
Synopsis
Fate’s about to make mischief…
One minute Lou is happily employed, with a perfect flat. The next, her home and job have gone. Suddenly she has to start over.
The last thing Lou wants is to move to a tiny Cotswolds village. She certainly doesn’t intend to work for curmudg-eonly eighty-year-old Edgar Allsopp. But Edgar is about to make her the kind of promise nobody could ignore. In return, she secretly vows to help him fall in love with life again.
Foxwell is also home to Remy, whose charm and charisma are proving hard to ignore. But Lou hasn’t recovered from the last time she fell for a charmer. She needs a distraction – and luckily one’s about to turn up.
Secrets never stay hidden for long in Foxwell, nor are promises always kept. And no one could guess what lies ahead…
My Review
Lou believes that she is only passing through Foxwell whilst spending some time with her friend Sammy that is until she bumps into Foxwell’s grumpiest resident, 80 year old Edgar. Edgar makes Lou a proposal that is too good to be true i.e. that if Lou becomes Edgar’s carer that when he passes she will inherit his home Walton House. Edgar has no family and no one he is close to so Lou decides to find out why Edgar is the way he is and helps him reconnect with an old flame. Also in Foxwell is Sammy’s older brother Remy who Lou cannot help but like more than she should.
One of my favourite things about a new Jill Mansell book is the map at the beginning because it helps me connect to the location, the characters in the story and where they are when the storyline is unfolding. I really liked the sound of Foxwell and Edgar’s home sounded like the perfect country home/mansion.
This was such an enjoyable read and it was nice to escape to Foxwell whilst reading. I knew after reading the first chapter that I was going to like this book. The first meeting between Lou and Edgar was memorable and comedic that had me laughing and smiling especially as Lou tries to help Edgar who’s fallen but he hits her with his walking stick as he believes he is being mugged. But in that first meeting grumpy Edgar takes a shine to Lou. He realises that he needs help and that Lou is the person to be his carer so he quickly connects with Lou making sure he has her contact details and then puts forward his proposal. Although Edgar’s offer sounds ideal Lou has to put up with a lot and Edgar expects a lot from her and it isn’t until later on in the book that Edgar realises how lucky he is to have Lou. I loved the addition of Captain Oates, the dog. He is the perfect companion for Edgar as he is another version of Edgar in dog form. They have the same temperament when it comes to people, are both grumpy and snappy.
Lou is a very caring character and this is apparent from the beginning. She is a very attentive carer, always putting people first but she does open a can of worms when she helps Edgar reconnect with Della who’s intentions towards Edgar are less that favourable. As a character Lou has lost her husband and finds herself newly single but she is apprehensive about starting a relationship with anyone because of the way that she was treated by her husband. When Remy makes an appearance Lou starts to reassess her position on relationships. I loved the interactions between Lou and Remy. It was clear that Lou really liked Remy but she believes that he was out of her reach and that he didn’t see her as anything other than his brother’s best friend. However, as we quickly learn Remy likes Lou more than a friend but he’s never actually pursued anything with her because he believed mistakenly that something might happen between Sammy and Lou and didn’t want to stand in their way.
A book about relationships and finding love.

Author Bio

Jill Mansell has been writing Sunday Times bestsellers for over twenty years, most recently Should I Tell You? Her hobbies include exploring the Cotswolds and the south west of England, scouting for locations for future books, and discovering brilliant new restaurants along the way. She lives in Bristol with her family.
Twitter @Jill Mansell
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