A really beautiful story about love, friendship, grief and hope. I loved following Pepper’s adventures and seeing her relationships with the other characters develop and evolve over the course of the book.

Usually Isabelle Brooms' novels are set in a scenic location and on home turf. In this one you get 3 for the price of one as Pepper travels to Lisbon, Barcelona and Hamburg for long weekends away from home in Suffolk. She experiences the joys of travel and, of course as this is a romance, finds love. Naturally there are trials and tribulations along the way and some lovely cities are brought to life. Another great feel-good read from Isabelle Broom.

Having read a previous book by the author I knew I was getting to read something sweet and lovely and I wasn't wrong.

What a wonderful treat of a book. I loved it, with all the travel and the lovely friendships and the romantic love story and the art and oh, it was just what I needed at this exact moment in time.

This really is the perfect romance to escape with - a joy of people and places, stories, opportunities and families.
The characters are so alive and the story so real, there is drama, happiness and sadness, a real gem of a book.

Pepper is from a small coastal Suffolk town and has never ventured far, mainly due to a significant loss in her family. When a friend insists she accompanies her to Lisbon, she falls in love with travel and a dashing stranger.

I really enjoyed following Pepper's travels, Broom really brought the cities to life and seeing familiar places through Pepper's eyes was lovely.

The only bit I didn't like was the ending, it was quite abrupt and not what I would have chosen!!

I've really enjoyed Isabelle Broom's writing before and this is another lovely, beautifully written book. The sense of place is just wonderful, as an author she is so brilliant at describing places so that they leap off the page and you feel like you can see and hear and smell them all around you. The book made me want to visit Lisbon and Barcelona especially, they're described so vividly and with such obvious affection.

I'm really loving books at the moment that feature romance but are really more about female relationships and this was a perfect example. Although Pepper's romance was fun to read, I was far more captured by and invested in her friendship with Josephine and her fractured and difficult relationship with her Mum. In particular the Mother-daughter relationship is handled beautifully here, touching on grief and guilt and love and healing, it's a tricky, emotional and worthwhile journey to go on with the characters.

I would definitely recommend this beautiful story of being brave, going on a journey both literal and figurative, and discovering yourself.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is average summer read, pleasant enough to pass a few hours in the sun. The excellent descriptions of Lisbon, Barcelona and Hamburg are where the narrative really comes alive.
However I found it difficult to connect with Pepper, and her budding romance with Finn, it is all a bit formulaic.
I would have loved to have read a more expanded version of Josephine’s story, we only get snippets of that as the book goes on. The relationship between Pepper and Josephine is not really explored. I recently read another title with a similar ‘younger person going abroad with a much older person, in search of a lost love’ theme, which was written really well and put the two characters’ stories together much more convincingly. Perhaps that’s why this book disappointed me.
I would rate it two and a half stars, rounded up to three.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this title.

This book was very...okay. It had a good story, with family drama, tragedy, and cute romance, but I just couldn’t connect with it. When I’m reading a book, I love that moment when it feels like you’ve been wrapped up in the story and everything about it feels as real as your own life. You find yourself invested in the characters and what happens to them.

I kept waiting for that moment to happen with this book, but it didn’t happen. Instead of being wrapped up in the story, I just felt distanced from it. I found myself not really caring about the drama, or if two characters end up together—which is strange considering this is a romance. I would say a big reason for that was the author’s writing style, specifically when it came to transitions. It often felt like we were jumping around from one scene to the next without a clear bridge to how we got there.

However, I did enjoy the plot twist near the end, and the author did have a clear vision for this story. I think perhaps this was just a case of, this book wasn’t for me, but it may be for you!

This book comes out July 7, 2020. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a review copy of this book.

I am afraid that Hello, Again did not love up to its publicity as far as I am concerned. It seemed to take a very long time to go pretty much nowhere. I read about half of it, got bored and then finally went back and read to the end. But an hour later I couldn't even remember the main characters' names. And the ending baffled me completely. The only character I really cared about was Sam and he was largely absent from the plot.

In terms of technicalities, I feel that the dramatic curve and character development was wavy which may be more like real life but in a novel leaves this reader at least feeling cast adrift. The dark secret alluded to in the publicity isn't dark enough or secret enough to sustain interest. The complex family dynamics it gives rise to, however, would have been but the author allowed those to bubble under.

