Opening Line:  “I had not gone on a date in two years.“

Overall:  Evangeline (Evie) Starling’s life has stalled in Chicago, and things are not going well. She has worked at the same publishing company for 10 years and has just been passed over (again) for a promotion she deserves.  She has also just been stood-up on yet another terrible date.  At 33 years old, all her friends have married and started families.  Her Mom is in rehab again and her best friend is now pregnant. Evie realizes she is at a cross-roads in her life.  So, she quits her job,  swears-off men, and then sees an ad to run a bookstore in England for a few weeks of rest and relaxation.  It sounds like just exactly what she needs to get away from her real life for a vacation.  So, she makes the arrangements and travels to the small village of Alnster, in Northumberland, England.  For 4 weeks
she gets to run the local bookstore called, Much Ado About Books, and live in the apartment above the bookshop.  It is like a dream come true for Evie!  She gets to live in and explore a beautiful, small, picturesque, English village while keeping
herself busy running a quaint bookshop.  Evie falls in love with the town right away.  It is a sleepy fishing and farming community by the sea.  Everyone knows everyone’s business and the community is tight knit.  It is so different from the big city of Chicago. She really enjoys working at the bookstore and meeting the local people from the village.  One day she saves a handsome Great Dane from getting hit by a car, and gets to meet the Great Dane’s handsome owner.  A sexy local
farmer named Roane Robson.  He shows interest in her right away and is very good-looking, but she is trying to stay away from men and figure her life out.  He agrees to her, “let’s just be friends” request, even though he’d rather not.  But, she is only going to be in town for 4 weeks and does not need to get romantically involved with anyone that she is going to have to say goodbye to very soon.  But, Roane is kind, caring, protective, hot, hard-working, sexy, handsome, funny and charming.  Everyone in town seems to love him.  How is she to resist?  Is he really as wonderful as he seems or does he have something to hide?  Should she take another big risk and go out with Roane, even though she is leaving to go back to her “real life” in just a few weeks? 

Ovations:  Let’s face it, most all romance books are predictable and have happy endings.  So, it’s all about the question of, did you enjoy the journey to get there?  In this book, the answer is yes!  The whole premise of Evie going on a holiday to a small, seaside  village in England for 4 weeks to have a vacation and sort her life out sounds wonderful!  Plus, the added magical benefit of being able to run a local bookshop and live in the apartment above it would be marvelous!  Where do I sign
up to do that?!?!  I love that we get to know many of the small town’s residents and learn all about their lives as Evie meets and gets to know them.  You get to
understand what it would be like to live in a place where everybody knows you,
knows your business, your past, your whole history, and is maybe even related
to you as well.  The setting and characters were all lovely.  The romance between Evie and Roane was both very sweet and very sexy.  They had great chemistry and a nice, balanced relationship as friends, and then as lovers.  The book was interesting the whole way through and I felt that the side stories added a lot to the plot instead of distracting from it.  It is a very charming story for lovers of travel, England, dogs, books, bookstores, love, and romance.  

Oh Well:  I only had one issue with this book.  But, unfortunately, it was a big one.  The whole “conflict” scene where the relationship runs into it’s “problem” to pull them apart, was not believable for several reasons.  I can’t go into it in too much detail, because I don’t want to spoil anything for you.  But, the first things is, we are expected to believe that she never Googled Roane the whole time she was there?  After her last terrible date in the Chicago and the whole “swearing off men thing”, you would think the first thing she would do after meeting him was Google him and find out what he is about.  But, even if you suspend your disbelief and believe that she would not Google him for info.  The problematic “issue” that comes up is actually a  good thing.  It is something you could talk about in one conversation, not something to end things over.  So, I was very disappointed with that part of the book.  I I can’t say more because things would be even more of a spoiler, so I have to leave it at that.          

Opinion:  I loved the whole plot of this delightful book.  The atmosphere of the location was wonderful.  The English village and it’s people were quaint and charming.  The bookstore was an adorable addition.  The relationship between Evie and Roane was nice because despite their hot chemistry, they were friends first, which is always good.  There was not a lot of witty banter between them, more of just a sweet, sexy, romance.   I was really enjoying this book, until the all the ridiculous issues at the end.  That was a big bummer for me because I really loved the book up until that point. It was going to be rated about a 9.  However, I can’t overlook the problematic stuff near the end.  Rating 7 out of 10