Today I am featuring the third and fourth books in the Book Lovers Series: Natural Born Readers and Scenes from a Country Bookshop. They can both be read as standalones and centre around the bookish Nightingale family who live in beautiful Suffolk.
Can the past always be forgiven?
Ben Stratton and Bryony
Nightingale. Everybody thought they’d be together forever. But, when Ben
leaves the small market town of Castle Clare to travel the world,
Bryony is heartbroken, seeing his departure as the ultimate betrayal.
Throwing
herself into her work running the much-loved children’s bookshop,
Bryony determines to forget Ben and to start dating again. But Ben
doesn’t make it easy for her, sending her postcards filled with his love
and posting her foreign editions of all the great romantic novels from
the countries he’s travelling through.
Then, after six long
years, the unexpected happens and Ben returns, determined to win Bryony
back. But will she forgive him and does he have the courage to tell her
the truth about why he left her?
My Thoughts
I would say that this one is my favourite of the four books in the series which I have read. I think it is because the two central characters are so engaging, especially Bryony who is full of colour and personality. I can absolutely picture her Children's Bookshop with all its life and love of books. The more you find out about Ben's reasons for leaving Castle Clare all those years ago, the more you come to understand him.
Although this can be read as a standalone, you will get more from the series if you start with Book one as the family members and a few other characters are featured in all the books as their lives move on. Reading from the beginning sets them in context. In this volume, you see Bryony's caring and considerate side as she befriends a neighbour. You also get an insight into her relationship with her father who up to now has had a slightly more background role.
Love can sometimes be really complicated...
Josh
Nightingale has always been married to his books. Happy to run his
bookshop in the small town of Castle Clare, he’s never really had time
for romance and truly believes that he’s never going to fall in love.
But, when April Channing opens a new shop opposite his, everything
changes.
Sweet and attentive one moment, abrupt and aloof the
next, Josh really can’t understand April at all. What exactly is going
on? Josh is pretty sure that the answer can’t be found in a book.
My Thoughts
As expected, this is the one where Josh gets to take centre stage and to shine although you also meet up with his siblings and see how they are getting on. His friendship with a certain shopkeeper takes him by surprise and he has to face some difficult facts about her life. I enjoyed the contrast between the Nightingales' family life and that of April's family who much more unconventional. However, both families show real family love.
Winston, who has featured in previous books, usually at Sam's book club meetings also has a part to play in Josh's story and you get to find out some surprising facts about his earlier life and his relationship with his brother. In all, a lovely series, which is eminently readable and inviting.
Victoria Connelly studied English literature at Worcester
University, got married in a medieval castle in the Yorkshire Dales and now
lives in rural Suffolk with her artist husband, a young springer spaniel and a
flock of ex-battery hens.
She is the author of two bestselling series, Austen Addicts
and The Book Lovers, as well as many other novels and novellas. Her first
published novel, Flights of Angels, was made into a film in 2008 by Ziegler
Films in Germany. The Runaway Actress was shortlisted for the Romantic
Novelists’ Association’s Romantic Comedy Novel award.
Ms Connelly loves books, films, walking, historic buildings
and animals. If she isn’t at her keyboard writing, she can usually be found in
her garden, with either a trowel in her hand or a hen on her lap.
Check out my reviews of Books 1 and 2 in the series
here.
Check out the rest of the tour!
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