Schneesturm im Frühling

by Rosamunde Pilcher

Die Hochzeitsvorkehrungen sind in vollem Gange, doch Caroline stellt sich Fragen, die eine glückliche Braut sich nicht stellen sollte. Auf einer Reise nach Schottland spürt sie plötzlich, was ihr fehlt. Die Begegnung mit Oliver bewahrt sie vor einem folgenschweren Schritt.

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Scotland, Chick Lit, Historical Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary

187 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Rosamunde Scott was born on 22 September 1924 in Lelant, Cornwall, England, UK, daughter of Helen and Charles Scott, a British commander. Just before her birth her father was posted in Burma, her mother remained in England. She attended St. Clare's Polwithen and Howell's School Llandaff before going on to Miss Kerr-Sanders' Secretarial College. She began writing when she was seven and published her first short story when she was 18. From 1943 through 1946, Pilcher served with the Women's Naval Service. On 7 December 1946, she married Graham Hope Pilcher, a war hero and jute industry executive who died in March 2009. They moved to Dundee, Scotland, where she remained until her death in 2019. They had two daughters and two sons, and fourteen grandchildren. Her son, Robin Pilcher, is also a novelist.

In 1949, her first book, a romance novel, was published by Mills & Boon, under the pseudonym Jane Fraser. She published a further ten novels under that name. In 1955, she also began writing under her married name Rosamunde Pilcher, by 1965 she her own name to all of her novels. In 1996, her novel Coming Home won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by Romantic Novelists' Association. She retired from writing in 2000 following publication of Winter Solstice. Two years later, she was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Reviews

[Geo Just Reading My Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Translation widget on the blog!!!
Autoarea Rosamunde Pilcher oferă cititorilor săi și de data aceasta o poveste plină de emoții, o căutare a sinelui, o cunoaștere a propriei persoane și o înțelegere aparte nu doar a propriilor dorințe, cât și a vieții.
Zăpadă în aprilie este un roman deosebit, care îți captează atenția de la primele propoziții și pe care nu îl poți lăsa din mână până la sfârșit. O lectură intensă, o lecție de viață și o călătorie care înseamnă nu doar căutarea unui frate pribeag, cât și căutarea propriei persoane, cunoașterea de sine, înțelegerea propriilor dorințe și emoții.
Recenzia mea completă o găsiți aici:
https://justreadingmybooks.wordpress....

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is 1970s Pilcher at her best! I didn’t care for the over-the-top machismo, but it was still a story full of atmosphere and drama. Maybe too much drama. 😆 It’s easy to forgive since it’s beautiful Scotland in the snow! A fun, quick read. ❄️❄️❄️

[Julie Durnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh, this was no way near as good as Coming Home or Winter Solstice or Shell Seekers.

[Έλσα · Rating 4 out of 5]

Πρωτη επαφη με Πιλτσερ. Ωραια κ γρηγορη ιστορια! Απλη γραφη, χωρις πολλες περιγραφες, που κουραζουν τον αναγνωστη. Βεβαια στο τελος ηθελα κατι παραπανω. Δεν ξερω τι.. μαλλον διαφορετικη καταληξη ή μια ανατροπη. Τελειωσε πολυ συγκαταβατικα κ αποτομα. Παρ' ολα αυτα διαβαζεται ξεκουραστα!

[Georgia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Δείτε επίσης και στο Chill and read

Ροσαμούντ Πίλτσερ και άρα ένα ρομαντικό βιβλίο με το οποίο θα περάσω χαλαρά και ανάλαφρα την ώρα μου, γνωρίζοντας παράλληλα και κάποιο μέρος της Βρετανικής υπαίθρου. Αυτή τη φορά, ταξίδεψα στη Σκοτία. Ας πάρουμε όμως τα πράγματα από την αρχή.

