Having moved into her mum’s spare room after a disastrous break-up, Kayleigh Harwood is desperate for a fresh start. When she sees an opening for a new beekeeper at Elderflower Grove she jumps at the chance – despite not knowing a thing about bees…
The abandoned manor house holds a mystery of its own – the previous owner vanished years ago – and locals have been inventing stories about the manor ever since. Unable to resist the urge to look around, Kayleigh is shocked to find drop-dead-gorgeous gardener Carey living inside!
Carey explains that the house and surrounding land is at risk of being demolished, endangering the bees, and he has been staying there to protect it.
Convinced the secret of the house holds the key to saving Elderflower Grove’s bees, Kayleigh is prepared to do everything she can to help. But is she ready to find her own happy-ever-after too…?
Comment: This book caught my attention in a list of recommendations from a site I usually follow. The cover was also very adorable and sometimes I have this feeling too cute covers might mean cheesy contents but the premise was enough to convince me to give it a go.
In this story we meet Kayleigh, a young woman who is back to her mother's house after a disastrous break-up which also took away the candle business she was so proud of. Now, she decides to try a job as beekeeper at an estate which has always been a wondrous place of mystery to her, even though she knows nothing about bees. When she is hired, Kayleigh is surprised but determined to do her best and things even take a turn for the better when she meets Carey, a man she finds sleeping in the manor, that was supposedly not open to anyone. She believes his explanations and the two become friends while dealing with the bees and exploring the estate, which has a gorgeous garden, although in need of some care. However, both are hiding something from the other and when Carey's secrets are revealed, can Kayleigh still see him the same way?
This is the first book I try by this author and had no expectations regarding the writing. I only hoped it would be a sweet story, and not too fluffy as the cover suggested. I'm quite glad it turned out to be an entertaining story, although with some scenes I could do without, to be fair.
The story is based on a very simple and predictable plot. Kayleigh is a woman who lost a business and a partner and is now trying to do something else back in her small hometown. Of course, it's ridiculous and unlikely that she would get the job to be a beekeeper without any references and experience, even if she were to lie, as she did, about her knowledge, but since this seemed to have a mix of humor with coziness, I suppose I can overlook the real life details in detriment of entertainment.
Thinking along those lines, this was a cute romance, not explicit if someone wonders, between Kayleigh and Carey. The fact they bond over the same things and deal with a common "enemy" makes it easier for us, the reader, to also root for them and for what they are doing. The estate they both love and defend belonged to Josie, a woman who dedicated her life to beekeeping, and even traveled abroad while learning and teaching about this job, but years ago a fire started at the estate and Kayleigh was the one who called the firemen. Since then, things have been left to a group of people, who want to protect the estate and the bees, even though a rich man wants to destroy everything to build a theme park.
Kayleigh and many others in the village don't want this to happen, and they hope something can be done. When Kayleigh starts her beekeeping job, she breaks the rules and does enter the main house to have a look around and that's how she meets Carey, a man who is looking for some evidence about a personal situation, as well as being a carer for the garden. I think Kayleigh is too naive to believe this information, but since this has the vibes of sweet cozy romance, I thought it was only an easy way to bring them together more often. It turns out that Carey has a secret - an obvious situation we can grasp right away - but while the actual secret isn't that surprising, how things lead to the discovery were a bit more interesting.
I think the author has many ideas and probably wanted to use as many as possible, which is fine, but the execution wasn't always as smooth and I got the feeling there was some inconsistency in how the situations were developed. There were moments when a few details became too confusing, especially when we have the big revelations and some things just don't add up as well. I feel a better editing might have elevated this novel into something stronger... although, perhaps, this is just the author's usual style.
As expected, things end well for the main couple and I did like several of the scenes with them together. I also liked the idea of preserving old estates for what they are, instead of ruining the history of what they were. I also liked the bees and the small notes the author used about them in the introduction of each new chapter. I regret, however, that the characters aren't developed very deeply and that they are playing the role of the good people uniting for this reason and we don't really have any special characterization about them to make them stand out.
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