A Cottage Full of Secrets Published by Boldwood Books by Jane Lovering
on February 15, 2022
Source: Netgalley
Format: ARC, eBook
Find the Author: Twitter, Facebook
Also by this author: Home on Folly Farm: The perfect uplifting romantic comedy for 2021, The Forgotten House on the Moor
Find the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
Rating:
Cottage Two, Bracken Ridge Farm sits at the end of a pitted track, with the glorious Yorkshire moors stretching behind it.
Just a simple two up, two down, the cottage holds the promise of a new start for two very different women, but it is also full of secrets.
Fifty years ago, newly-wed Stella is relishing making the little cottage a happy home. But for all the lovingly handmade curtains, and the hot dinners ready on the table for her husband, Stella’s dreams of married life jar painfully with the truth.
Fifty years later, the cottage is a new beginning for Tamzin. Determined to get away from her previous life, she makes the move to the wild and vast Yorkshire countryside.
When Tamzin finds a sepia photo of a woman, Stella, standing in the cottage’s garden, there’s a sadness in her eyes that Tamzin recognises. As the cottage reveals more of its secrets, Tamzin is desperate to find out whether Stella got her happy ending. And as she gradually makes new friends, and starts to win over her mysterious neighbour Euan, Tamzin dares to dream about her own happy ending too…
Told in dual timelines, this story gives perspectives from both Stella and Tamzin. Stella, whose story takes place sometime around fifty years previous. She was the victim of an abusive husband and, I’ll be honest, it was oftentimes really difficult to read about some of the things he said and did to her.
In an effort to make it out on her own and escape the abuse, Stella moves to Cottage Two.
The parallels between Stella and Tamzin are numerous. Tamzin, also coming from a tumultuous relationship, also finds herself at Cottage Two, Bracken Ridge Farm in Yorkshire.
Tamzin finds clues at the cottage that lead her to learn more about Stella and what she went through. What happened to her.
There was so much emotion in this story and the strength of these two women was inspiring. Jane Lovering’s writing is amazing and drew me in from the first page.
About Jane Lovering
Jane Lovering is the bestselling and award-winning romantic comedy writer who won the RNA Novel of the Year Award in 2012 with Please Don’t Stop the Music. She lives in Yorkshire and has a cat and a bonkers terrier, as well as five children who have now left home. Her first title for Boldwood will be published in September 2020.
