Rachel Holley, one of four vicar's daughters in the village of Thornthwaite has always dreamed of the perfect wedding followed by the perfect life with lots of kids, a big home, and a dog. All that seems to be coming true until the night before the wedding, when her fiance, Dan, calls it off. Dan doesn't think that she really loves him. Rachel finds herself almost penniless after the wedding expenses, heartbroken, and soon to be homeless because her parents are moving to China to do mission work. Rachel is blindsided by it all, but somehow, her sisters and parents are not all that surprised. Rachel and her youngest sister, the footloose Miriam need to find a flat right away. Rachel finds one above the village's "rougher" pub, The Bell. The landlord, Sam West, is undeniably attractive, but more than a little taciturn and forbidding. As Rachel gets to know him better and sees him working hard at the pub and trying to raise his challenging nephew, Nathan, she sees him in a very different light. Rachel is Nathan's primary school teacher and becomes involved in his home care. Nathan has problems that need to be addressed clinically, but Sam is resistant for some reason.

I was not aware that A Vicarage Wedding is third in a projected four-book series but Kate Hewitt manages to paint a picture of the whole Holley family in a few words. I got to know them all without having to read the previous two books. I will be reading them, however, very soon. Rachel's journey to a better understanding of herself and what true love looks and feels like made for a most enjoyable afternoon and evening's read. Thanks to NetGalley and Tule Publishing for an advance digital copy. The opinions are my own.

A Vicarage Wedding is a very well written romance. I loved the plot, characters and the setting. I highly recommend this book. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my ARC; This is my unbiased review.

Why did it have to end so soon?? I was so into reading this book that I didn't even realize it was over until I hit the last page. I kept trying to swipe further on my Kindle and it wasn't going anywhere. This is one of those books where you can't put it down until it's over. Once you pick it up, be prepared to keep on reading through the night, into the morning, past your alarm clock, and on into your lunch break. Seriously - it's that entertaining! I had never read this author before, and given that this is the third in a series, I have definitely been missing out. The wonderful thing about it, though, is that Kate Hewitt wrote this book in such a way that it is entirely unnecessary to read the first two books in order to fully enjoy this one. She is a gem!

"The wedding's off." With those words ringing in her ears, Rachel's carefully planned future crumbles before her eyes. The day before her wedding, she and her fiance part ways, and Rachel is left to pick up the pieces of her dreams. Although it starts to seem like a blessing in disguise when she realizes that perhaps she loved the dream more than the man. Moving into an apartment above a local pub with her youngest sister, who has problems of her own, Rachel dives right into the rest of her life. She picks up the puppy that was supposed to be part of her new dream and makes it part of her old one, and the man living downstairs who is also her landlord might just be the last piece in the puzzle to what her future should be like. Life may not be easy or simple, but with family and faith, it might be worth all the trouble if it means happiness is within reach.

Rachel was my soul sister - truly, I felt so much kinship with her and wanted to sit down with her at the table and plan things out. I was upset with her sister, Esther, frequently. In fact, I have two notes in my Kindle that read, "Esther is such an ass" and "Oh my God, Esther...shut up." So as you can see, I had a lot of feelings while reading. Dan, the ex-fiance, made me mad too, but seeing as how it was all for the best, I got over that pretty quickly. Each character in this book really tugged at my heartstrings (except for Esther, because she annoyed me), and I really felt like I was part of their family while reading. Anna was the sweetheart sister who was in love with a kind, generous man, Miriam was the rebellious one in the family who wanted to make her own way in the world but struggled to do so, and Rachel's parents were supportive and protective, just like you'd want your parents to be in such a situation. And then we get to Sam. Sam was the hunky landlord who was a broody yet well-intentioned man, secretly in love with Rachel although never really saying it. Although I could read between the lines. It was there. He felt like he wasn't worthy of her, so his reticence made sense, but I just wanted to give him a giant hug too. He and Rachel were really a great couple, and I liked seeing their interactions as the story progressed.