Η Καρολάιν και ο αδερφός της ο Τζόντι ζουν με τη μητριά τους στο Λονδίνο. Παλιότερα, όσο ζούσε ο πατέρας τους, κατοικούσαν σε ένα Ελληνικό νησί, το Άφρος, γέννημα της φαντασίας της συγγραφέως. Έχουν κι ένα μεγαλύτερο αδερφό, τον Άνγκους, ο οποίος όμως όταν η Νταϊάνα πήρε τα παιδιά και μετακόμισαν στο Λονδίνο, ήταν ήδη δεκαεννιά χρονών και επέλεξε να μην τους ακολουθήσει. Από τότε εν τον έχουν δει πολλές φορές, καθώς εκείνος ταξίδεψε στην Ινδία και σε άλλα μέρη του κόσμου, ενώ η Καρολάιν και ο Τζόντι έμειναν στο Λονδίνο και δεν επέστρεψαν ποτέ στο Άφρος. Όμως η ζωή τους πρόκειται να αλλάξει και πάλι.

Η Νταϊάνα με το νέο της σύζυγο, τον Σον, πρόκειται να μετακομίσουν στον Καναδά και φυσικά θέλουν να πάρουν μαζί τους τον Τζόντι. Η Καρολάιν θα μείνει στο Λονδίνο μιας αι είναι ήδη είκοσι χρονών και σύντομα θα παντρευτεί. Όμως ο εντεκάχρονος Τζόντι δεν μπορεί να μείνει μαζί της. Δε θέλει όμως και να μετακομίσει στον Καναδά! Έτσι, όταν λαμβάνει ένα τηλεγράφημα από τον αδερφό του που του λέει ότι βρίσκεται στη Σκοτία, ο ενθουσιασμένος Τζόντι καταστρώνει ένα σχέδιο που φέρνει τον ίδιο και την αδερφή του στο δρόμο για τη Σκοτία. Είναι πλέον Απρίλης και ο καιρός στο Λονδίνο είναι καλός. Ανεβαίνοντας όμως στο Βορρά, μια χιονοθύελλα τους ακινητοποιεί στο δρόμο. Ευτυχώς γι’ αυτούς, ο Όλιβερ Κέρνι θα τους καλοδεχτεί στο σπίτι του και θα φροντίσει να μην αρρωστήσουν από το κρύο.

Δεν ξέρω αν φταίει η εποχή που έγραψε το βιβλίο η Πίλτσερ ή η Βρετανική ιδιοσυγκρασία, αλλά οι χαρακτήρες του βιβλίου μου φάνηκαν περίεργοι, ακόμη και αστείοι. Υπήρχε αυτή η μητριά η οποία προσπαθούσε να τα έχει όλα υπό έλεγχο και τακτοποιημένα, χωρίς όμως να είναι κακιά ή να φέρεται με άσχημο τρόπο. Δείχνει να αγαπάει τα παιδιά του νεκρού άντρα της, δε δείχνει όμως να τα καταλαβαίνει. Κι εκείνα, προσπαθούν να την ικανοποιούν γιατί είναι τόσο καλή μαζί τους, ακόμα κι αν αυτό σημαίνει ότι θα πρέπει να κάνουν κάτι που δεν θέλουν.

Η Καρολάιν στην αρχή μου φάνηκε πολύ σνομπ και κακομαθημένη, όμως δεν ήταν παρά ένα παιδί, μια νέα κοπέλα αν θέλετε, που δεν είχε κάποιον να τη συμβουλεύσει. Κάποιον στον οποίο να μπορεί να μιλήσει ανοιχτά, να την ακούσει και να της δώσει τις κατάλληλες συμβουλές. Έτσι, καταλήγει να ετοιμάζεται να δέσει τη ζωή της με κάποιον τον οποίο απλά συμπαθεί.

Μου άρεσαν πολύ οι περιγραφές της Σκοτίας και το Κέρνι, ή όσο από αυτό καταφέραμε να γνωρίσουμε. Θα ήθελα κι εγώ ένα εξοχικό σαν το Κέρνι, με τη λίμνη του, τα λιβάδια του, ακόμα και τους περίεργους γείτονες! Αν και όχι αυτούς που νομίζουν ότι μπορούν να αποφασίζουν για το μέλλον μου.

Ήταν ένα γρήγορο, χαλαρό, γλυκό βιβλίο του οποίου την ανάγνωση απόλαυσα!

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Caroline is due to marry within the next week to a man she’s unsure she loves but takes a spontaneous trip to Scotland with her younger brother after hearing word that their estranged older brother was living there. After an unfortunate accident in a blizzard leaves the two stranded, they meet a man named Oliver living nearby who takes them in.

