With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.

A Springtime Affair is about B & B owner Gilly and her grown up daughter Helena.

Helena was a talented weaver and lived in a studio flat near her best friend Amy. However her new landlord wanted the property back and Helena had six months to find somewhere else to live.

One afternoon Helena was surprised when a man turned up needing help to rescue his cat. He introduced himself as her new landlord Jago, He explained he was a builder and was in the middle of renovating the whole house.

They quickly became friends and had dinner every night together. and they hit it off straight away. When Helena explained that she happy being single, Jago said they should pretend to be a couple to their friends and family.

As the friendship developed Helena moved in with Jago and he helped her with upcoming craft exhibition. Soon Helena found herself wanting to be more than friends., However she soon discovered that Jago was hiding a tragic secret.

Gilly was running her house as a b & B after divorcing her husband Sebastian. However her son Martyn and daughter in law Cressida wanted her to sell her house. Martyn wanted Gilly to use the money to help them purchase a huge house with a granny flat attached.

Gilly was thinking about selling the house to help Helena by her own flat. By chance she met Leo a property valuer who said it was worth a substantial amount. Leo was an attractive older man and they began dating. However when Gilly introduced him to Martyn it appeared they already knew each other. Was Leo trying to con Gilly out of her money?

I am a big fan of Katie Fforde and I am always excited when she releases a new a book. I especially like summery artwork on her front covers.

The book had some great personalities. I liked Helena and she obviously adored Gilly. The protagonists in Katie`s books always have varied occupations. I thought weaving sounded quite interesting and Helena`s artisan craft fayre sounded lovely.

I personally preferred Gilly`s story. I disliked her son Martyn and thought he was a bully. I thought the description of Cressida was brilliant and could picture her as a wafer thin yummy mummy. I knew what Leo was bad news from the first paragraph and hoped Gilly would not be taken in by his charm.

I was glad Gilly had her accountant friend William to look after her. I loved his army of aunts who were a breath of fresh air.

I highly recommend this book.

I loved this. Super easy to read, the story follows a mother and daughter through life’s ups and downs and relationships - both romantic and familial. A gorgeous light-hearted romance - highly recommended.

I read this delightful book over Valentines and thoroughly enjoyed it. You get not just one story of romance but two, both of which were entertaining and engaging.

First, we have Helena, the weaver who is about to be evicted from her weaving studio and seems to be completely averse to starting up any kind of romance, despite objections from her mother and her best friend Amy. She enjoys her work and her solitude. She also can remember someone even after only a cursory glance, something which proves to be problematic for her at times. The landlord in question doing the evicting is the mysterious and brooding Jago who also has no interest in a romantic relationship, so they agree to be a plus one for each other at any upcoming social occasions. You just know things are going to develop but what is lurking in the past that could potentially come between them. For once, it’s not a mad ex or deceased lost love that threatens their budding romance but can they overcome what lies in their way?

Then we have Helena’s mother, Gilly. As if she didn’t have enough on her plate fending off the grasping monetary demands of her son Martin and his healthy-eating obsessed wife Cressida, she also has to contend with two potential suitors. Will it be Leo, the handsome and suave silver fox estate agent who sweeps her off her feet with fancy cars and houses? Or will it be William, her dependable solicitor who takes her hang gliding and enjoys a nice home-cooked meal? With Martin trying everything he can to persuade her to sell her cosy little B&B and using Leo to help him achieve this, Gilly is torn between loyalty to her family and following her own heart, whilst also trying to help Helena along in her relationship.

I felt like Gilly’s story was the more complete tale, whereas Helena and Jago just kind of fell together and ended rather abruptly. I did like Gilly though, her B&B sounded just wonderful and she was the kind of landlady who would be wonderful company as well as a wonderful host. I also enjoyed William’s aunts very much, they added so much humour to Gilly’s story and their meddling was delightful. I honestly wanted to throttle both Martin and Cressida, they were both just spoilt and selfish.

As with all Katie Fforde books, I enjoyed this very much although I would have liked a bit more of a complete ending for Helena and Jago unless of course there is to be a sequel. We can but hope.

I'm a longtime Katie Foorde fan and always loved her stories. This one was no exception with a well crafted plot, an interesting cast of characters and a sweet romance.
It's a sweet story that made me smile and root for the characters.
An excellent read, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

A Lovely Read
I did enjoy A Springtime Affair, with its quirky cast of characters and wide-reaching plot.
I did enjoy the variety of personalities, from Helena and her mother, who were very easy to imagine to the diet devil sister in law and the creepy beau were true to form and really helped to add depth to the plot. The one character who I struggled with was Jago, to begin with, he was approachable but once his friendship with Helena develops into something more, he seems to flounder on the page.
On the other hand, the supporting cast of aunts, accountant and granddaughter helped in finding happiness, be it with the love of their lives or with brownies.
My thanks as always to #Netgalley #PenguinRandomHouseUK #Cornerstone and the author Katie Fforde for allowing me the opportunity for reading and reviewing this 🌟🌟🌟🌟 read.

