*Release date: June 7, 2014
When Noelle Cooke inherits a quaint English cottage and an art gallery from her famous Aunt Joy, she welcomes a departure from her San Diego routine. But the lure of the Cotswolds, combined with a locked cottage room and a revealing journal, entice her to stay and discover more, including a way to save the gallery from financial ruin. And that means remaining in England.
When her childhood sweetheart, Adam Spencer, begins work on a restoration project in Noelle’s village, their friendship blossoms. But as her feelings for Adam deepen, she struggles with memories of what might have been and yearns for a future once thought lost. Faced with a life-altering revelation Aunt Joy took to her grave and a wrenching choice regarding the man she loves, Noelle could lose far more than her heart.
About the author:
Traci Borum is a writing teacher and native Texan. She’s also an avid reader of women’s fiction, most especially Elin Hilderbrand and Rosamunde Pilcher novels. Since the age of 12, she’s written poetry, short stories, magazine articles, and novels.
Traci also adores all things British. She even owns a British dog (Corgi) and is completely addicted to Masterpiece Theater-must be all those dreamy accents! Aside from having big dreams of getting a book published, it’s the little things that make her the happiest: deep talks with friends, a strong cup of hot chocolate, a hearty game of fetch with her Corgi, and puffy white Texas clouds always reminding her to “look up, slow down, enjoy your life.”
I'm such a sucker for a good romance, cutesy story, and if you throw in England, specifically the Cotswolds, then oh my word, you have me from the get go.
I think one of the things I most loved about the story, is the way the author Traci Borum, writes it. It just flows.
Have you ever read a book where you find it so hard to get through a paragraph? All these huge words and dry boring run on descriptions of things without ever really getting to the point? Yeah, I don't do well with those, but this one was completely the opposite.
Beautifully written, the words flow, it makes sense and it captivates you from the get go.
Right, now to the most important thing, the story itself.
Noelle is a San Diego girl, but is needing a break, so when she gets a call stating that she inherited a quaint little cottage and an art studio from her famous Aunt Joy, she jumps on it.
At first her only thought is to get the cottage and the studio both set up for selling. She wants to get this done and get back to San Diego, mainly because her boss isn't too thrilled with her being away to begin with.
As she starts getting the cottage cleaned up, she stumbles onto a secret locked room that holds dozens of paintings secretly done by her famous Aunt, but which never made it to light. She quickly realizes the treasure she came upon and what this means for the failing art gallery. Millions will be paid for these paintings.
As she is dealing with all of this, she is also reading her Aunt's journal which make some pretty poignant discoveries.
And if that isn't enough, her childhood sweetheart is hanging around. He is engaged to be married, but both Noelle and Adam fall right into old habits, phone calls, and texting and emails back and forth.
When his fiancee finds out, things quickly go downhill, but the way it all gets resolved in the end is the perfect ending to a perfect book.
The only thing I didn't like about it???????? That it ended. Truthfully, I was so sad when the story came to an end, I would have easily kept reading it forever, that is how much I was enjoying this book.
Give it a try, I think you will really enjoy it.
Thank you to Red Adept Publishing for providing me with a review copy.
4 comments:
Hi Sandra,
Thank you so much for taking the time to read and review my book. I'm thrilled that you enjoyed it! :-)
Traci
I'm with you Sandra, the only thing I didn't like about the book was that it ended!! I wasn't ready to say goodbye to these wonderful characters.
You said: "I started reading it on my Kindle, carried it with me everywhere I went and snuck reads here and there, every chance I had."
That's how I read all my books! Only I also have the amazon app on my old phone (now a mini tablet) so it's easier to carry around and sneak in a few minutes of reading. Either way, kindle or old phone with app, it'sa win-win situation. :-D
Sounds like a story right up your alley. I'll keep my eye out for it at the library!
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