I’ve heard lovely things about Rosamunde Pilcher’s books, most especially The Shell Seekers, but I made the decision to pick up Snow in April for one important reason: it satisfied the ‘April, May or June in Title’ square on my Bookish Bingo card. hahaha Okay, I’m sure that’s a horrible reason but this was still a light, fluffy read that I enjoyed for the most part. Snow in April was written in 1972 so switching from a modern mindset is necessary as most of the goings on are fairly ridiculous.

It reminded me a lot of a soap opera with the constant dramatic shenanigans yet was lacking in the steamy goodness that you’d typically expect with a soap opera or a trashy romance novel. It had the feel of a guilty pleasure type novel just minus the whole point of those types of novels (don’t lie to yourself, the steamy scenes are the only reason we read trashy romances). The romance is very simple and develops QUICKLY even though Caroline is engaged to be married. But her husband? Is her step-mothers brother. Plus Caroline is 20 and he’s 33. Was that a thing in the 70′s or something because… no.

So Caroline travels to Scotland, gets stranded and is cared for by the (supposed to be-I didn’t see it) swoony Oliver. At one point in her two day visit, she starts feeling sick and refuses to eat dinner, attributing her sickness to her impending nuptials and ‘nerves’. Oliver proceeds to force feed her spoonfuls of soup as Caroline literally sobs during the whole thing. That was such a wtf moment because, you know, she only just met this man who just barged into her bedroom and tried to choke her with soup. It was just laughable, not swoony. There’s also of course the requisite girl that’s interested in Oliver and she begins fearing that Caroline is getting in the way of her happily ever after (because she can totally tell he likes Caroline a lot… after 2 days) so she sets out to run her out of town.

Snow in April is no literary masterpiece but it’s 245 pages (with extremely large font to boot) that managed to entertain me on a quiet Saturday night. There might not have been any swoony goodness but there is a happily ever after and those are enjoyable to read every once in a great while.

[Mela · Rating 4 out of 5]

...life is too short to look back over your shoulder. You only lose the way and stumble and probably fall flat on your face. I'd rather look forward

A charming story by Rosamunde Pilcher. Of course, I don't compare her first novels with her latest (which are brilliant). But I adore her love stories. They are old-fashioned, nowadays no one would write such hero and heroine, but I have sometimes enough of all those modern romances, all with, more or less, the same characters.

Pilcher takes me each time to a different world - I love dreaming in them. And her characters are fascinating and complex (even if the book is rather short), and they would be great for a longer story too.

[4-4.5 stars - compering to other books by the author, amidst other books of the genre it deserves 5]

[Carolyn Hill · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I heard that Rosamunde Pilcher had died, I turned to my bookshelves for a quick re-read of one of her novels I hadn't read in a long time. I have re-read her later longer books in the last couple of years, so I went back to one published in 1972. This was a quick read and had its charms, but it was a rather silly romance with a young heroine who needed a man to sort her out. Pilcher's heroes are often successful men of business used to telling people what to do. This type has never appealed to me, however. I was the same age of the heroine Caroline at the time the book was published, and I couldn't imagine myself at the time doing any of the things the heroine did. Drive from London to Scotland on a whim without telephoning the person you plan to meet there? (A telephone call would have totally changed the outcome of the story.) Leave a week before your wedding without telling your fiance? Not have your terrible abdominal pains checked out by a doctor? Marry a person you don't even know? I also thought it rather weird that Caroline was planning to marry her step-mother's brother. Pilcher seems to use other scenarios of marrying in the family, that I just don't get. Is it a British thing from an older generation? The character of the younger brother Jody was appealing as was Caroline's affection for him, which pushes her to make the hare-brained trip which ended in a wreck in a Scottish snow bank. However, an eleven-year-old's ideas should have been tempered by an adult's. Not the case here. All-in-all, it was a rather ridiculous story, but I went along for the ride.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this for all the reasons I adore Rosamunde Pilcher's stories: warm, endearing characters with an element of "found family" to the storyline; delicious domestic details that make something as simple as a well-made bed and a cup of tea by the fire something I could read about for days; an atmospheric British setting (Scotland this time); and a house that plays an important part of the story. It's all so good! Cozy and inviting. Nobody is better than Pilcher when it comes to that stuff.