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1780897561/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_p9VtEb15TTQ13
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780897561/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_p9VtEb15TTQ13
Available at all good retailers

Check out my latest review, A Springtime Affair by Katie Fforde on my blog @ https://sloantate-mckate.blogspot.com/2020/02/a-springtime-affair-by-katie-fforde.html My thanks as always to #Netgalley #PenguinRandomHouseUK #Cornerstone and the author Katie Fforde for allowing me the opportunity for reading and reviewing this 🌟🌟🌟🌟 read.

I’m not sure what to say about this book. It was... okay. I don’t think it’s badly written at all, but I had no real urge to finish it and the plot dragged in places. I would possibly read another Katie Fforde novel, but it was a bit twee for my taste and it didn’t keep my interest.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Firstly, thanks to Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book.
Katie Fforde is an author you can always turn to when you want an easy read with a bit of life, love, romance and usually a decent story. In this story she doesn’t disappoint.
Gilly is a middle-aged, divorced, B&B mother of two grown up children (Martin & Helena,) & grandmother time Issi, daughter of Martin & his wife Cressida. Helena is her single, skilled weaver daughter, living in her flat with notice to quit. Both have their challenges to face. Gilly is being pressured to sell her home & become live in nanny for her son & daughter in-law and Helena is trying to find somewhere to home herself & her large loom, foundation of her business.
The efforts of her son to get what he wants include the introduction of smooth talking, polished lizard Leo, but her gliding accountant and Prince Charming in disguise William is waiting in the wings.
Meanwhile Helena’s landlord Jago is very present and a kitten triggers the development of their relationship, which is kindled throughout the story.
Neither of the characters journeys are smooth flights, but it wouldn’t be much of a story if they had been.
In summary, a delicious read that introduces some very likeable characters you want to see get their happy ending/start that is the perfect holiday or rainy day read.

Katie Fforde is an author I always turn to if I want a read that will provide me with a nice storyline, likeable characters and a few moments of will they/won't they before we reach some sort of resolution, be it good or bad. That's exactly what I got from her new book A Springtime Affair. It's a book that can easily be read in one or two sittings as it is entertaining and flits between two women, mother and daughter, Gilly and Helena as they battle with what the romantic aspect of their lives is throwing at them. It's an uplifting, sweet read that has short snappy chapters with lots of splashes of romance thrown in and of course a few baddies to throw things ever so slightly off kilter. After all despite the lovely cover and the blurb suggesting plenty of budding romance it can't be all fun and games on the path to true love.

It was great to see a middle-aged woman as one of the main characters as I think I am going beyond the point of always wanting to read of very young women who seem totally clueless when it comes to the romance department and in general are just a bit silly. Gilly was a woman with life experiences, some good, some bad, and having been through a nasty divorce she is now safely out the other side and enjoying running her house as a B&B. Her two children Martin and Helena are now adults themselves and she feels that she has plenty of independence.

Gilly was a real homemaker and must have been a fantastic mother to her children as they were growing up as I could see she still carried those characteristics with her into later life and the running of her business. She was a talented cook and loved to keep everything in ship-shape order for her guests. So everything appears to be ticking along nicely for her, that is until she is called to Sunday dinner with Martin and his wife Cressida. Helena is also invited and they know that this is unusual and not something they look forward to as Cressida is a health freak and so strict and set in her ways right down to her daughter Ismene. Gilly wonders just what are the pair up to? Martin and Cressida were characters I never liked. Their ulterior motives although they make them out to Gilly as being advantageous for her were nothing of the sort, they wanted a nice cushy lifestyle and were using Gilly to get it.

Why should Gilly have to sell her beautiful home, the home she herself was reared in and also especially after she fought so hard in her divorce to keep it? All so Martin and Cressida can move to a bigger house and provide her with a granny annex and in turn they would have ready made babysitting on tap. I mean for goodness sake Gilly was only in her fifties and they practically had her dead and buried or consigned to a small area to suit their needs. I desperately hoped that Gilly wouldn't become a pushover for at times the way she acted, and the fact she took quite a long time to stand up for herself, suggested she might. I couldn't fathom how she just couldn't stand up for herself and simply say no - end of. I understand Martin was her flesh and blood but what he was expecting was unreasonable. You'd say something if Gilly was ill or just not able to cope on her own but she was thriving and only had even more room for improvements for herself and perhaps romance was first on the list. The fact she even considered the offer put to her was a complete and utter joke.

