What's not to like? Village life, a love interest, a cute child and a major problem to overcome. When Felicity returns to her home village after eight years away she feels like an outsider, especially as her old love and her friends have all moved on in her absence. But when a bridge collapses, cutting them off, the village turns to Felicity to pull off a miracle. Of course there is a tea shop involved. There always is! An enjoyable easy read with more books about the same village and characters to come. I'm sure this book will touch hearts and sell well.

It's been ages since I read an entire book in a day and that's simply because a) I haven't had the time and b) there has been no book recently that has made me want to do this despite reading some very good books over the last few weeks. That all changed the minute I began reading the brand new book from Christie Barlow Love Heart Lane, from the first page I knew this book was going to be brilliant. Sometimes you just get this feeling from the word go that this is going to be a special read and that you will love everything about it and want to shout about it from the rooftops, this is that book for me and really it is Christie Barlow at her very best.

Not one fault could I find with this book and truly it was a story with such fantastic characters and a unique setting that really reminded me just why I love reading so much. I'm always such a stickler when it comes to rating a book and I don't give out four or five stars that easily. But here hands down Love Heart Lane is five stars all the way as between its pages there is a story that you will relish and become completely immersed in so much so that you dread any interruption whilst you are reading for fear you will have to put it down and tear yourself away from an engaging, interesting, emotive, marvellous and unputdownable read.

Felicity Simons has worked at Little Browns department store in London for the last eight years after arriving from Scotland on a whim. Her boyfriend now her ex, Adrian, has recently moved out of her apartment as they have come to the conclusion it was wrong him moving in six months ago. As Felicity sits in her bosses office, the dreaded Eleanor Ramsbottom, she knows she is at a new juncture in her life. She needs two weeks off so she can go back to Heartcross, a tiny village in the Scottish Highlands, as her beloved grandmother Bonnie Stewart has passed away. But it's not easy going back to a place where you left such heartbreak behind and literally fled but she owes it to her grandmother. Instantly my interest was piqued.

What made Felicity flee? Why hadn't she been back except for very brief visits where she engaged with no one except her mother Rona and her Gran? What could have happened to make her leave everything she knew on a whim especially as the further we delve into the book we discover just how special Heartcross is and of course the people who live there too. For Felicity this is a major step to go back but as it is only for a fortnight she feels she can do this and then escape back to the safety net she has created in London. She wants to avoid certain people especially a man named Fergus. Little does she realise what action and surprises Heartcross has in store for her and for the reader. Twists and turns aplenty which keep you hooked and keen to know how things will unfold.

Felicity arrives back to the village just as a snowstorm hits and the bridge to the village becomes dangerous to cross. For a little while the community, already isolated, will be cut off. But not to mind that just means that Felicity's not given the opportunity to run away at the first sign of confrontation. For that is really what needs to happen. She had been so embedded in the village, that to up and flee without a word to anyone especially considering what had happened left many people devastated, heartbroken and angry. Fergus springs to mind here and also her friend Allie who works in the pub with her parents. Isla, another friend, is more accepting of her coming home as she knows the trauma Felicity experienced. Yes the way she handled things was divisive and to run away was not the correct answer but it was all she could think to do at the time.

I thought it was brilliant that people who had been affected by Felicity's actions didn't at first welcome her with open arms. She had caused too much pain for that to happen and then she acted for eight years as if Heartcross nestled amongst mountains, glens and waterfalls didn't even exist. Felicity had to prove to people that she could and had changed and that was very realistic. I thought it would have been fake and too over the top for everybody to forgive her instantly because that doesn't happen in real life. We need to work at things, to seek forgiveness, acceptance and understanding for past actions before we can reconcile and come to terms with how we are in the present.

Of course I felt sympathy for Felicity, and as I guessed what had occurred, this only deepened but I could also understand Fergus' point of view as to why he wasn't willing to fully extend the hand of friendship given how damaging Felicty's actions had been. For someone that would have given the world to Felicity now he can barely make eye contact with her. Her guilt only deepens as she discovers Bonnie's Teashop, which she ran from the front room of her cottage, has been shut down and the dust left to gather. Rona couldn't keep it going when Bonnie was sick and now so many memories for Felicity are gone. She wonders why didn't her mum tell her how bad things were both financially and on a personal level? It's a stark wake up call for Felicity as she knows she now has many bridges to mend. Heartcross may offer comfort, belonging and a wonderful sense of community but will Felicity be welcomed back into the fold or has too much water flown under the bridge for her ever to find the happy place she once occupied there.

