I received this book for free for a Blog Tour in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Secrets at Maple Syrup Farm by Rebecca Raisin Also by this author: Christmas at the Gingerbread Cafe, Chocolate Dreams at the Gingerbread Cafe, The Bookshop on the Corner, Christmas Wedding at the Gingerbread Cafe
Published by Carina on 17th July 2015
Genres: Chicklit, Fiction, Humour, Love & Romance
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Source: for a Blog Tour
Goodreads
Amazon Kindle, Audible
Lucy would do anything for her mom…but she never expected to end up promising to leave her. After her mom got sick, Lucy dropped everything to take care of her, working all hours in a greasy diner just to make ends meet and spending every spare moments she had by her mom’s hospital bedside.
Now, Lucy is faced with a whole year of living by her own rules, starting by taking the first bus out of town to anywhere…
Except she didn’t expect to find her next big adventure just around the corner! Especially when on her first day in town she bumps into grumpy, but oh-so-delicious Clay amidst the maple trees. Surrounded by the magic of Ashford, Lucy has the chance to change her life forever and finally discover a life she wants to live!
Firstly thank you to Tay and Rebecca for letting me take part in this tour. I love Rebecca’s books and I was thrilled to be one of the first to read Secrets At Maple Syrup Farm.
This story begins with Lucy visiting her mum in hospital. While we know that she is very ill we are not quite sure what. Here Lucy’s mum make her promise that she will take on year for herself. One year to travel and see the world instead of looking after her and working double shifts to pay the rent and the bills. Reluctantly Lucy makes this promise. I found Lucy to be extremely strong and extremely brave. Her whole life its been just her and her mum. They loved to travel so it was hard to hold down any strong friendships and now Lucy is scared about what will happen when her mum is no longer here. I think her mum is scared too which is why she makes her take this trip. To build some friendships outside of their unit so that when the time comes Lucy will have other people to help her through. I found this so sad and so sweet at the same time. It was really heartbreaking.
Lucy decides to start her travelling in Ashford. While on her way into town she sees the wonderful Maple Syrup Farm. She is absolute that this is the place she will work. From the moment she sees it she loves the place and knows this is where she will be happy. It wasn’t easy though. Clay, the farm owner, is a gruff single worded man. He was reluctant to take Lucy on thinking that she wouldn’t be of any use and that he didn’t need anyone to help him. He was more than capable of doing this on his own. Clay has been hiding himself up on that farm since he took it over from his uncle. Not trying to integrate with the rest of Ashford just living in solitude. It’s clear he’s been hurt but how or what happened is a mystery. Clay is of course ridiculously hot. He spends all of his time working, he has trouble sleeping and I mean hard physical work and he has the body to show for it.
It was great to catch up with the Ashford Gang again. They are such a lovely community and you can’t help but fall in love with them. The way they rally round to help each other out is so heartwarming.
I loved the ending of this book and I hope we get to hear more about these two in the future.
This is a beautiful story about living life to it’s fullest, getting all the experiences you can and showing you that somewhere along the way when you least expect you will fall in love.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- Goodreads Challenge (2015)
- Netgalley Challenge (2015)
Thank you, lovely, for such a stunning review! xxx