Then Leo arrives on the scene seemingly out of nowhere and oh what luck he was able to give her a valuation for her house and a pretty good one at that. Instantly it all just seemed so handy and so easy but I knew from the outset that Leo was a bit shady, shift and sneaky. I didn't like his forceful personality and I thought he was dominating Gilly. As she goes on several dates with him I thought she was rushing things big time and she just seemed totally enamoured with the first sign of male affection that had been shown to her in quite some time. Don't they say it's better to sit back and wait and see what could come along further down the line. Don't just jump at the first opportunity that presents itself. Maybe for Gilly there was something better out there for her and suffice to say another aspect of love, passion and kindness does present itself in a surprising way. But it's up to Gilly what choice she makes both in terms of her professional life and affairs of the heart.

Helena was a likeable enough character too and, similar to her mother, she faces a few issues when it comes to relationships. She is a weaver and works happily away in a barn she rents near the main farmhouse. But her six month warning as to the lease running out is up and now she must look for somewhere else to carry out her work. It was evident that Helena loved her craft and put so much time and interest in it and it was great to see a different and more unusual profession feature in a book and at this stage this is what Katie Fforde is known for. I enjoyed the scenes where Helena goes to trade shows to show her wares but initially I did think would things work out in terms of finding a new space?

As new landlord Jago, despite being kind and helpful, wasn't at first leaping to offer an alternative solution. Helena also likes keeping track of what is going on in her mother's life but in a good way. I didn't find her at all interfering or with ulterior motives as with Martin. She showed genuine compassion and concern for what was happening to Gilly and she didn't want her racing headlong into a decision that she may later come to regret. Likewise Gilly was a great support for Helena, always there with a word of praise or advice not to mention lots of supplies in terms of food, stews, crumbles and lots more delights. They were constantly being mentioned making me quite hungry whilst reading.

The Springtime Affair of the title was fairly obvious when it came to Gilly but it was like I had missed a chapter or two as things appeared fairly cemented and she was very much in someone's pocket before I even knew it. I had to go back and check had I actually skipped pages or was it just simply not mentioned? The element of confession of one's feelings and the dancing around each other never materialised or else as I said I totally bypassed it. It left me quite unsettled with my reading of the story for a number of chapters, then I just had to put it out of my head and accept it had happened and move on with the story. When Gilly feels she has to go and get to the bottom of something to find out is this love and relationship meant for her there was a little surprise thrown is as to why someone has been keeping secrets. I could totally understand the reasons why this person did this but the scenes set in Wales just seemed extra to requirements and the story would have worked perfectly well without them. As for the speed at what happens to both Gilly and Helena it came across as being unnecessarily fast but maybe that was just the way it came across in the writing.

A Springtime Affair was a very pleasant read and one which would be perfect if you were looking for a quick, straightforward, uncomplicated story after reading perhaps a quite heavy book. It's not my favourite from Katie Fforde but I enjoy her books so I wouldn't have missed out on reading this one. There's lots of warmth, some humour and a little tension as to will they/won't they? It's perfect for anyone looking for something nice to curl up with for an afternoon.

Delightful book to read on a cold stormy winters day, and I did it transported me to a different place and smelling wonderfully of home made cakes
The story follows the lives of Gilly her daughter Helena and her son Martin and his very food phobic wife Cressinda
Their lives are all seemingly separate until someone comes into Gillys life who Helena recognises as she has a special and specific skill set that means she never forgets a face
This man who is clearly after her mothers home and the retail value of it is not a nice person.
But then do we believe everyone's story after all Helena has fallen for her landlord big time and she hardly knows anything about him
Will these ladies get burnt by love ?

Lovely light romance with some great characters and some interesting situations. I really enjoy that everything works out for the lead characters in the end. We all need some "happy ever after", especially when it's cold and wet outside.

I’ve read a few books by this author and always enjoyed them. A definite feel good read, light, not too challenging- a little bit twee for me in places but overall an lovely, easy read.

A feel good factor story that draws you in immediately and keeps you hooked. Two romantic stories run parallel for mother Gilly and Daughter Helena .of course the course of true love does not run true for mother or daughter but live wins through . A cast of believable characters to live and hate as appropriate.
I had not read Katie Fforde for a few years but this resonated with her earlier novels

A wonderful bed-time read. Katie Fforde never fails to please , keeping the reader enthralled in her romances. 2 for the price of 1 in this one!