This was a woman who needed to work for what she wanted and needed back in her life and it wasn’t going to be easy. It sounds terrible to say but I enjoyed seeing Felicity having to work hard to find her place and to be big enough to say sorry and to explain the reasons behind her actions. It felt true to life as really it isn't all plain sailing. She really had been too caught up in her own little world and given Heartcross was so far away from London she pushed it and everyone there to the back of her mind because she believed she was the only one hurting but she wasn't. She felt she would cause too much damage if she stayed but really by leaving she caused a significant amount more. How can she rectify all this?

I loved how Felicity wasn't all perfect and that slowly but surely she admitted her faults and that she had made bad decisions and just maybe she did miss Heartcross and all it stands for. She had learnt to block out her sadness for many years but the feelings she once had are still there waiting to be reignite but she has an awful lot of work to do before she can be content in her own skin. She feels like an outsider and that she has lost her place and let's be honest about it, she had. Did she really expect to waltz back in as if nothing had changed and everything would be perfect and all rosy in the garden? She needed to work hard at mending fractured relationships in order to assume her place once again that's even if she wanted to stay. Can Heartcross work its magic or will a devastating event prove too much for all?

Said event proved a real turning point in the book and I loved how everyone came together as one to fight for what they believed in. The village may be small but at its centre it has a big heart and a sense of friendship and strength in the face of adversity. Might this be exactly what Felicity needed to show everyone that people can change and the very person she wants to prove this to is Fergus? A steep learning curve coupled with plenty of new life experiences is in store for Felicity as she attempts to face up to things. The transformation of Felicity was a joy to behold as she found strength, courage and her voice in the face of so much adversity. But one question remained can the person she hurt the most ever find it in their heart to forgive her?

Love Heart Lane blew me away as to how much I enjoyed it. At times I become jaded with some of the storylines in women's fiction as they become so routine and run of the mill but this was fresh, exciting, emotive and heartfelt and I devoured it. Christie Barlow has created a wonderful setting that you can visualise so easily in your head so much so that you feel as if you are right there experiencing everything the characters are going through. There is a superb cast of supporting characters, too many to mention here, but ones that I hope will be feature in future books. I say books because I fervently hope there will be more than one sequel to Love Heart Lane. I feel that this is a series that could potentially run and run as it provided both comfort and escape for me which is what I look for in a book but it was also so highly readable and one that deserves to be consumed in one go. Foxglove Farm will be book two in the series and I am already impatiently awaiting its release. Please Christie Barlow write it as quickly as you can, I just can't get enough of Heartcross and want more more more as soon as possible.

Flick fled to London eight years before leaving behind her mother, grandmother and heartbroken boyfriend, Fergus. She is drawn back by the recent death of her grandmother and her own doubts about her life which hasn’t turned out quite what she imagined. The problem is, Flick might be coming to terms with her past decisions, but those she ran from have not. Her widowed mother, Rona, having lost her own mother, Bonnie, finds she is less able to cope with the village teashop which, as well as the neat cottage of Flick’s childhood, have been left to decay.
Flick’s own doubts about whether she would be welcome or not in her childhood home are soon swept aside – temporarily. Old contacts are slowly re-established and Heartcross takes in their wayward child, all apart from the clearly wounded Fergus and his resentful mother, Aggie.
Taking into account her abrupt departure from Heartcross, at first I thought Flick was unreasonable in hoping to regain all the things she had left behind. However, it soon evolves that Flick’s reasons were deeply personal and her actions weren’t as selfish as I first thought., but more a way of her surviving her own loss and heartbreak.
Before long, Flicks has thrown herself into village life in an attempt to make amends for past neglect, which escalates beyond her imagining when a bad snowstorm following by a rapid thaw and the destruction of the bridge leaves the village stranded from the rest of the Highlands. [Shadows of Cockermouth and Pooley Bridges maybe, though somewhat further north?]
Flick steps in and takes charge of the crisis, but some of her tactics rub certain villagers up the wrong way and she finds she cannot do good without causing resentment as well. Flick’s homecoming turns out to be more complicated than she ever imagined.
I admit, from the blurb I expected a light, fluffy romance – a girl returns to her roots and re-connects with her first love – kind of story. However, Christie Barlow’s novel is much deeper than that with its handling of difficult emotions, her own as well as those who don’t know the full story of why she left and are quick to judge her. Flick’s relationship with Fergus is well drawn in that their former trust is not easy to re-establish. The reasons are complex and in the beginning I felt Flick didn’t deserve to walk back into Fergus’ life after so long and take up where she left off – but the past was more complicated than that and before long I found myself empathising with her completely.
Which shows how well-crafted this story is, in that I established a view about the characters in the opening chapters which altered drastically as the story panned out and past emotions and events were revealed. A story with a very satisfactory ending and although this is my first Christie Barlow novel, I look forward to the sequel in the Heartcross Series and getting to know more of the villagers like Isla, Drew, Allie, Rory, Rona and maybe even Aggie!

