I am happy to feature Jessica Redland's Bear with me on the blog today, which is the opening day of the blog tour. For this standalone story, Jessica has returned to Whitsborough Bay on the North Yorkshire coast.
Jemma has the job of her dreams as curator for the
children’s section of a museum in London. She spends each day surrounded by the
one thing she’s absolutely passionate about: teddy bears. When boyfriend,
Scott, shows a genuine interest in her passion instead of laughing at her for
“playing with teddies all day”, she knows he’s a keeper.
Returning home to the North Yorkshire seaside town of
Whitsborough Bay to celebrate her birthday, Jemma thinks she’s heading for her
happy-ever-after when Scott unexpectedly proposes. So, a few days later, why
isn’t he retuning her calls or responding to her texts?
Julie has always been a wonderful single mother to Jemma and
her little brother, Sean. As owner of specialist teddy bear shop, Bear With Me,
and the creative genius behind the successful range of Ju-Sea Bears, she
inspires Jemma with her ability to balance a demanding career with home life.
So why is the shop now in disarray and why is Sean so upset?
Sam thought he had his future all worked out. With a
promising neurology career, a home, and a devoted fiancée, life was looking
good. But now he’s all alone in a strange city, far from everyone and
everything he cares about, struggling to rebuild the tatters of his life. Did
he do the right thing by running away? What does the future hold and is he
strong enough to face it?
Sometimes love finds us when we least expect it. But
sometimes love leaves us, just as unexpectedly. When you’ve loved and lost, can
you bear to let love in again?
Bear With Me, as all will be revealed!
My Thoughts
I enjoyed returning to Whitsborough Bay to meet some fresh, new characters. I have reviewed two of Jessica's Whitsborough Bay series and you can read the reviews here:
The new characters who are introduced have complicated pasts and both of the main characters, Jemma and Sam, are trying to deal with grief and disappointed dreams. They have both lost important people in their past and are struggling to move on.
There is also a varied and colourful cast of secondary characters. It is not easy to work out whether all of them can be trusted but in the main, they are caring and offer friendship and a sense of family. There are issues of bereavement for both Jemma and Sam to work through. It is striking how much they both have in common. There are some complicated sub-plots to unravel and some light-hearted moments to set against some much more serious themes. At its heart, is a romance but there is certainly more to it than that, as Sam and Jemma come to terms with what they want for the future and appreciate what is important to them.
In short: Another delightful trip to Whitsborough Bay.
About the Author
Jessica had never considered writing as a career until a
former manager kept telling her that her business reports read more like
stories and she should write a book. She loved writing but had no plot ideas.
Then something happened to her that prompted the premise for her debut novel,
Searching for Steven. She put fingers to keyboard and soon realised she had a
trilogy and a novella!
She lives on the stunning North Yorkshire Coast – the
inspiration for the settings in her books – with her husband, daughter, cat,
Sprocker Spaniel, and an ever-growing collection of collectible teddy bears.
Although if the dog has her way, the collection will be reduced to a pile of
stuffing and chewed limbs!
Jessica tries to balance her time – usually unsuccessfully –
between being an HR tutor and writing.
Follow the rest of the tour!
Thank you so much for opening up Bear With Me's blog tour, and for a lovely review xx
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