Return To Bluebell Hill by Rebecca Pugh

Synopsis

Home is where the heart is… 

Jessica McAdams has never belonged anywhere; never truly felt at home. Of course, what did she expect from parents who never made her feel welcome in her own house? Leaving her life in London to return home to the charming country village of Bluebell Hill is harder than she thought. Especially as she never considered she’d be returning under such heart wrenching circumstances… 

Clearing out the stunning and imposing Bluebell House after her parents’ death is difficult for Jessica—they never had the best relationship and now it’s too late. Yet spending time in the house that was never a home, having afternoon tea with dear old friend Esme—and sharing hot, sizzling kisses with delectable gardener Rueben!—opens Jessica’s eyes to the potential of Bluebell House… 

Could this big old, beautiful manor really be her forever home? Is Bluebell Hill where her heart is, has always been? 

Jessica soon dares to dream of her very own home with delicious Rueben by her side. But when a deep, dark secret of Bluebell House is unearthed, Jessica’s world is turned upside down… 

Will Jessica ever find where her heart truly lies? 

Review

If you keep up with book stuff on twitter, or follow other book blogs, it will have been almost impossible to have not heard about this book, as it is written by the popular book blogger Rebecca from Becca’s Books.  I was excited when this was announced and even more excited on the day of release when I could finally get my hands on it (sadly it didn’t arrive till after I fell asleep at about 1am).

The cover is really pretty and perfect for this book, especially the font that is almost hand written with dainty swirls flowing off them.

Bluebell hill sounds such wonderful place and I would really have liked to hear more of the actual village and other villagers, so I think a sequel would be really nice - hint hint, Becca :). Bluebell house itself sounds very grand and it was easy to join Jessica and Esme while sitting on the porch with a nice chilled glass of white wine in the summer months.

The characters are wonderfully written and I loved Esme and how she obviously doted on Jessica as if she was her own daughter. Jessica was a harder character for me to get at first, obviously she had a hard childhood and I sympathise with that, but at times I just wish that she talked to someone during her decade away from Bluebell Hill, to try and come to terms with it, as in the current day she was just torturing herself (and fully admits this) for reasons I don’t fully understand, but then it is hard to make the step and admit you might need help to deal with issues. Maybe the sequel I am already imagining could delve back into her past a bit, so we find out more about her parents.

For me, I preferred the first half of this book. I loved reading about Reuben, and seeing Jessica and Esme reconnect after so long of not seeing each other, the setting was more idilic too, especially the woods. It had this slight magical charm. That isn’t to say the final part of the was bad, it is really good. A lot seems to happen in an extremely short space of time, so would liked to have had more pages to get my teeth into. That said, the scene at the estate agency with the Dawson family was possibly the funniest, and definitely one of my favourites from the book.

This book is a stunning debut, and if I haven’t hinted enough, would much love a sequel to be written, to find out more about Jessica’s past and the village. Failing that, it’s just another excuse to see Reuben again!

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Published by: Carina