Afternoon Everyone,

Happy Thursday (my favourite day of the week, which I’ve probably said a million times). I really haven’t got much to report since I posted yesterday. I’ve had a relatively good day so far and I’m looking forward to getting out for a walk with the dogs soon.

Book 📖

Thank you to @headlinebooks for this advanced audio copy of Promise Me by @jillmansell in return for an honest review. Promise Me is published today (19th January 2023) and you can get a copy here.

Description 🔖

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 curmudgeonly 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…

General Thoughts 🤔

I have never read a Jill Mansell book though I have of course heard of her as an author. I should give myself a slap on the wrist because I had slotted her books into a pigeon hole marked for “older female readers” and so I’ve never thought to pick one up. However, it dawned on me that I am now probably an older female reader so why not give her work a try.

I’m glad that I did because this was a very quaint and pleasant story and I really enjoyed listening to it. The characters were easy to like and the story was entertaining without being complicated to follow. I listened to Promise Me whilst I was doing bits and bobs around the house or other hobbies and it was a really great companion.

Characters 👫👭👬

I found that a lot of the characters in this story were likeable and I could imagine them living in my village. The lady in the shop had me in stitches because she was so like a lady that works in the local shop in my own village. Knows everything about everyone and makes everyone’s business her business.

Lou was very much a sweetheart and put everyone else before herself always. She wasn’t the greatest judge of character which I found a little bit frustrating, however I have to remember that a lot of people are naive and there are a tonne of people walking around with rose tinted glasses on and I think she suffered from this a little bit.

There were some not so likeable characters in the book too and I found them actually quite repulsive; which was the intent. I get wound up by spoilt, entitled people and so these particular characters were successful at getting under my skin.

Writing Style ✍️

I don’t know how to articulate this without sounding negative (because I certainly don’t mean it to be) but I can’t think of anything significant to call out about this author’s writing style. It was easy to read and quite cutesy. The story was slow paced, but I think that it was supposed to be. Did I think that these characters in this village and this storyline was believable? I’m not sure. Was it supposed to be believable? Again, I’m not sure.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖

I listened to this book whilst I pottered around the house, walked the dogs and generally did mundane, everyday stuff and it was a lovely companion. This was a heart warming story with very likeable characters. There was a little sadness thrown in there, but it was done tastefully and with a positive spin. A great easy going read, that I enjoyed.

😍😍😍😐😐