The only problem I had with this book? It's too short! Not only because I'm greedy and want at least 500 pages of Pilcher's writing to sink into, but because it simply wasn't long enough for the characters and relationships to develop the way they needed to. The romance in particular was a case of insta-love that was rushed through. I just needed more in order to really care about the characters and for the resolution of the story to be believable.

Still, I had a nice time reading this and there were many things to like about it. Even a lesser Rosamunde Pilcher book is better than so many others. Worth reading, but it'll probably just serve to make you want to pick up Winter Solstice again. I know it did me! 3.5 stars

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Αν κάτι το διασώζει από το ένα αστέρι είναι ότι η γραφή δεν είναι ντιπ κατά ντιπ. Δεν μπορούμε να εξομοιώσουμε την Ρόζαμουντ με τις Χρυσαλλίδες και τα Κρεμμύδια του ενός αστεριού ελλείψει μηδέν ή μείον.
Αλλά και αυτή το έχει παραξηλώσει. Τα ίδια και τα ίδια χωρίς καν να πλησιάζουν τις αρετές του "Ψάχνοντας για κοχύλια". Έχω διαβάσει πιο ενδιαφέροντα άρλεκιν και όχι τόσο προβλέψιμα.
Διάβαζε η Αθηνά Τσάση, ταιριαστή φωνή στην ιστορία.

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit like a Hallmark Channel movie, but not too syrupy. Nice clean romantic fluff. I enjoyed.

[Chrissie Whitley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of the three Pilcher novels I have read (The Shell Seekers, September, and Winter Solstice), this was not only a much earlier book, published in 1972, but one that is much shorter and has much less substance — especially when compared to what I have come to expect from a Pilcher novel.

The comparisons I have seen in other reviews that liken this to a Hallmark movie are far more correct than not — this was very fluffy and far more focused on a surface-level romance rather than the deep emotional bond or connection I have gotten from each of the other books I mentioned. There was very little by way of atmosphere — which I've also come to count on in her books. The atmospheric warmth (even when knee-deep in snow) of Scotland and the people of the village is absent ... or there with barely a hint. And while there is an old Scottish house, it doesn't seem to take on a role within the story as though it was another character on its own.

However, despite the downfalls of Snow in April, I could still catch glimpses of the Pilcher who would come to write her most famous novels, The Shell Seekers and September.

Audiobook, as narrated by Lucy Paterson: Paterson did a fine job here. She really had a lovely voice and provided wonderful narration for a variety of characters from young to old and male or female.

[JayeL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rosamunde Pilcher's books are primarily about relationships between people. It is clear that people are fallible and that their fallibility is not fatal. It is clear that people don't think about their lives until they are faced with the reality. The 'good guys' are not great heros. They are just people. Conversely, the 'bad guys' are not terrible, horrifying people. They are people trying to get what they want and making bad decisions. People, in Pilcher's books, are doing the best they can. These qualities make her books seem really real to me.

Snow in April is a 1972 book, so the smoking is still quite prominent, as it was in Another View. Another thing I like about Pilcher's books is the people have very civilized seeming lives. Snow in April opens with Caroline in the bath before she dresses to go down to dinner. It would be so lovely to be able to come home from work, have a bath, change and go downstairs for a drink followed by dinner. The delicious description of the bathroom makes me want to go there right now and take a bath.

Pilcher is the writer who made me want to eat cassoulet. I don't even know what it is in reality, but her descriptions of the dish makes my mouth water.

Very entertaining books.

[Nσҽɱí · Rating 2 out of 5]

Empecé el libro muy bien, aunque es corto, la historia tenía buena pinta, pero a medida que iba leyendo le ha ido faltando chicha y el final ha sido todo muy rápido y soso.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Rosamunde Pilcher-- my mom introduced her to me when I was younger and lived off happy love stories. I still enjoyed the novel-- just wouldn't rate it as a favorite. However, for what it is (a quick, easy feel good novel you read by a fire with a cup of tea) it delivers. It isn't as good as her other easy-reads, so comparing it to them I would give it three out of five stars. For example, I loved Wild Mountain Thyme and The Carrousel, but did not love this one. On a final note, if you find love stories that primarily deal with a heroine who "just can't do a darned thing by herself" and needs a rude, imposing male figure to sort out her life for her due to this chronic inability to think for herself (which comes inherently with the female sex, apparently) demeaning, then this isn't a good choice for you. It is a bit daunting-- definitely not a modern novel.

[Phrynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not in the same league at all as her more famous book The Shell Seekers but still a delightfully entertaining story about families and romance. It is a light and easy read which I finished in just a couple of hours, but they were hours I enjoyed very much. Highly recommended for anyone who needs cheering up by a real happy ending.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook. Really liked the narrator. These shorter Pilcher books are good, but just more rushed. Would've loved a full length novel but enjoyable in my opinion.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent story but not one that really entranced me, unlike other books by Pilcher that I have read. But this was a good book as “nightmare antidote” and I read it almost exclusively before bed and/or while awake in the middle of the night thanks to insomnia. It was an easy read and it had a happy ending, which is something I do so enjoy!!

[Karla · Rating 3 out of 5]

"La vida es demasiado corta como para mirar atrás. Eso sólo sirve para salirse del camino, tropezar y probablemente caer de bruces. Yo prefiero mirar hacia delante."

[Pallavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 star
RTC
Happy reading!!

[Sotiris Karaiskos · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the author's "seasonal" books that take us to Scotland, in the part of the year that balances between winter and spring. In this beautiful landscape, there is love somewhere hidden waiting for some coincidences to make its appearance. Maybe not something very complicated and original, with a quick plot in its small size but the usual stamp of the author that can bring out the beauty out of ordinary things is clear enough to make this book an interesting read for a few cloudy spring days.

Ένα από τα "εποχικά" βιβλία της συγγραφέως το οποίο μας μεταφέρει στην Σκωτία, στο μέρος της χρονιάς που ακροβατεί ανάμεσα στον χειμώνα και την άνοιξη. Μέσα σε αυτό το ωραίο τοπίο υπάρχει κάπου κρυμμένος ο έρωτας που περιμένει μερικές συμπτώσεις για να κάνει την εμφάνιση του. Ίσως όχι κάτι ιδιαίτερα περίπλοκο και πρωτότυπο, με γρήγορη πλοκή στο μικρό μέγεθος του αλλά η συνηθισμένη σφραγίδα της συγγραφέως που μπορεί να βγάζει ομορφιά από τα συνηθισμένα πράγματα είναι αρκετά έντονο για να κάνει αυτό το βιβλίο ένα ενδιαφέρον ανάγνωσμα για μερικές συννεφιασμένες ανοιξιάτικες ημέρες.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caroline Cliburn is to be married in a week. Why then does she up and take her younger brother from London to Scotland to go track down their wandering older brother? This story follows Caroline and Jody as they run smack into a snowstorm and find themselves stuck in Scotland with no way to get home. And, as in all Rosamunde Pilcher books, there is potential love in the air.

As with some of the other shorter Pilcher novels I have read, the story (particularly the denouement) felt rushed to me and not as fully flushed out as it could be. That being said, even not as good Pilcher is better than so much else out there! I recommend this for anyone who already loves her books.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was practically weaned on Rosamunde Pilcher, and I can't help loving her lovely little stories of English life. She's very much along the lines of Maeve Binchy, though she was writing mostly in the 70s. The short ones like these are just pleasant books you can read in a day and forget. The longer ones (The Shell Seekers is the one everybody knows) are absolutely wonderful. I'll probably read them all every seven years or so for the rest of my life.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

My least favorite Pilcher book so far. I didn't like any of the main characters (except maybe Jody) and why would Caroline fall in love with a guy who was always telling her to "shut up" and that he was going to beat her if she didn't eat her soup? This is a silly romance novel but a quick read.

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know why I love Rosamunde Pilcher so much! Her heroines are always young, put upon, and vulnerable. They are often engaged to the wrong man, as with this one. Her heroes are nice, strong, and sensible. The books are not really humorous or suspenseful. But these domestic family dramas(again, not really Dramas with a capitol D. more like Pickles as in Predicaments.) are charming, warm, and cozy. A very nice romance is always the centerpiece. And the endings are very satisfying. They are just lovely. They create a world (usually in Scotland) that you just want to live in, and as long as the book lasts, you feel like you do. This is not my favorite but I still really liked it. The heroine, Caroline, was really stupid about her health, and made some really bad decisions, which the hero, Oliver, chewed her out for. Her stupidity is my main complaint. Everything else is why I love Rosamunde Pilcher. Before I move on to another audio book author, I must read another one. I just can't let that world go just yet.

