Saturday 18 November 2017

Book Review - Winter at West Sands Guest House by Maggie Conway

Amazon UK
Title: Winter at West Sands Guest House
Author: Maggie Conway
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: HQ Digital
Publication Date: 8th November 2017
Rating: 3 Stars


Can Eva find love this Christmas?
Eva Harris has her hands full juggling a young son, a disobedient dog and running her thriving seaside guesthouse, so really the last thing she needs is to be distracted by her new neighbour, ridiculously handsome but arrogant Ben Matthews.

For one thing, she’s got nothing in common with the man, Ben’s a high flying lecturer at the town’s university while she barely scraped through high school, for another he’s fresh out of a relationship while Eva hasn’t been on one single date since the death of her husband, seven years ago!

She’s determined to keep her distance, but in a small town like St Andrews that’s easier said than done, and it doesn’t help that everyone, including her son Jamie, think Ben is wonderful! Breaking out of her sad but safe little bubble might be the hardest thing she’s ever had to do, but Ben might just be worth the risk…

The cover for Winter at West Sands Guest House is absolutely stunning and is ultimately what had persuaded me to give the story a go. However for a tag line that states Christmas romance, it had very little of the real build up to Christmas, and the festive season seemed to be passed over. 

I do agree that it was a romance, but  although there was plenty of chemistry between Eva and Ben,, it took ages for the characters to realise what the reader clearly new, and the ending was ultimately predictable.  

Hamish the puppy was one of the stars of the book, he was adorable and mischievous and no where near trained enough to be running around a guest house. Thankfully it was closed to customers over the winter so there was time to get him trained. 

Eva is an overprotective mother to Jamie, she has her reasons but I felt at times a bit like she was a bit too extreme.  Ben was hard to get a feel for to start with, but I ended up really liking his character, I just wish I knew more about him. 

For a debut book it was ok, and I am certainly curious as to where the author will go next in her writing career, its just that this book didn't fully work for me. 

Thank you to HQ Digital and Netgalley for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...