#Review : Winter at West Sands Guest House by Maggie Conway @conwaymd910 @HQDigitalUK @NetGalley

Today I have a review of the lovely Winter at West Sands Guest House for you.  I initially heard about this book through seeing the cover on twitter, it is a gorgeous cover, and given that it is set in St Andrews, Scotland, somewhere not a million miles from me, I was intrigued and decided to give it a go.

Many thanks to HQ Digital UK and Netgalley for letting me have a copy of this book to review and thanks to Maggie Conway for writing such a lovely story.

Blurb:   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…

Buy link:   Amazon UK

 

 

Review:  As I said above I spotted this book because of the cover on twitter, just shows that covers are so important in getting people interested in the book itself.  I think it’s fair to say that from reading what I’ve written above you’ve probably guessed that I enjoyed this book and you’d be right.  This is a lovely winter’s tale of love, misunderstandings and the infamous Scottish weather.

While the writing on the book says it’s a Christmas romance I would say you can read it anytime, Christmas does happen in the story but as the book starts in August and covers from then till January Christmas isn’t central to the story.   As long as you want a cosy, light read this will be perfect at any time of year.

We meet Eva, her son and their dog right at the beginning of the book and are introduced to them and their situation before their new neighbour, Ben arrives.  Initially the two homes and occupants couldn’t be more different, Eva’s house is warm and welcoming just like her whereas Ben’s is cold and uninviting.  Ben has moved north for a fresh start somewhere new but having just come up from London is unused to the friendliness that he encounters in Scotland.

As you would expect things soon start to change but to say more would be giving away too much.  Over the rest of the book we learn more about Eva and why she hasn’t dated since her husband died, why Ben moved so far from London and whether they will become more than just friends.

This is a light and lovely novel, perfect for a cosy read when the weather is miserable or when you just want to be enveloped in a warm hug.  That’s essentially what this book is, a warm hug so if that’s what you’re looking for, regardless of the time of year, this is definitely worth checking out.