Sadly, the story just left me feeling a bit bereft at the end. I wanted more. I didn't get enough time with them and the Holley family. But hopefully Miriam will get her own book shortly, and I can get a fix in then. Absolutely wonderful read and highly recommended to romance fans!

A good old romance with good family connections and discovering your own happiness. There was a good amount of depth to this story with developed characters and self discovery. I didn't realise it was part of a series (though I really should have) however I believe this can be read as a standalone. I recommend this book to everybody after a good summer read.

I was sent this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kate Hewitt’s newest doesn’t disappoint. I love the way she writes and her characters who are real people who have had their share of problems. Rachel is no exception, and it is heart-warming watching her journey to find what she wants in real life, not the fairy tale she was convinced she wanted.
Though it is third in the series, you won’t be lost if you pick this one up first. This is a wonderful series and I can’t wait to see what happens with the last Holley sister.
#AVicarageWedding

Events from the previous two books propel this story along though I think this one can stand on its own. I was surprised that it’s only Rachel’s POV that we see but then Sam has a few secrets in his past which need to unfold when the time is right. However I felt that we’re shown what he’s feeling by his actions and words so well that I wasn’t lost as to where he stood. What he tells Rachel about her father and mother is touching and proof that Roger and Ruth live their faith as well as preach it. I love Ruth’s quiet way of helping her daughters.

The book isn’t “preachy” though. Rachel has to dig deep and finds that her father is right about needing faith to trust when things aren’t going easy. She also has some revelations about what drove her to reach for the dream she thought she had and learns to see what her true HEA life might be. Then she gets up the gumption to go for it. Sam and her family question her reasons and her resolve but this time Rachel is sure – much to the amusement of the laconic old farmers sitting with their pints in Sam’s pub. That scene alone is worth it. Yeah Sam, I think it’s time to kiss the lass.

None of these characters is perfect. Each has a bit of stubbornness or angst or sternness – to put Esther kindly. They’re like real people who you can love to bits but who can still drive you mental sometimes. Rachel has to fight for this new dream and I’m looking forward to the last book to see how this will play out. And to discover what’s going to happen to the baby sister. But if Roger is giving his daughter away in marriage, and Anna is marrying the new vicar Simon – who’s performing the ceremony? Inquiring minds …B+

I loved Vicarage Wedding by Kate Hewitt, book three in her Holley Sisters of Thornthwaite series. The night before her wedding, her fiancé calls off the wedding as he believes Rachel is in love with the idea of love and marriage, not in love with him. Rachel is gobsmacked as she never saw this coming and she thought she loved him. As she adjusts to these changes in her life, she finds a place to rent above the rougher bar in the village, owned by Sam West. Sam helps Rachel move into the recently renovated flat, apartment, and this is the push these two needed to form a friendship. Sam might look a little rough at the edges but is really a nice person with a warm heart. After a rough childhood and hanging with the wrong crowd, Sam has learned his lesson and wants a better life for himself and his nephew who under his care. The placement of Sam’s troubled nephew in Rachel’s classroom gives them another opportunity to spend time together, whether a good or bad thing. Rachel is juggling a number of issues which are frustrating her; the pregnancy of her baby sister, the engagement and wedding planning of her other younger sister, training her new puppy, her parents’ move to China, and dealing with Sam’s challenging nephew as a student in her classroom. Rachel is determined to prove to Sam that he is worthy of her attention and affection, but Sam is not quite sold on it.

Rachel truly learned the lesson that love, marriage and family is not based on material things but from the hard work a couple does to create the love, family and a future together. Just being together will not necessarily bring love, but an inner attraction along with the right chemistry. There is no perfect love, husband, or family but hard work can help create one. Now, can she convince Sam?

