From the bestelling author of Mince Pies and Mistletoe at the Christmas Market and The Cherry Tree Café comes a glorious summer treat of glamping, vintage tearooms and love …
When Lottie Foster’s grandmother’s best friend Gwen dies, she leaves Lottie her lovely home, Cuckoo Cottage.
Lottie loves the cottage but Matt, a charming local builder, points out that beneath its charm it is falling apart. Luckily he is always on hand to help with the problems that somehow seem to keep cropping up. But is he just a bit too good to be true? Certainly Will, Lottie’s closest neighbour, seems to think so.
Lottie plans to set up her own business renovating vintage caravans. She hasn’t told anyone about the project she has cooked up with Jemma from The Cherry Tree Café to repurpose Gwen’s old caravan and turn it into a gorgeous tearoom.
But before she can finally enjoy living with her legacy she must uncover who she can trust, and who to avoid. And with two men vying for her attention, will she also find love?
What does TWG think?
After a little time away from losing myself in one of Heidi Swain’s delectable novels (it wasn’t easy, believe me), I returned to Wynbridge with a spring in my step and copious amounts of excitement. After all, if you have read any of Heidi Swain’s previous novels, you’ll know that returning to Wynbridge is like catching up with old friends whilst making new ones in the process.
Lottie Foster is back in Wynbridge for a flying visit – visit that is, unfortunately, surrounded by a lot of sadness and guilt. Just as Lottie was about to leave Wynbridge and make her way back to her mundane daily life, she is stopped dead in her tracks (pardon the pun) by information that could potentially change her life completely. Well, either that or she ends up being the most talked about woman in the village. Oh, wait…
Having adored Heidi Swain’s previous novels, I was so excited to see what the latest Wynbridge instalment would bring. How was The Cherry Tree Cafe thriving? Were the owners of Skylark Farm still living their dream? Whilst I was looking forward to catching up with some old friends, Lottie’s arrival in Wynbridge took over my thoughts in more ways than one. First of all, she didn’t exactly make a calm entrance back into the village, now did she? I probably shouldn’t have laughed at that, but I did, sorry!
As soon as the front door of Cuckoo Cottage was unlocked, I just knew that Lottie’s new life wasn’t going to be as plain sailing as she would have liked. I was waiting for the guy to come in and rescue the ‘damsel in distress’. It didn’t seem to matter whether she was actually ‘in distress’ or not but, sure enough, a male swooped in and popped himself on Lottie’s radar. Predictable? A teeny bit. However, what I wasn’t expecting was a second male character to swoop in and re-rescue the ‘damsel in distress’. Predictable? Not in the slightest, although he (Matt) seemed to appear out of nowhere like he was waiting for the right moment to pounce.
I wouldn’t say that I fell in love with Lottie’s character straight away but, because I had grown accustom to the closeness of the current Wynbridge residents as part of the previous novels, I felt as though Lottie Foster was a little bit of an outsider and I was hoping she hadn’t moved to Wynbridge, purely to cause trouble. Sounds a bit daft getting protective over a fictional village I know, but it’s a little bit difficult not to emotionally attach yourself to the village and its hardworking residents. I felt as though we have come such a long way already by overcoming such heart-breaking hurdles with various characters, I guess I just didn’t want their lives unraveling due to Lottie’s situation.
Matt annoyed me from the moment he stepped foot into Cuckoo Cottage. Obviously I cannot divulge the reasons why as it’ll give away the storyline but, he really needs to take a good hard look in the mirror and grow up (and yes, that’s the nice way of putting it!). As for Lottie and Will’s friendship, it seemed to me that she had only been back in the village a moment of minutes before she was dreaming of getting jiggy with her new neighbour. Whilst their friendship certainly was entertaining, I did feel as though they had reached 0-100 in the blink of an eye. Or maybe I’m just old-fashioned.
Overall, I found that ‘Coming Home to Cuckoo Cottage’ was such a joy to read, keeping me entertained from start to finish. Yes certain parts of the storyline came across as a little predictable, but, it didn’t take any of the Wynbridge away, nor did it ruin my enjoyment of the novel at all. The more I read of the book, the more I found myself warming to Lottie Foster and her little personality quirks – especially how she threw herself into emergency situations. For me, I preferred that side of her personality, and I truly believe that there is a lot more to Ms.Foster than we were shown. Hopefully she will return in later books (if any) as I really feel she is a gem just waiting to be discovered properly.
‘Coming Home to Cuckoo Cottage’ was such a pleasurable read which was full of giggles, heart-warming moments, live rivals, and memories. It is so hard not to fall in love with Wynbridge but, once again, I fell in love with it one more time.
Wynbridge may be magical in itself, but it’s Heidi Swain’s energising and exquisite storytelling which makes it that way, as well as making me come back for more. Stunning.
Thanks Netgalley.
The Writing Garnet 
Good morning 🐞
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