Published By: Boldwood
Pages: 376
Released On: 19/10/2026
Juliet believes in love stories. As a wedding planner, she’s helped create more than five hundred perfect days for other people, though her own path to happy-ever-after has been far from easy. Her first love always taught Juliet to look for the silver linings in life, and when she unexpectedly meets Christian Wynterson, it feels as though one might finally be shining through.
But not everyone is ready to accept Juliet and Christian’s new beginning. Family tensions, buried secrets and old wounds threaten to overshadow what should be a joyful new chapter.
Juliet has spent years believing in happy endings for everyone else. But can the people she and Christian love see that their relationship isn’t just a silver lining – it could be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
This is book six in the Lakes series, with the previous being:
1. The Start of Something Wonderful
2. A Breath of Fresh Air
3. The Best Is Yet to Come
4. Sunshine After the Rain
5. Tomorrow Starts Today
I love this series so much, and this is a wintery/Christmas one so that instantly gets my vote, being a winter gremlin. Whilst it is a series, they are perfectly enjoyable as a standalone, but I do advise reading them in order to get the most out of it.
There are 47 chapters which means they’re quite short, which I prefer to overly long ones, it helps make the story whizz by.
There are a lot of characters, which she has added to a character list but because it covers the previous five books, there’s a lot. But I don’t think you necessarily need to be hot on them to read it. It was nice to revisit old characters but it’s also nice to have fresh new ones to keep it engaging. Everyone is wonderfully written – they’re not all nice and some I liked more than others but they’re so distinct and work well on the whole and in their own stories.
I have loved this series from book one, and what I’m about to say is not a comment on the other books (because they’re all great) but more a comment on how the series has developed. This one gave me everything I wanted and expected, but it’s got a more mature depth to it. Like Jessica has got full control over her characters and their emotions. It feels more intricate and delicate and deep, which elevates what could be another generic, but fun, happily-ever-after story.
I have wanted to live in every community Jessica creates but the one she’s given us in this one is my favourite. I know it’s fictional and too good to be true but I don’t care. I need to invent a way of stepping into a book because it just is so magical.
What surprised me was the age of the main characters. It’s not a spoiler to say this, but I was reading them as on the younger side of middle aged, but they’re not, or at least not all of them are. And I liked that because generally in fiction, particularly romances, we follow younger characters, starting their lives, those in their 20s or 30s, so it was refreshing to see older characters still living their life.
Once again, Jessica has given us some very real topics, some difficult topics (that I won’t spoil) but that’s what makes it so real. Life can be terrible sometimes and we all go through things like breakups, grief, job worries etc. and so by including things like that, the reader can identify with the characters. But it’s never morbid or morose, everything’s balanced well with happiness, joy, hope, and love.
I think she’s said before how she plans for this series to be quite a long one – which I for one am very happy with. At first I was worried that it might get too samey but somehow she’s managed to make each one so individual and yet linked so we avoid the risk of them being boring but they’re still part of the same world.
There was the occasional moment that I felt was maybe a smidge too long but only occasionally and it didn’t negatively impact my enjoyment of it.
I’d recommend any of her books for a bit of escapism but this series definitely tops my list.