This was a wonderful love story showing that love can truly exist with the right partner. Ms. Hewitt did a fantastic job creating realistic characters, keeping the story line interesting, making me forget the world around me and not letting me go until I turned the last page, wanting more. I highly recommend this book to other readers.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

When first started this book, I felt sad for Holley. But, the further I got into the story, the more I realized Dan breaking up with her before the wedding was actually the best thing for them both. Holley seemed to be a bit of a perfectionist and needed to see that love and life didn’t always come wrapped in pretty packaging. Sometimes love is a little bit messy and imperfect. You don’t always get the big house you were dreaming of either. When Holley met Sam, he was the total opposite of what she normally looked for in a man, but even though they had different upbringings, lives and goals, they meshed really well. And when Sam got custody of his troubled nephew, Holley was right there to help Sam out. She was needed more than she realized.

I would almost call this book more of a women’s fiction than romance because there was so much more than just the romantic part. There was family drama as well as Holley’s journey into becoming a better version of herself. The story didn’t just center around Holley and Sam either. There was a lot about life and Holley’s family as well.

A couple of lines in the book summed it up perfectly:
She’d been thinking about what she wanted, what kind of life she envisioned for herself. But what if happiness was to be found in something else entirely? And not just happiness, but importance? Meaning? Something that had been missing now for a while.

Love, love, love this series! Of course, to be honest, I can say that about all of Kate Hewitt's books. She creates such true to life characters who have real life problems. Everything is not sunshine and roses. There are real life issues that all the rest of us struggle with too.

That being said, A Vicarage Wedding surprised me and had me guessing for a while. It's great to see the sisters finding their way...and the parents too! Can't wait for the next book!

A great addition in The Holley Sisters of Thornthwaite series this is book three, Rachel's story. A Vicarage Wedding by Kate Hewitt. I've enjoyed the past books in this series and this one hasn't disappointed me. Look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Kate Hewitt’s A Vicarage Wedding may hit close to home for some readers. The perfect wedding with the perfect dress, along with the idea of being married is often a strong motivator. It is just not a lasting one, hence the high divorce rate in the world today. So I couldn’t help but admire Rachel’s fiancé for his serious, howbeit late questioning of Rachel.

Rachel is an unusual main character. She wondered if she was indeed materialistic and shallow, I certainly would have told her yes. It was the importance of her pride, instead of feeling as if she had lost the love of her life that bothered me the most about her. While the men all of them added to the story; her former fiancé, Sam and his nephew, it is her growth in the story makes this a satisfying read. I don’t have a sister, but the genuine love and annoying behavior that goes on between Rachel and her sisters also made this an interesting read. It seemed real to me, just the way sisters would behave.

I found A Vicarage Wedding to be different from the usual romance book. Refreshing, authentic and a little bit funny. Rachel winds up with the right man, just not one she could imagine being the right man. Recommend to romance readers who like a story out of the ordinary.

An ARC of the book was given to me by the publisher through Net Galley which I voluntarily chose to read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I never read any book by this author and this came as a wonderful surprise.
It's more women's fiction than romance and there's a lot of food for thought.
I loved the cast of characters and the evolution in the heroine mindsetting. I loved the plot that get me hooked since the beginning.
I look forward to reading the other books in this series and the next instalment.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Tule Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC

Oh goodness I enjoyed A Vicarage Wedding. I pretty much dropped everything else in my day to keep turning the pages and it was so worthwhile! Kate Hewitt is a master of deeply emotional stories and this one certainly contains emotions aplenty.
Rachel Holley, jilted a day before her wedding, examines what went wrong and starts the process of rebuilding her life, learning plenty about herself as she goes. I loved Rachel. She is such a warm and caring woman, even if her wedding plans might have given people a different impression. Rachel regards things like the big house that she’d planned too live in after her marriage as symbols of the life she wants to lead, a life filled with family, laughter, children and dogs.
This is a story of opposites attracting and you couldn’t, on the surface, get two more opposite people than Rachel Holley and Sam Wells. Sam’s had a tough life and is silent and brooding most of the time, while Rachel is very much a people person. I really loved watching Rachel break down Sam’s barriers while he simultaneously helped her to heal.
I can’t recommend this book highly enough. I really struggled to put it down when I had to because there was always a hook luring me to the next page and the next. I loved Kate Hewitt’s descriptions of the gorgeous, if wet, Cumbrian countryside. I loved the characters and I loved the story.