Eight years ago, Flick fled her home village of Heartcross in the Scottish Highlands, in favour of the bright lights of London. Acting on impulse she retreated to the big city after suffering a heart-breaking tragedy, leaving her friends and family behind with not even a goodbye. Now returning to the village after the death of her beloved Grandmother it’s immediately clear that not everyone is ready to forgive and forget, especially ex-boyfriend Fergus.

Planning to stay for only two weeks to help in the wake of her Grandmother’s death, Flick finds her Mum has had to shut the family business and is struggling financially. Add to that a powerful storm that hits the village cutting them off from civilisation and Flick soon realises just how much she has missed not only her family, but the whole community in which she grew up.

With the shine dimming on London’s appeal and the only thing waiting for her there a job she doesn’t even like, Flick decides to stay in Heartcross and re-open her family’s teashop alongside her Mum. However, it’s not only the teashop calling her home, but the realisation that she still has feelings for Fergus. The question is does can he forgive Flick?

Love Heart Lane is the first book in a brand-new romance series from Christie Barlow and the first of her books I have read. From the synopsis and cover you would be forgiven for thinking this is another light, fluffy romantic read, but it’s much more than that, dealing with some emotional, hard hitting subjects. I found the characters to be well-written and extremely relatable, the emotions just leapt off the page allowing me to empathise completely with each situation.

The very best part of this book for me was the reconnecting of friends and family and the way everyone within the community came together at a time of disaster. Its true message is one of community spirit and sticking together regardless of what has gone before, making it a real heart-warming read.

Love Heart Lane is a wonderfully written tale of love, heartbreak, family, friendship and loss which had me hooked throughout. Barlow has a superb easy writing style that was a pleasure to read which meant I was reluctant to put it down and finished it quickly. I can’t wait for the next instalment from Heartcross, I hope I’ll find out more about some of the other characters I’ve already met. If you want a romance with a difference then Love Heart Lane if the book for you 5 stars from me, I loved every second.

As usual, Chstie bowls me over with her incredibly detailed and absolutely delicious romance.
Such an easy book to curl up on the sofa with, with a G n T and a blanket.
Loved Flick and Fergus and all their families and friends. So looking forward to the next installment.

Thanks to Netgalley, Christie Barlow and Harper Impulse for the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book.

Another fantastic book from Christie. A lovely romantic feel good story. Great characters and setting. Looking forward to the next book Christie

A lovely book to warm your heart and make you believe in love again.
Take your time and get to know the residents of Heartcross.

It has been eight years since Felicity (Flick) Simons ran from the small island village. Nursing a broken heart, telling everyone she was chasing bright lights and big city dreams.
When those dreams fade, and life is not as satisfying as her young dreams had hoped for, she returns home, understanding it may have been too long since she last even visited. Disaster strikes while she is home and the village is cut off from the rest of the world during the most brutal weather.
Felicity pitches in to find her place and hold the village together. Can she also find the life she thought was not within her reach?

Second chances, dangerous situations, quick thinking and discovering people are not always what your first impression may may you think.
This is a series to fall in love with.

