Katie Fforde

Island in the Sun is a sweet and generally rather gentle story of Cass, a young woman charged by her father with travelling to Dominica to try and locate and photograph a petroglyph using a very old and hard to read map. In some ways it seems like rather an odd assignment for Cass but she has her father's friend, Ranulph, accompanying her and taking care of her. She finds herself very attracted to Ranulph but isn't sure if he feels the same.

It's clear that Katie Fforde loves the island of Dominica and she describes the hurricane-hit island very well. I must admit that I would have preferred more of the remote Scottish island where Cass's father lives but that's just because I have a thing about remote Scottish islands. Cass has a bit of a time of it on Dominica as a horrid man called Austin is also looking for the petroglyph and is determined to make her life difficult.

I found Island in the Sun to be an easy and unchallenging read and I enjoyed following Cass's journeys to Scotland and Dominica. I feel it lacked the charm of some of Fforde's other books, for instance I absolutely adored her last book, One Enchanted Evening, but I still felt like I wanted to see what happened, whether Cass would find the petroglyph, whether her feelings for Ranulph would be reciprocated and if she would get her life together, stop drifting, and stand up for herself against some of her rather overbearing family members and do what she wanted to do. As I say, sweet and gentle, with some rugged and enticing landscapes, a dastardly villain, romance, and an arty feel to the storyline.… (more)

*2.5 stars*

Quintessential Kate FForde.

A Country Escape was a good beach read. The set up was a typical setting with the heroine taking on a new lease in life by tackling farming and she meets someone in the process. However, I didn't really get the farming aspect and I doubt Kate herself did too. LOL.

All in all, I didn't read this to get farming know how so lack of details didn't really bother me, but I will admit that some of the things that happened made me suspend my belief a little bit too much.

Thanks to The Publishers and NetGalley for the ARC
… (more)