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Review by Suze
Maddie's husband cheated on Maddie with her best friend. Maddie needs a place to live and when she sees Ash Cottage she immediately falls in love with it. She can pay for it from the divorce settlement and has a small budget left to renovate it. She needs help though. Fortunately there's a local guy called Lewis who can do the work for her. When Maddie first meets him he's unbelievably rude to her, but he takes the job and there's nobody else she can find at such short notice.
Maddie's boss Ryan is a good friend to her and he stands by her. He doesn't understand her love for the country and the cottage though. He's a city man and he likes to have certain luxuries. Maddie discovers the worst part of country life when she moves into the cottage straight after receiving the keys. She's planning on staying there during the renovation process. At first it's uncomfortable being in her new home while Lewis is working on it. He's an army man and lives by his own rules. He's a man of few words and when he says something it isn't particularly nice. Slowly they're starting to feel comfortable in each other's company though. Does Lewis have an ulterior motive for helping her? While the village is trying to battle horrible floods Maddie is trying to get her life back on track. Is living in the country really what she fancies or will she be happier elsewhere?
Ash Cottage is a beautiful countryside home that needs a lot of work. I could totally understand why Maddie liked it so much. Linn B. Halton describes it so well that it immediately comes to life. I could see the renovations and had the idea I was watching them instead of just reading about them. I admired Maddie and instantly liked her. She's been hurt so badly and she's vulnerable, but she's trying to be brave. She's never been on her own and now she's bought a house and she decides to do the renovations and redecorating with just one person to help her. Even though it might sound like a stupid decision it wasn't. She was perfectly capable of handling the situation and I kept feeling proud of everything she achieved. It was wonderful to see her grow. She isn't perfect, she makes mistakes, a lot of them, but eventually she learns from them. That makes her human and for me that made the story even better.
It is great that there are some small chapters written from Lewis's point of view. I liked to know what he was thinking and it was great to see inside his mind as well. That gives the story an extra dimension which makes it even better. I think Linn B. Halton has written a fantastic story. As usual in her stories the main characters need a little bit of help, so there's a small hint of magic, which always makes them extra special. I'm very happy she does that as it's giving her work a unique character and it makes me fall in love with the stories even more. Near the end something completely unexpected happens and I kept wanting to talk some sense into Maddie. I liked that twist in the story, it completed the story in a brilliant way. I highly recommend A Cottage in the Country, it's a sweet romantic story with a setting that's as beautiful as the main characters.
Giveaway
I'm giving away a kindle copy of A Cottage in the Country together with this gorgeous heart shaped pebble necklace. For me this piece of jewelry has a match with the story. Good luck!
I
will contact the winner via email. If I don't get a reply within 60
hours the prize will go to someone else. All of my giveaways are
international, you can find the official rules here.
No I haven't yet but am planning on making a house extestion when we can afford it!
ReplyDeleteNo, but my sister did. About 20 years ago they bought a huge Georgian house in the country & completely re-vamped it. It really was gorgeous. I got to house-sit whenever they went on holidays and used to pretend it was all mine!
ReplyDeleteNo. Always rent!
ReplyDeleteYes, we recently replaced roof, siding, and windows. And, unfortunately, it did not go well at all.
ReplyDeleteWaves and thanks so much for taking the time to read and review A Cottage in the Country, Suze! I'm thrilled you enjoyed the story and the flooding and associated problems in this story are based on what actually happened when we moved into our cottage in December 2013. I can see from Susan's comment, above, that we were not alone in our woes! We did have a lot of laughs, though, and it was the perfect setting for Maddie, Lewis and Ryan's story to unfold. Thanks to everyone for dropping by! Lxx
ReplyDeleteThank you for your wonderful comment. I can imagine it wasn't easy to move into a new place like that. We're now living in a newly built home, but our previous one needed quite some work. We were actually involved with the arrangements of repair work on the entire apartment building for several years, so I could totally feel the frustration, but also the happiness when the work is done and it looks amazing. xx
Deleteno we haven't done any renovating, though my friend has and she now has a lovely attic room xx
ReplyDeleteLuckily I have not. It costs so much time, effort and money.
ReplyDeleteI've never done any renovating but have always dreamed of doing so...I would love to renovate something like an old farm house in the countryside
ReplyDeleteWe re-did a bathroom years ago. We lived with a mess for months, but the end result was worth it.
ReplyDeleteI haven't done any renovating myself, but my brother is currently doing his house. Its all work work work, but he totally is proud of it and loves his house.
ReplyDeleteThe book sounds like a nice read, and the necklace is really cute.
Amanda.
I am in the process now. I have a spare room, and I painted the walls. Now I'm going to paint the floor. Wish me luck.
ReplyDeleteWe once did a complete remodel of a three bedroom house. It was a lot of hard work, but it was worth it.
ReplyDeleteNo :( But hoping to!
ReplyDeleteYes, we changed the kitchen and the bathroom. It was exhaustive.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I did a lot of renovating when we moved into our current home.
ReplyDeleteNot really extensive, but we are trying to put in a new custom door, sidelites, and transom, for our front door, and it has been proven to be quite the chore! We paid for it in April, and unfortunately, it's still not installed (has arrived damaged twice, wrong size on transom, etc.). :) Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteNope, I haven't yet. The only thing I've done is redo the kitchen. It was great and I am happy I did it!
ReplyDeleteL'occitane my favourite and books I haven't read.
ReplyDeleteI haven't done any extensive renovating but my boyfriend has - he's rebuilt decks, etc. - and it went very well!
ReplyDeleteNo, but I can dream
ReplyDeleteNo, I haven't
ReplyDeleteNot yet, but I plan on doing some.
ReplyDeleteYes - sometimes it goes exceptionally well, sometimes just okay, sometimes things go horribly wrong. It all depends on who you hire.
ReplyDeleteThree years ago I had my flat painted... It was hard work living with workers inside the flat for a week, a bit of dust and mess, but it turned out great!
ReplyDeleteJust recently remodeled a bathroom and it really went very well.
ReplyDeleteNope, not yet.
ReplyDeleteNope, not yet.
ReplyDeleteeh no , i didn't
ReplyDeleteNot until now. Renovating our basement as we speak. Right now, it's chaos!
ReplyDeletenot yet. cause now that we are working abroad, we are just renting space.
ReplyDeleteNo, thought about it, but no.
ReplyDeleteNo, I have never done it. It would scare me lol
ReplyDeleteno except after the flood and then not lots of choice
ReplyDeleteYes. The first house my ex-husband and I built had to be completely remodeled. It was a long and difficult process because we did most of the work ourselves. Not so fun because I was working full-time and raising a small child at the same time. It's beautiful now though. :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't
ReplyDeleteNo, I havent. Thanks, Lubka
ReplyDeletehelp others to do so
ReplyDeleteno i haven't
ReplyDelete