Every Christie Barlow book I read I always say it's my favourite. And I'm saying it again.
I truly loved this story. I completely fell in love with the characters and the location, all so fabulously described that I felt like I was there and living in the pages!
I seriously want to go eat cake at the tea-shop.
It’s got everything you could want from a book, community spirit, all pulling together in a crisis, family, love and loss.
I absolutely loved it.
It was an emotional read too.
I’m really sad that I’ve finished it, I just wanted to keep reading. Fortunately this is book one so there will be more stories from Heartcross, and I can’t wait to catch up with the locals.
Thanks to HarperImpulse and NetGalley for the review copy in which I give my honest opinion.

Love Heart Lane is a well written romance. I enjoyed the plot, setting and the author’s writing. I look forward to reading more books by this author. I received an arc from Netgalley and this is my unbiased review.

Could not put this book down. From the moment it started, I was drawn into Felicity;s life, and at the point the book moved to Heartcross, well I had to read it in one sitting, staying up to the small hours.

Definitely a book worth sacrificing sleep for!!

There is so much drama and action in Love Heart Lane, that I couldn't believe it.

it's all about the community of Heartcross who need to come together when their small Scottish village is cut off from the rest of the world.

It is about Felicity returning to Heartcross properly after 8 years, hoping that her friends will welcome her and wondering just what sort of reaction Fergus will give her.

There is a whole cast of warm and lovable characters, who I can't read to more about in the rest of this series.

I think I may be saying it with every book but Christie Barlow is getting better and better, her writing is fabulous and the way the story jumps off the page and gets under your skin is remarkable.

What a wonderful book, that I adored every second of.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Impulse for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Exquisite! So close to the end of 2018 (review written on 29/12/18) if you asked me to name my top 10 books of the year this would easily make the list....in fact I'd say it could even be in my top 5 and I've read over 100 books this year!

Let's start with the obvious - the cover is beautiful, so vibrant and would immediately make me pick up this book to read the synopsis. I love the colours and first look at Heartcross with it's bunting-clad trees.

The book follows Felicity (Flick) who returns to her home village of Heartcross (a small village in the Scottish Highlands)"from London following the death of her grandmother. When she arrives she is shocked to find her mum's cottage and business in disarray and more than a bit run down as her mum had struggled to cope with everything as well as caring for Flick's grandmother.

The business is a tearoom that Flick has fond memories of and resolves to leave her time in London behind and start afresh in Heartcross to aid her mum in rejuvenating the tearoom and indeed her own life again.

Flick reacquaints with friends from her past - it is alluded to that she left in a hurry but I won't spoil why but it was refreshing that she wasn't entirely welcomed back with open arms from everyone as that is how I'd expect it to be in reality.

Flick has to work her way back into her old friendship group and, as it has been years since she returned home, this is not straightforward in some cases. When catastrophe strikes can Flick step forward and use her skill set to help 'save the day'? This is usually the part I find a bit clichèd in romance books however I loved this storyline - it was very interesting reading the ideas Flick and the other residents came up with and was actually believable and well-written in general. I felt like I desperately wanted to be a part of the community as they pulled together in the very best of ways.

Of course, it wouldn't be right without a potential love interest and I adored this aspect - enter Fergus. Flick and Fergus were in a relationship when they were younger, I feel like I have spoiled enough so I will leave this heart-warming (& sad backstory) for you to find out for yourself!

Suffice to say I can't recommend this enough - my first read by Christie Barlow but I already have a few more of her books on my kindle that will be read very soon! The characters were superb (I loved Esme!) and the community spirit was heart warming and touching. The note from Christie at the end is clear there will be another book from the same setting and I am already on countdown for that!

My many thanks to Harper Impulse and Killer Reads via NetGalley for providing me with this advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a really great read. I went into it thinking that it would be a quick, lighthearted romance story but it actually has some pretty deep emotions. Flick and Fergus have a complicated and traumatic history. After years apart they are reunited when Flick comes back to town but they still have lots of leftover hurt and resentment they have to work through. The characters are quirky, real, and engaging. The story pulls you in until you can't put the book down. 4 stars.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me a copy of this ebook via NetGallery. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

I loved this book, from the cover you’d be mistaking for thinking it’s a light romantic read, but it actually deals with difficult subjects, and our main heroine Flick is a flawed individual who chose to leave everyone she loved in her dust when she fled her home village to go to London. Returning 8 years later after the death of her gran, she has to deal with the consequences of her actions as well as as rallying the village when the only bridge into town collapses. The story was well written, the characters were complicated and had a realness to them, especially Fergus...it was so refreshing to read about a man who showed real emotion. I was really pleased to find out there is another book coming out set in the same village, will definitely be reading that

Love Heart Lane was a wonderful book, I have read all of Christies fabulous books, I was so excited to read this one, I enjoyed every minute of it and so glad to hear there will be another series.

