A holiday which doesn’t go as expected.
Spending the holiday at the Isle of Scilly didn’t turn out to go as expected for single – mother Beth. The original plan was to go with her own mother and her five – year – old daughter Ellie. But now Beth and Ellie are staying in their holiday cottage, with Beth still grieving over the loss of her mother.
When their week there turns out to be the most rainy one, she finds herself being persuaded by the Treneary family to prolong their stay, even if cottage owner Trystan Treneary isn’t aware of these changes as he planned to stay in the cottage after Beth and Ellie left.
Sparks start to fly around between Beth and Trystan, but with Beth living in Plymouth and Trystan in London, this could never be more than a holiday fling… especially as Trystan is not ready for a family…
I will start by just saying how much I just ADORE the Treneary family! This is my third return to them and the Isle of Scilly, and each time I fall deeper in love with the place and the family!
In the start of this book, Beth’s family situation isn’t 100% clear. We know she is on her own looking after Ellie and we know Beth recently just lost her mother. So I can imagine how difficult things are at the moment for her.
Yet the more was revealed of Beth’s life, the more I admired her choices and courage. Having a child is already not an easy task, so I was in awe when Beth talks about the choice she made.
Ellie is just adorable! She is curious, eager, a bit stubborn, so lovable and I just wanted jump into the book to go on the train with her, build sandcastles and play with her!
I absolutely had a blast reading how Trystan finds himself overwhelmed not only by Beth but also by Ellie. For those who have read the previous parts of the series, we know from before the start that Trystan isn’t ready for a family, so it came also as a complete surprise seeing how easily Ellie manages to steal his heart. Ellie is for sure a force of nature to reckon with!
It saddened me terrible discovering the reason why Trystan and his brother Lowen aren’t getting along. So I have all my fingers and toes and all other body parts that are crossable, crossed, that in the next book, these once close brothers will find each other again!
And while between Beth and Trystan it starts with a physical attraction, it warmed my heart to see how at ease they are with each other, able to completely open up. Both main characters have their problems, and even if nobody can offer a real solution, with Beth and Trystan just listening to each other, and having some hurt in common, shows that just being there can be the perfect medicine.
Obviously, as their lives are taking place in different cities, and Scilly is just a holiday place, the getting together was the easiest bit…
And I liked how the author was able to capture the doubts Beth was having. Because Beth doesn’t has to look only at herself, but she wants to protect Ellie too. Even if I didn’t like it at all when she was back in Plymouth and acted the way she did.
But on the other hand, I liked it how Trystan gave her the space she needed, yet also did some real nice things for Ellie (talking about swoon – worthy material!).
This was a wonderful next chapter in of a marvellous series. You don’t have to have read the previous parts, but I truly recommend it as I am sure you will fall in love with the place and its inhabitants!
And while it would be easy for an author to fall in the trap of writing the same thing all over again but with slight differences, Hannah Ellis wrote a story totally different from the previous ones, showing that love doesn’t always come easy, but it’s absolutely worth it. And that with the right perfect, you can long for something you never wanted before.