There's a big secret lurking in this placid village in the Cotswolds- but it's not a devastating one. This is light entertaining reading told from multiple POVS. I think I might have appreciated it more had I read the first book but nonetheless...>.

Favorite Quote:

In every sense she had reinvented herself, changing her name, address, hair, dress style, and career. The only thing that she had kept, unfortunately, was her disturbing nature.


My Review:

Picking up shortly after A County Scandal had ended, I gleefully dove right back into the small Cotswolds village of Treweham. While this could be read as a standalone, readers would get far more enjoyment and entertainment from the story had they already fallen in love with the enticing and alluring characters as I had while reading the first book. I am more than eager for more as I have adored this series as well as Sasha Morgan’s crisp and appealing writing style, her work pleases me and puts a smirk on my face and an occasional bump in my pulse rate with her saucy bits.

The pace was lively, the issues addressed were relevant, the characters were easily accessible, and the engaging storylines were laced with amusing observations, sharp insights, and evocative dabs of steamy goodness. Two new additions to my Brit Words and Phrases List were: bish, bosh, bash – efficiently completing a task; and podgy – chubby.

Light & Lovely with just enough intrigue to keep you reading!

**OMG! I cannot believe that these reviews haven't been done! I am so sorry they are so late!!!**

This was Book 2 in the series, I haven't read book 1 so I found it difficult to understand and love the characters. Nonetheless, I plodded on. I did read up the gist of book 1.

The story went thus, Marcus was back to the village to film a documentary about Lord of Manor Tobias and his family. There was a massive secret which could destroy their lives.

It was a light warm read with well etched characters. The author Sasha Morgan has written the story well by adding flavors to this wholesome book peppering it with romance, intrigue, suspense with a tinge of rivalry.

Multiple POV did confuse me a bit since I didn't know the characters well, and there were many characters. But I soon caught on.

Overall, a fast read with varied characters

The village of Treweham in the Cotswolds is not as tranquil and peaceful as looks would have you believe. A television documentary crew arrive in the village and soon all sorts of chaos ensues. Light hearted and witty, nicely written with some good characterisation - it's a fun read and provides a good dose of escapism.

4☆ A Light hearted and Entertaining Read!

COUNTRY RIVALRY is the second book in the series, and I highly recommend reading them in order as the characters cross over and can be a little overwhelming otherwise.
This is not a Standalone Book!

When Marcus Devlin rocks up at Treweham wanting to make a documentary about this gorgeous quaint countryside, but things are not all what they seem.
Is the documentary really a good idea for the village? Or will it ruin Treweham?

All of the characters are back with a sprinkle of new ones. It was a joy to catch up and see what's new and what's changed since the previous book.

Once again COUNTRY RIVALRY is a fun, heart warming read with a dash of romance, drama, friendships, intrigue, secrets and revenge.
It's told by multiple points of view, which can become a little confusing at times especially if you haven't read the previous book.

Overall a light hearted, entertaining, heart warming romance, with quirky characters and an engaging storyline.

Thank you to Aria Fiction for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily

I loved the 1st book in this series so was thrilled to read the 2nd one and it didnt disappoint.

Fin and Marcus had a bit of a thing in the last book and Marcus left to go back to London so Fin is very surprised to see Marcus come back to the village. He is there to film a documentary about the Lord of the local manor Tobias and his family.

Unknown to Tobias, his brother Sebastian and ther mother, Marcus is actually keeping a massive secret that could destroy theit lives.

I really enjoyed it. Cant wait for the next one.

I read the first book Scandal when it came out and I mentioned that it was an enjoyable romp that reminded me of the old Jilly Cooper novels, this one continues in the same vein.

Tobias and Megan have just got married and with a baby on the way and their home Treweham Hall now open to the public, life is busy.
Documentary film maker Marcus Delvin has come to film the inhabitants of the village but apart from falling for the local publican’s daughter there is more to his visit.
It was great to reacquaint myself with everyone from the village and while it can be read as a stand alone, I think it best to read the first prior to this one. There are a few characters who benefit from knowing their back ground.
This was pure escapism, not brain food so if your looking for a light read to while away an afternoon it could be the book for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy to read.

DNF at Chapter 16

I am sorry but I will not review this book on my blog because I decided not to finish the story.

I read until chapter 16 and the reason I won't continue is becsuse I was confused most of the time.
I didn't know this was a sequel, and I usually don't mind skipping previous books in the series, but this time there were so many characters and I couldn't keep up with them.
The only one I can say I liked the story of was Megan, and it was probably because she is the first character I was introduced to.
The writing style is mostly telling, less showing and in all honesty, I had hard time figuring out what was really going on.

I did not finish this book and therefore will not be publishing this review on social media. Unfortunately this book was not what I expected since it looked like prior knowledge of the characters was required .I am personally not fond of the style of narration used in this book.
It would appeal to people who like more romance in their stories than I do. It was more about romantic relationships than between all the people totally.