Oh I am so looking forward to the rest of this series! What a charming setting and enchanting characters. Sure but there was a bit of sadness and drama, a good cozy romance should always have some semblance of realism. Just enough to think the story is possible.

Loved all of the characters and can’t wait to read more. Esme was adorable and I look forward to reading more about her antics in the village of Heartcross.

Christie Barlow is becoming a master of the cozy romance.

Felicity Simons returns home to the wee Scottish Highlands village she grew up in after bereavement in her family. She left there years before because of another loss, brokenhearted and fleeing the pain. The man she left behind, Fergus, is not happy to see her again after all this time. Felicity has a lot of fences to mend with old friends as well whom she also hurt by cutting them all off despite still having family in the Heartcross. London has lost its attraction for Felicity, known as Flick back home, and now she considers moving back and reopening her grandmother’s tea shop.

During a massive storm, the village loses a bridge that connects it to the outside world. They must all pull together until help can come. Flick realizes she made several mistakes in leaving including losing the only man she has ever loved. Fergus had moved on, but once again for him, events have caused a major sadness. Now that she is back, they have a second chance at happiness if he can forgive her despite the pain and devastation Flick caused.

While this book is categorized under humor and is ostensibly a love story, Felicity’s spending a majority of the book wallowing in guilt, sadness, and regret drags down the tale. The decision she made as a young, immature woman has cost her and those she loves greatly. For a story set in the Scottish Highlands, there is very little dialect when seems odd. Readers who have enjoyed this author’s previous books will mostly likely be happy with this new series.

What a nice start to a new series! Flick and Fergus. Hmmm. Why did they split? Can they reconnect? Will he forgive her? Flick moved to London but comes home to Heartcross, Scotland when her grandmother dies. She doesn't think she'll be there long- of course- but then a snowstorm and a disaster with a bridge means she's stuck. Everyone in town pulls together and you'll meet some fun characters. It's light, it's cheery, it's about love, community, and friends. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. If you like novels about small villages, this is for you.

Love Heart Lane

As soon as I saw the title of this book I knew I was going to fall in love with it and it certainly didn’t disappoint. I was also thrilled to find it was the first book in a brand new series set in the Scottish Highlands.

Felicity Simons is disillusioned with her life in London and when her gran sadly dies she returns home to Love Heart Lane in the remote village of Heartcross.

Having hurt so many people when she upped and left eight years before, she is filled with trepidation and isn’t sure whether she’ll be welcomed back or not.
I was intrigued to know why Fergus, her ex, found it so hard to forgive and forget and wanted nothing to do with Felicity. It was interesting to observe the dynamics of what happened in their relationship from the two different viewpoints, especially when those two people were suffering so much.

When devastation hits the small village, Felicity manages to show everyone what she’s made of and even surprises herself with what she can achieve.

The love story that runs through the book is heartbreaking, heartwarming and joyful. Christie has a way of describing emotions that enables the reader to feel every bit of pain, confusion and happiness that the characters are going through.

Felicity works hard to rebuild the bridges between her and her family and friends. The relationship she has with a little girl called Esme is simply beautiful and extremely healing.

Christie has created a wonderful village in Heartcross with characters full of warmth and kindness and it was so endearing to see the community come together to face adversity.

This book is about love, friendship, forgiveness and acceptance and will totally melt your heart.

Actual Rating: 4.5 stars

I'll admit, one of the main reasons I wanted to read this book is because of the beautiful cover. The colors drew me in and the drawn depiction of Love Heart Lane is adorable. I love covers like this and am always happy to see that the insides of the book match the outside. With that being said, this is a wonderful story that not only brings readers to a charming setting but delivers characters that are instantly lovable. This isn't a surface level chick lit novel filled with fluff either. It's a story about reigniting lost love, saving a beloved town, and finding oneself again.

This is the first book I have read by Christie Barlow and it won't be my last! I can't wait to see how she develops the series and brings us more characters to fall in love with.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I really really liked this book, it has some great characters and the village of Heartcross sounds wonderful.