Thank you to Netgalley, Katie Fforde and Random House UK, Cornerstone for my arc of A Springtime Affair in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: Gilly runs the local B&B, a job she loves that gave her life purpose after her divorce. Not to mention allowed her to keep the family home she adores and isn't prepared to part with at any price. Until she meets the handsome Leo who sweeps her off her feet and makes her think selling up might not be such a bad idea after all.... Meanwhile Gilly's daughter Helena doesn't have time for relationships, not when she's got her weaving business to focus on and her imminent eviction from her flat-cum-studio. But she starts getting close to her new landlord Jago but they're just friends aren't they..?

I love Katie Fforde's books, she was the first romance author I read and I always found her books super uplifting, she's part of the reason I bit the bullet and set up my own business because all of her characters have these awesome businesses or jobs that are out there and independent. I haven't enjoyed the last couple quite as much (not read A Rose Petal Summer yet but the few before that) but A Springtime Affair felt much more like her older stuff and I enjoyed it a lot more. I really liked the two love stories for mother and daughter and it was a nice light read to break up the thrillers and fantasy books! If I had one criticism it's that Gilly who was stated to be in her 50s was treated more like she was in her 70s! At times very doddery and out of touch with things as well as being considered permanently 'on the shelf' by family, friends and herself! 50s isn't old these days and I think the novel could have reflected that much better most of mine and my friend's mums who are in their 50s are cooler than us these days! Other than that it was a wonderful read.

A new novel from Katie Fforde never disappoints! There is a great cast of characters headed by Gilly, who has managed to retain her much loved family home post divorce by turning it into a successful b and b. Should she continue doing what she loves, or sell up and help her children out? Her daughter needs accommodation for herself and her weaving loom, and her son and his smart family have aspirations to upgrade from their present house. It is Spring so of course there is romance in the air as well. Perfect.

I was hooked within 3 pages.
Katie’s books are like a tug of war; you are pulled right into the story and the character’s lives and need a hard tug in order to put the book down and get back to reality.
I loved the characters, even the ones with faults. However, I would have liked to know more about Jago, his business and his friends and family.
A great read with lovely characters, pretty locations and a HEA.

I have read a number of Katie Fforde book and enjoyed them all. I really enjoyed A Springtime Affair. A great storyline and easy to read. Another great book from Fforde.

I have read and enjoyed a number of books by Katie Fforde and this one did not disappoint. Lovely characters, a great feel good factor and a happy ending, what more could I wish for on a wet afternoon!

Very pleased to have been able to read this new novel by Katie Fforde.
A lovely story about love at any age. Mother Gilby runs her own Bed and Breakfast business from her own home.She meets up with Leo who is an Estate Agent and wants her to sell up her family home.Her daughter Helena is a talented weaver and falls for her landlord Jago ,but,not all is not what it seems.

Both women we hope find love in the end, This novel is a really good read which I fully enjoyed and would recommend.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

I have read some of Katie Fforde's work before so was expecting a classic romantic/chick lit novel which is what I got! 

The book poses Helena as the main character, a weaver who has been given 6 months notice to move out of the studio that she has been living and working in by new landlord Jago. It follows her as she prepares for the upcoming shows and slowly falls for the man who is soon going to make her homeless, this is despite insisting that she doesn't need a man and having agreed to be Jagos pretend partner to get their friends off their backs! 

However the book also follows Gilly and I feel her character is given much more detail and depth. Gilly has not had the easiest time in the past as she navigated a divorce from her bully of a husband and tried to keep her family home. She now runs the home as a B&B business which she loves and, to others, perhaps spends a little too much time on. For example ensuring each room has homemade shortbread for the guests. 

As well as Helena, Gilly also has a son Martin who is married to Cressida. Neither Martin or Cressida are very likable characters and both appear as bully's as they try to convince Gilly to sell her business and give them money towards a new, bigger house. This new house would have a granny annex which Gilly could live in and would mean she is on hand to look after their daughter Ismene (never Issi). It is important to point out however that Gilly is not that old yet, only in her 50s and is very capable in her field of work.  It is around this time that Gilly meets Leo, a nasty character who seems to have been encouraged by Martin to convince her to sell the property. Will Gilly fall for his good looks and fancy house?!

Although this book was what I was expecting in terms of a romance and a happy ending, I was a little disappointed by how coincidental everything seemed to be, which made it almost unbelievable. I also found the way the story switched between focusing characters without page breaks/chapters a little confusing but that's maybe just me!