just too scrumptious to end.
Books By Your Bedside 