Veronica Henry - Wedding at the Beach Hut

Robyn and Jake are planning their dream wedding at the family beach hut in Devon. A picnic by the turquoise waves, endless sparkling rosé and dancing barefoot on the golden sand . . . But Robyn is more unsettled than excited. She can't stop thinking about the box she was given on her eighteenth birthday, and the secrets it contains. Will opening it reveal the truth about her history - and break the hearts of the people she loves most?

As the big day arrives, can everyone let go of the past and step into a bright new future?

Comment: No idea why this one was in the pile, it was probably because I liked this book I had read in 2020 and decided I could try to invest in something else by the author... although, to be fair, I had also read this one and wasn't a fan. I suppose this one could be the tie-breaker...

Robyn and Jake are going to be parents and they are very happy about it, for their lives are on track. Then, it makes sense for them to marry too, and they think of the Beach Hut owned by Jake's father as the perfect spot for the wedding, especially since they want something minimalist and simple. However, there's more to plan a wedding than they both imagined and to make everything more complicated, the lives of those around them keep moving and Robyn, who was adopted as a baby, feels this is the moment to know more about her birth mother, considering she will be a mother soon too. But despite the best intentions, life finds a way to bring new challenges...

If an author is prolific certainly some books will always seem great and others not so much. The trick is to guess which one might be more one way or the other! Thankfully, this one fell into the "positive" category and I had a good time reading it, something I didn't expect when I started.

The thing is, this is definitely a woman's fiction story and while I don't mind this type of book, I don't really seek it unless it's for some specific reason. I thought this book might go more towards the style of the one I liked, in terms of plot, and I did see some common elements, but if I didn't know beforehand, I'd not say it's by the same author. Despite this, I've ended up liking this book because the characters were engaging and interested me.

The plot is centered on Robyn and Jake and how their lives have led them to be a couple in love, to have a baby on the way and how things can be as simple and as perfect as this. There are plenty of secondary characters, mostly the ones in their inner circle and I've wondered if they had been protagonists in previous books - it turns out this is the fourth book in a series set around the beach huts. I have not read those books but from the synopsis it seems the stories might be stand alones in plot, with only the setting in common. In a way this pleased me for I was not feeling the will to read the other novels.

The story is pretty straightforward a woman's fiction novel, with the big focus on emotions and feelings and everyday situations the characters deal with. At first I confess I wasn't too eager and I thought this would resemble the first book I had tried by the author, which I found boring and with not very likable characters, but I was soon proved wrong and Robyn and the others grew on me. In particular I liked Jake's dad, back to dating now he is in his fifties, and Robyn herself, who was adopted.

Besides the characters that are close to the main couple, we are also told about Robyn's birth mother Emily and how she came to be pregnant and why Robyn was adopted. I was quite taken by this secondary sub plot and was more invested in this section than in the rest, to be honest. I think the author has this style of simply presenting things, though, more telling than really showing sometimes, and this can be annoying in certain genres or certain plots but... when it comes to these "past event" situations, it kind of suited the intention.

As expected, things seem to go slowly and steady until a certain point, when drama spikes and some conflict is introduced. It's not as if this is poorly done, only it wasn't much of a shock... still, this led to the big issues being solved, as expected, and all ended well. In terms of emotional connection and how the situations are portrayed, I think there was enough food for thought without the story being too intense or too focused on negative aspects. I did like it in the end. Once more, I might investigate further, to see if other titles by this author catch my eye...

Grade: 7/10

Veronica Henry - How to Find Love in a Bookshop

Nightingale Books, nestled on the main street in an idyllic little village, is a dream come true for book lovers--a cozy haven and welcoming getaway for the literary-minded locals. But owner Emilia Nightingale is struggling to keep the shop open after her beloved father's death, and the temptation to sell is getting stronger. The property developers are circling, yet Emilia's loyal customers have become like family, and she can't imagine breaking the promise she made to her father to keep the store alive.
There's Sarah, owner of the stately Peasebrook Manor, who has used the bookshop as an escape in the past few years, but it now seems there's a very specific reason for all those frequent visits. Next is roguish Jackson, who, after making a complete mess of his marriage, now looks to Emilia for advice on books for the son he misses so much. And the forever shy Thomasina, who runs a pop-up restaurant for two in her tiny cottage--she has a crush on a man she met in the cookbook section, but can hardly dream of working up the courage to admit her true feelings.
Enter the world of Nightingale Books for a serving of romance, long-held secrets, and unexpected hopes for the future--and not just within the pages on the shelves. How to Find Love in a Bookshop is the delightful story of Emilia, the unforgettable cast of customers whose lives she has touched, and the books they all cherish.

Comment: I got this book last year, I think, at a book fair I annually attend. Like certainly most readers, I feel curiosity about books revolving around a bookstore and any possible book talk. Having also seen some friends have liked it, I decided to give it a go.

In this story we meet Emilia Nightingale, who returns to her small hometown of Peasebrook, in England, after working in Asia for some time. She returned because her father got ill and eventually died so now the bookstore is hers. Despite loving the bookstore a lot, she knows its soul was because of her father and she is struggling to think of the store without him in there. Plus, she discovers that something needs to be done in order for the bookstore not to close since things were not as financially viable as she thought. Among several secondary characters and their own stories, will it be possible for the bookstore to remain the most special bookstore everyone loves?

I had a great time reading this novel. Sweet and comforting are adjectives that come to mind thinking on it and I must say that it impressed me a lot more than the previous book by this author I had read, which was boring and not that amazing to me. Looking at average ratings, I suppose this is the book most readers have liked... I guess I'll have to read another, just to confirm if I like or don't like this author's style.