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tras cuatro meses de sequía lectora en la que he empezado lo menos cuatro libros y no he sido capaz de terminar ninguno, ha tenido que venir mi escritora favorita a sacarme del apuro.
Este libro no es ninguna maravilla, pero como siempre, Rosamunde Pilcher no me defrauda.
Espero que esto me sirva de lanzadera para volver a la lectura con fuerza de nuevo.

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

De esos romances que se dan sin darse cuenta
Lectura ligera, pero bonita.
Y la autora sabe cómo transmitir los sentimientos de una forma sutil.

[Renée | apuzzledbooklover · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was my choice for my monthly ‘month title’ book challenge. It’s a quick read. I finished it in a day. The premise is this, Caroline is set to be married in a week, yet on a whim she travels to Scotland with her younger brother to try to find their estranged brother. They become stuck in a snowstorm where they are rescued and taken in by Oliver, a grumpy Scot. You can likely guess what happens from there. This book didn’t capture my interest the same way some of her other books have. It was okay, but not great.

3.5/5 stars

[Cathryn Conroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes a girl just needs a little ChickLit. And when I feel that way, Rosamunde Pilcher is one of my favorite go-to authors.

In two words, this is what makes "Snow in April" so delightful: It's short. Or, more accurately, it's the perfect length. This love story is simple and sweet, and Pilcher tells it magnificently. She doesn't draw it out to be 200 pages longer than it needs to be and turn that simple and sweet story into an eye-rolling soap opera, a common problem with the ChickLit genre. This novel is succinct and to the point. And utterly charming.

Twenty-year-old Caroline Cliburn is engaged to be married to man 13 years her senior and really rather perfect—well, at least on paper he's perfect. Caroline and her 11-year-old brother, Jody, are orphans who live with their stepmother, Diana, and her new husband, Shaun. Although Diana is controlling and bossy, she is not an evil stepmother; she loves Caroline and Jody and they love her. After the wedding, Diana and Shaun will be moving from their London home to Montreal with Jody in tow. He doesn't want to go. Caroline and Jody have an older brother, Angus, whom they have just learned is working in a hotel in Scotland after cavorting around India and Afghanistan. In an ill-fated attempt to reach Angus, Caroline and Jody sneak off to Scotland, crashing their car in a ditch during an April blizzard. Fortunately (this IS ChickLit, after all), the aforementioned ditch is on the extensive property of a beautiful mansion. The siblings trudge to the door, which is opened by one Oliver Cairney, a man who is suffering from a recent tragedy. The story is how these two strangers—Caroline and Oliver—change one another's lives while forced together during a blizzard and its aftermath.

Yes, the characters are one-dimensional, and much of the plot is predictable. But all that is saved by the splendid writing and the tight storyline.

This is a lovely little novel that will take your mind off the real world. Of course, it's not great literature, but it wasn't meant to be. It was meant to be an entertaining and captivating story, and it succeeds masterfully at that.

[Gina House · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wanted to give this book more than 4 stars. I loved every second of it until the middle of the book. The bathroom scene at the beginning of the story won me over right away and all of the cozy domestic details about the homes, clothes, and food were just perfect.

(Spoiler Alert)

When I got to the middle of the book, things sadly changed with how I viewed the characters. It was upsetting to read that the main character, Oliver (a person we're supposed to like as readers), starts acting in such a bullying and overbearing way towards Caroline.

There are numerous occasions in which he tells her to "shut up" and that made me stop enjoying the book as much. Since he is at least 10 years older than her, I thought that his behavior towards her was unfair and cruel. I found that, although I really liked him when we first meet him in the story, I steadily began to like him less and less.

He never even apologizes for his yelling at her or for forcing food onto her when she was sick with appendicitis. Although it wasn't surprising that they end up becoming engaged at the end of the book, I was wishing that the author had made Oliver more likable or had him explain his behavior to Caroline and say that he was sorry.

I truly thought that this book was going to be a new Rosamunde Pilcher favorite, but I was truly let down. Other than Oliver's behavior from the middle until almost the end of the book, the story was engrossing, interesting, and I was very invested in all of the characters. Jodie was definitely a favorite while reading Snow in April.

I wonder if other readers had the same experience as I did.