A sweet read, nice and enjoyable. A light read and is fun, the type you pick up to make you smile when you need it. Probably a few too many characters involved as was a bit confused occasionally , sometimes felt a bit schmalzy but enjoyable

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Addictive, engrossing and a joy to read, A Country Scandal is a fun, feel-good and fabulous read fans of Jilly Cooper and Fiona Walker are going to love.

Life is far from quiet in the countryside and that is certainly the case for the inhabitants of the beautiful Cotswolds village of Treweham. There is always something happening and someone will inevitably end up getting into mischief and up to no good with alarming frequency. The Treweham community is used to hair-raising shenanigans happening right on their doorstep, but the level of excitement increases by several notches when a film crew suddenly shows up wanting to film the town for a new documentary. Everybody is bursting with curiosity and excitement and some of the movers and shakers of Treweham are keen to use this opportunity for maximum effect.

Tobias Cavendish-Blake is the dashing Lord of the manor who has just got married to his beautiful wife Megan. Having recently opened their home to the public, Tobias and Megan are keen to use this opportunity to show the house to its full effect and gain as much exposure as they possibly can from this documentary. Brooding director Marcus Devlin’s arrival in Treweham soon has all the ladies swooning and for Finula, the chef at local pub, The Templar, the sexy filmmaker ignites feelings deep within her which she hasn’t felt in a long time. Will Finula’s love life get a much-needed boost? Should she trust Marcus? Or is he not all that he seems?

Life in Treweham is about to get a serious shake-up and nothing will ever be the same again – let’s just hope that the inhabitants of this beautiful village are ready for all the changes coming their way!

Sasha Morgan’s bucolic romps are simply irresistible and A Country Rivalry sparkles with mischief, hi-jinks, humour, pathos and heart. Full of characters you cannot help but love, hilarious moments, poignant romance and nail-biting action that will keep you eagerly turning the pages, A Country Rivalry is sure to cheer you up and make you laugh out loud.

A fantastic read you just will not be able to put down, A Country Rivalry by Sasha Morgan captivates, delights and entertains from start to finish.

The sequel to Scandal takes you back to 'The Cotswolds' and the village of Treweham, it's pleasant to reacquaint with the characters whose lives have moved on. If this is your first visit to the village, there is sufficient backstory for this to be read as a standalone, but it's an engaging series, so I recommend reading 'Scandal'too.

Treweham is the subject of a TV documentary, which the villagers hope will increase tourism, especially the residents of the hall, recently opened to the public. The documentary producer has his own agenda and this threatens everything the integrity of Tobias, his family and the village he loves.

The fast-paced story is told from multi-points-of-view with short chapters, which makes it easy to read The plot has a few surprises as the story's themes; revenge, romance, secrets, friendship and family are explored.

It's a good escapist read for those who like to immerse themselves in characters' lives, in a delightful rural setting, If you like Jilly Cooper and Fiona Walker, this story should please you.

I received a copy of this book from Aria Fiction via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

A colourful story with plenty of antics to sink your teeth into, A COUNTRY RIVALRY by Sasha Morgan is an entertaining read that will appeal to romance and contemporary fiction fans alike.

When a documentary film crew arrive in the quaint and close community of Treweham it will change so much for the inhabitants and in ways that are completely unexpected. For Tobias and Megan who are opening up their stately home to the public, they are delighted for the exposure that this will bring but they don't realise that someone is out to sabotage them at any cost. For the locals they hope that this will bring new customers to their doors and for local chef, Finula, it may just bring her that missing piece of the puzzle that has been lacking in her life - love. But as things start to go wrong, will everyone come together to make things right?

An easy read, A COUNTRY RIVALRY by Sasha Morgan is the second book in this series and I recommend that you read the first book as it will help when connecting with the characters and the story to know the history of it all. The community and setting work really well and overall I found the characters fascinating and engaging. A COUNTRY RIVALRY by Sasha Morgan is an enjoyable story and well worth reading.

After having reviewed, and loved, Scandal, the previous novel by Sasha Morgan, I was looking forward to this. It was unfortunate that there was no cover image available at the time I downloaded it to read immediately as I'm "auto approved" for Aria titles. But it was uploaded to the book's page on NetGalley afterwards and is a relaxing cover and quite pretty colour-wise.

A Country Rivalry is the second in the series and I was glad to see Tobias Cavendish-Blake, Lord of the small Cotswold town of Treweham, again. He's now married to Meghan and we see the couple after their honeymoon.

If you haven't read Scandal, it's a good idea that you do because then you'll get more background. The characters are introduced very quickly in a Country Rivalry and, compared to Scandal, the writing seemed rushed and there was too much going on at once all the time so I felt I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book.