This is the first book I've read from this author and I have to say I enjoyed it. It was light and easy to read but captured the imagination and was substantial enough to keep the reader's attention as the characters find their way with love and loss set against the fractured nature of mosaics. There are some lovely characters in some equally lovely locations, between the coast of Suffolk to Portugal and Spain plus Hamburg and Guernsey. A romance on different levels, love and loss, with a slightly unexpected ending.

I loved the description of the places visited, especially as I have done both Lisbon and Barcelona, and fell in love with Gaudis work. The author has either visited these places herself, or has done her homework very well.
The story flows well, and covers many aspects of life, love and family. A good holiday read, or for wishing that you are in sunnier climes.

Rating edit: 2.5 stars

Well, I have mixed feelings for this book. It’s a good story, with good back stories. The writing is good, beautiful at certain places. For example – ‘It was the smell of home, of growing up, of long summer days chasing Bethan across the stones, of chips wrapped in newspaper that stained your fingers, of a time when their family was still together, still intact, not broken by tragedy, the pieces scattered and muddled, a picture of happiness destroyed.’
I like this kind of writing that makes you feel something. Still, sadly, I can’t say I really like the book. As I said, it’s a good story but the execution of the story, the storytelling is dull. So many unnecessary, insignificant incidents fill the pages, or maybe they are told in an uninteresting way.
Certain significant incidents seemed unconvincing, for example – Pepper and Finn introductory scene. Or when Finn meets Samuel for the first time. And some incidents that could have been interesting appear as snippets, for example one of Pepper’s date and most importantly, Josephine and Jorge’s love story.
I found it really annoying the way Josephine (clapped her hands all the time) and mentioned her love story in snippets, like ‘Do you see, why I fell in love with Jorge?’
I wish the author has given this story a separate space, from Josephine’s point of view. Josephine is an interesting character though.
Speaking of characters, I didn’t feel any spark or emotion in Pepper-Finn relationship. In fact I didn’t like Finn’s character. And I really liked Samuel’s character. In fact, I enjoyed reading Pepper-Samuel scenes. He is funny, reflects positive vibes.
'There was no reason for me to think I had done anything but an excellent job, but I still doubted myself.' 'How did you overcome it?' 'Easy. I did it again. & again. It became easier. I trusted my skills more & my anxieties less.'
I enjoyed reading the last 25%, however it’s inconsistent. It’s interesting for some time, and then it gets boring and so on. To be very honest, I skipped many pages and sadly it didn’t make any difference.
The ending is satisfying. I think this book needed a good beta reader. Overall, an okay read. ‘Hello, Again’ is a book that could have been much better.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC.

This is the first book that I have read by Isabelle Broom and can confirm that it won’t be my last. I was totally immersed in this story and loved every moment.
The friendship between Pepper and Josephine was a beautiful thing. Pepper’s fractured family life and confidence needed the stability that their friendship created. Pepper’s relationship with her parents was a major source of pain and the way that the root of the problem was revealed made for a heart-breaking read.
Having visited Lisbon and Barcelona, it was lovely to return virtually and enjoy the sights again.
The delectable Finn was a joy to read about and the spark between him and Pepper was clearly set to become an inferno!
I avoid spoilers so I will stop short of giving the game away but, I can assure you, this book has every ingredient required for the perfect romantic break.

We meet Pepper as she flails a little in her life, distanced from her family due to an old trauma. She starts to spread her wings and travel, encouraged by new friends. Thanks NetGalley, I loved this book!

This is such a lovely book, perfect for lockdown and for those of us who won’t be going abroad anytime soon, as well as being a brilliant beach read. The descriptions of the places Pepper visits are so vivid, I could feel the sun on my face and the cobblestones under my feet. Beautifully written, this is a story of loss and love, learning and daring to love again, to dream again, after a profound loss- in this case Peppers sister twenty years before. A beautifully told story.

What a very enjoyable book this is!
Isabelle Broom's wriiting is colourful and evocative and her wonderful descriptions of Lisbon and Barcelona took me straight there, feeling the heat, experiencing the colours. Real escapism.
Pepper is a young lady who has never been out of England but is brave enough to fly off as a companion to the delightful Josephine, an older lady who has been a friend for some time. Josephine wants to revisit places where memories were made in her past. For Pepper, it is all new.
It was so nice to feel the relationship between young and old developing on both sides. Pepper learnt so much about herself and about her self value. It's a story about confidence regained, about the healing of old relationships and the discovery of new ones.
Thanks to NetGalley for a chance to review this book. I did enjoy reading it.