This is the first book out of 4 in this series I have read and will go back to read Esters and Anna's story. A new author for me.
Rachel is jilted a day before her wedding .
A delightful love story with a few bumps along the way .
Thank you for given me the chance to review this book .
Looking forward for Miriam story to be told .

One thing I like about British romances as opposed to American romances is that the British ones always read a bit more like women’s fiction, meaning that there is more depth, and the heroine is usually at a point of discovery in her life. A Vicarage Wedding is no different.

Jilted the evening before her wedding, Rachel must come to terms with why she was getting married and that requires a careful journey through her present as well as consideration of the past when she thought life was perfect.

As part of the journey, Rachel meets Sam, a man who has had a difficult past, but who has righted himself. Sam ends up taking in his troubled nephew after he is removed from Sam’s sister by social services.

There is a lot going on in A Vicarage Wedding, which I quite liked. Rachel changes through the course of the novel after a lot of introspection and help from her family. She realizes that real love changes you as well and that the marriage she was about to enter into wasn’t based on the same kind of love.

While A Vicarage Wedding is the third book in the Holley Sister of Thornthwaite series, I never felt lost or inundated with unnecessary characters who needed to “pop” in as so often happens in series’ novels.

This novel will appeal to readers who like more depth to their romances. It’s also very, very sweet and probably a 1 on a heat scale of 1-5.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rachel is jilted on the eve of her wedding because her fiancee thinks she doesn't love him enough.
When her sister gets engaged shortly afterwards, she has a few too many drinks in the pub and ends up sick on the landlord, Sam.
After their lives get intertwined, she falls for him, but he says he's not her type. Can she talk him round though?

A nice continuation of the vicarage series One daughter is happily married, another is getting married, the third has had her wedding called off and the youngest girl is pregnant. The parents are in China but their home base, the vicarage, remains in the family as the new vicar marrying Anna, one of the sisters. A light refreshing book, with all kinds of twists an turns. One never knows what's going to happen next which is why they are so much fun to read.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover”, this is the life lesson taught in this book. This pertains to people (you don’t know the person by first appearance and you don’t know what is going on in their life).
This book has a very good story line you slowly peel back the layers to find out who the real Rachel is. Look for a happy ending that includes Rachel, Sam and Nathan.

I've been waiting for Rachel's story and it did not disappoint. This is a lovely series and I'm looking forward to the next book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

I was really looking forward to this book and didn't let me down at all it's simply fantastic and didn't want to put it off. Full of families and romance and finding who's best for you to make you happy. It's very well written and characters are excellent and has you hooked from the first page and worth more than five stars. The setting of the book is beautiful and shows how sisters pull together.
Rachel has always dreamt of the perfect wedding and is with her fiancé and due to get married the next day when he breaks it off saying he doesn't think she loves him enough and her life chances. Her parents have left the vicarage so in a way she's homeless and unsure where life is taking her. She wants to hold her head up so others think she is ok though. She becomes friend with the owner of the bell pub and it's not a friendship you would expect as he's a little rough and has a complicated life. She moves into a flat above the pub with her sister and Rachel starts to get close with San as she is also looking after his orphaned nephew and teaching him. Can she get the truth from Sam and be happy with him and can she find love or is she on the rebound. Will there be a wedding at the vicarage or not and will it be hers or not. Great to hear about her sisters as well and she is living with one and she hears news from her and can she support her or not. Great to see how the sisters pull together and support each other.
Fantastic read so highly recommend this book.