The romance wasn't as full on as I expected, considering Tobias and Meghan are newlyweds. Despite this, I am glad I got to review the sequel. I hope the next offering from Sasha Morgan has me more enthused and satisfied as she is a talented writer, I just felt that, compared to Scandal, the talent was not fully taken advantage of. I felt I was not really "gelling" with the characters and their exploits. The book felt a little "flat" to me.

Thanks to Sasha Morgan and Aria for my ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review and my slot on the blog tour for this title.

3 stars.

A Country Rival is a cute book with an interesting plot and for the most part I really enjoyed the read. The only issue I had was that there were a lot of characters that I had to familiarize myself with and I was constantly forgetting who was who.

A lovely lovely read a book to cuddle up with and be transported to this town each character comes alive.Involving delightful kept me engrossed an author I will be reading again& again, #netgalley #ariabooks.

My thanks to NetGalley and Aria for a review copy of this one.

A Country Rivalry is set in Treweham village in the Cotswalds where we “meet” and follow the stories of numerous characters—the lord of the manor Tobias Cavendish-Blake, recently married to Megan; his younger brother Sebastian who is seeing success on the stage as Richard III but had seen unhappiness in his personal life; Dylan a jockey who is starting his own training yard with a girl he loves Flora but has to face his playboy past; Finula chef at the Templar, the local inn and also daughter of its proprietor, who is also dealing with heartbreak; and Gary and Tracy Belcher, lottery winners who have made Treweham their home after finding that their fortune means that their old friends only value them for their money, and while moving has meant getting away from this, they haven’t yet found a new “home” at Treweham. A documentary-film maker, Marcus Devlin (who has met Finula before) decides to make a film on the countryside and Treweham specifically (he has his reasons), and the arrival of the crew throws the lives of all its residents into disarray as the crew Marcus and Viola (his researcher, with an agenda of her own) are set on showing the worst side of village life, especially the aristocracy. On the other side, their arrival brings hope of love to some of the characters, Finula, and Sebastian, specifically.

This was a pleasant enough read for me (although it did turn out different from what I was expecting from the description (second time this month)—there was no cover at the time I requested the book). The characters are pretty straight-forward, though they each have their problems and secrets, loneliness, heartbreak, illness, revenge etc. among them, they aren’t complicated in themselves (but then, this is popular fiction). But that said, I did find myself getting interested in their stories, and wanting to know how things would turn out for each of them. From the beginning one does know that this is a feel-good sort of book, so things will turn out right certainly, but I still liked seeing how that would happen. The characters were also all fairly likeable except the one/s who aren’t supposed to be, but also they are more or less “perfect” as far as appearance goes even if not in their natures. I also liked that the resolution of everything was not too melodramatic (just a touch). But there were parts of this book that read like a cheesy romance which made me cringe a bit—these I felt could have been done much more subtly. Also there were some parts of the book (not very many, but still) that made me feel as if I’m reading a sequel where previous events are being recapped, which I don’t think is the case, so possibly these could have been written differently as well. Overall, this was a light-hearted read, pleasant, and one I would have enjoyed much more if it weren’t for some aspects (the cheesy bits specifically).

Lord Tobias and his wife Megan have just returned from their honeymoon to the country manor at Treweham, starting their life together among the hijinks of this small town. I hadn't realized when I picked up this book that it was the second in a series, and the author throws the characters at you pretty quickly. At one point, I was introduced to five different characters within one page (one of which I never really heard much else about), and it was a bit overwhelming to keep up with. As the story goes on, I learned to distinguish the characters, but that was still pretty difficult to do.

The characters all had pretty similar personalities and demeanors, and nothing about any of them really stood out as being interesting. All of the women were hopelessly devoted to the men in their lives, and often seemed as if their opinions and desires weren't taken as seriously as the men. For example, when Finula, daughter of the local pub owner, goes on a first date with the brooding film director Marcus, she proceeds to get drunk and make a fool of herself and throw herself at him, which seemed completely out of character for her the rest of the book. She is a successful woman and is being mocked on this date, and it was pretty cringy.

I also take some issue with the "romance" aspect of it, as it was usually anything but. Sex was usually on the terms of the heterosexual men. One even asked his girlfriend if he could get a "blowy" which she wordlessly obliged. It was never empowering to the women, and made me more uncomfortable than anything else. I found Sebastian, the gay brother of Tobias, to be the most likable and realistic. Though Sebastian stumbled upon a possible love interest himself, the furthest he ever gets is a hug. It seemed to defeat the point of having a gay character.

Lastly, I really think the author did a disservice with her writing style. The story is written in third-person style narrative, but the focus character varied from paragraph to paragraph. When a couple was on a date, we would hear the thoughts of the male character, and the following paragraph would be the response thoughts of the female character. There was no "will they, won't they" energy, because the reader always knew exactly what every single person was thinking at every moment.

Brilliant plot, excellent main characters that you invest in. I read this book in one sitting and I would highly recommend it.