The story is focused on Emilia and the supporting characters somehow connected to the bookstore and her father. The narrator is third person but we get to see the POV of several characters, as well as get hints of others by how they interact. All the characters we come to like have something special about them and all provide something to enrich the plot. I think all were simply drawn but there is something
about each one, some complexity of their personality that made them special. In fact, looking at the whole cast, Emilia isn't even the one I liked the best but her path towards the end was a cute one.

The bookstore is in trouble and at first it might seem the problems can't be easily solved but when a solution comes, it's quite fitting.We're supposed to appreciate how the challenges help the characters become better people but it felt as if more than just that. The characters have the clues in front of them, we as readers can see where they are supposed to go but the road until then is what makes this story adorable. Except for the obvious antagonists, I have to say I ended up caring for all the characters.

Portuguese cover

This was a nice surprise, I thought that the style of the author, she sort of presents things as a given, there aren't many scenes fully developed, it's more like something needs to happen, we see the beginning and then the next chapter or the next paragraph other things have already happened and we jump to the next thing.  It's not as if this is always bad, but there are certainly ways to do it. Comparing the two books I read already by the author, this tactic worked out a lot better in this book, perhaps because these characters felt a lot more captivating and I liked them more too.

I'm aware not all readers of this book have the same general impression. For some there are too many characters, for others not enough talk about books, for others needless drama, the difficulties were too easily gotten over for every character... while these things are all true, the union of the parts made for a cute story. I actually liked less how Emilia's father came to open the bookstore, we have this at the beginning of the book and the feel I got was that this would go into over the top drama but, thankfully for me, it wasn't so and the story was quite adorable.

All things considered, this might not have been the best book ever, but it was sweet and entertaining and I liked how it made me feel.

Grade: 8/10

Veronica Henry - A Family Recipe

What's the secret ingredient to your happiness?
Laura Griffin is preparing for an empty nest. The thought of Number 11 Lark Hill falling silent - a home usually bustling with noise, people and the fragrant smells of something cooking on the Aga - seems impossible. Laura hopes it will mean more time for herself, and more time with her husband, Dom.
But when an exposed secret shakes their marriage, Laura suddenly feels as though her family is shrinking around her. Feeling lost, she turns to her greatest comfort: her grandmother's recipe box, a treasured collection dating back to the Second World War. Everyone has always adored Laura's jams and chutneys, piled their sandwiches high with her pickles . . . Inspired by a bit of the old Blitz spirit, Laura has an idea that gives her a fresh sense of purpose.
Full of fierce determination, Laura starts carving her own path. But even the bravest woman needs the people who love her. And now, they need her in return . . .


Comment: I got this book as a gift by a very sincere friend and, as it often happens with things people give us, I wanted to really love it, so I could give the best compliments about it to her. However, despite some interestingly good elements, there was more I disliked than what I liked.

In this book we have the story of Laura Griffin, a woman in her 40s who finally sees her youngest daughter go to the university and that leaves her a sensation of an empty nest. Her daughter has always had health issues and she has been dedicated to her so now she feels a little abandoned. To add to her feelings of inadequacy, she discovers her husband has an affair and her world changes completely.

At the same time we see Laura, her husband and his lover debate what they should do next about their lives, we also have a little secondary plot set in the war times, when Laura's grandmother lived through both good and bad situations.

After finishing the book, as I sometimes do, I've read some reviews on this story and it seems that old cliché we say "have we read the same book", does apply to me in this situation. The glowing reviews seem to be about a different book, that's true, because for me this was basic, mostly useless and lacking all connection between the two time plots. I fail to understand how this can be seen as woman's fiction or even chick lit with quality above average because none of the characters were developed nor was the plot that engaging.

The premise of this story is to show us how Laura copes with the changes in her life, from her two daughters being out of the house, her husband having problems and an affair and how that affects Laura's life and distractions. Laura is difficult to analyze because she isn't a compelling character not someone we get to know that well. The apparent solution for her life is two business she starts, namely using some rooms in her house in airbnb and a family recipe to sell jam in an exclusive local market. These two things can be quite interesting and I thought we would get most of the plot around this and how it would affect Laura. Sadly, both these ideas were easily accomplished which means they didn't seem to create any sort of conflict nor tension for Laura.

I'd say that if the purpose was to reveal us how Laura could find an inner strength in her while facing adversity, the goal was quickly achieved and lacked any kind of emotional response.

Some of the conflict comes mostly from Laura discovering her husband's affair. Besides the obvious cliché this is, wasn't she supposed to get to some sort of superior state over the minor things or to move along with her feelings and life after this? No, the author's tactic was more centered on showing how regretful the lovers were over their misplaced affair, how the husband felt sorry he let himself be carried away and the lover, Antonia, just wanted someone to look up to her for support and solutions.

In a way, real life can certainly be this simple but don't we expect something more from a romance?

The secondary plot about Laura's grandmother was difficult to understand. I mean, it was sweet how she and her best friend Ivy never stopped being BFFs as we say nowadays and how they faced several situations that were certainly much more complicated to deal with than what this plot makes us believe, but in what way did it make this overall story move along? I've finished the book with the sense this was a mix of several tidbits the author had in her head and instead of separating these things into different books she mixed it all somehow but the resulting effort was too obvious and lacked many layers to be savored.

Like I said, I expected this to be more centered on Laura's attempt to use her family recipes (like the title suggests) to become better, to get over her stagnation or whatever one might think of her situation. The author also included her own recipes at the end of the book.

I just fail to understand why this element matters, since it wasn't that a big deal through the novel.

I struggled to like the main characters and their plights. Still, I'd say the writing itself was not... touching nor captivating enough to make me eager to read.

I have another book to read, which my friend also liked.. now I'm apprehensive in regards to this being an author to follow...

Grade: 5/10