Philippa (otherwise known as Pepper) is an artist living in Aldeburgh. She is flamboyant in her dress sense and quite self effacing about her artistic competencies. She has a shovel-load of life issues going on... the loss of her younger sister when she was 13 is still raw and this bereavement impedes a good enough relationship between her and her mother. Dad has moved on and is due to marry his much younger lover.

So, when Pepper happens to meet the much older Josephine, she embraces their friendship - she is something positive in her life. Josephine is determined to revisit the scene of an earlier love affair, something she wants to do before she gets too old and infirm, and she invites Pepper to accompany her. First stop is Lisbon, where they explore the city and sample the custard tarts with gusto. This is the first time that Pepper has actually left Aldeburgh and environs, so it is a big deal. There, Pepper serendipitously meets Finn, a German young man who has a lot about him. She falls for him and he for her. She is soon heading for his home town of Hamburg and they confirm that there is something life affirming about their relationship.

in Barcelona, together with Josephine once again, they explore the top sites and Park Güell is a delight for her, with all the mosaics. She is an artist and mosaicist and feels inspired to create something really memorable. Pepper is ALWAYS on the look out for bits and pieces of interest that she can use in her mosaics.

What does Pepper's future look like....?

The author is tremendous at sharing her love of location with her readers. In Hamburg she flags the wonderful sites to visit (and bars - like Strandpauli, for example) and revels in the delights of Lisbon and Barcelona - if you are following in Isabelle's literary footsteps there are plenty of venues to visit should you be so inclined.

This is a wonderful story of romance, life issues and location, that will transport you away from everyday worries - even just for a few hours. A really good Summer read.

This is a light summer read focusing on love, friendships and family relationships. Pepper befriends an older woman called Josephine and they embark on a trip to Lisbon to try to find Josephine’s long lost love. Pepper finds romance along the way, does some soul searching and tries to move forwards after the death of her sister.

To be truthful this book didn’t completely bowl me over and whilst I really enjoyed reading about the beautiful settings in Aldeburgh, Lisbon and Barcelona, it felt as if there was something missing from the story. The ingredients were all there for a really brilliant read but it sadly all felt a little flat. There was nothing particularly exciting going on to entice me into the story or tempt me to keep turning the pages. The romance felt a little superficial, it was all extremely quick and predictable with no build up to the relationship. I didn’t warm to Finn, there is something about his characterisation that made me feel as if he had a hidden agenda, I constantly felt as if he was leading Pepper on and that something unpleasant could happen at any minute. The rest of the characters are well-rounded and likeable and I adored Samuel’s character. Josephine has a wonderful zest for life and is a really a positive influence on Pepper, encouraging her to do things she wouldn’t normally do. I really would have loved it if the author had gone into more depth with the Josephine and Jorge relationship, this would have made a really interesting side story, but unfortunately it seems to fizzle away towards the end….

What stood out for me were the gorgeous descriptions of the countries visited, the scenery and the culture, the author has obviously done a lot of research. I holiday in Aldeburgh once a year and the descriptions are absolutely spot on. The relationships are sensitively explored, particularly with Pepper and her mother. The epilogue is also very good, it is a great ending with a little twist you may or may not see coming.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advance copy.

Philippa (known as Pepper to her friends) has lived her whole life in the picturesque coastal town of Aldeburgh in the East of England. A life numbed by grief following the accidental death of her sister Bethan two decades ago; a life only partly lived as Pepper has given up her dreams of travel and ambition to become a professional artist. Instead, she has sought refuge in teaching art through her own community project ‘Arts For All’. Outside of work, she socialises with a few close friends and her mother. A mother whose remote distant existence has been defined by her younger daughter’s death and no one, not even Pepper can find a way through to her.

Into this world Pepper’s older and feisty friend, Josephine, cajoles her to come along on a trip to Lisbon to try and discover what happened to Josephine’s first and true love, Jorge. What Pepper does not realise is that Josephine’s invitation becomes the catalyst which alters her entire life.

Wow! As the pair arrive in Lisbon the novel truly takes off and luckily this is only the first of five trips abroad that Philippa ends up making.

Lisbon is described in glorious lush technicolour detail, capturing the mesmerising beauty of the city and its people. The author paints a vivid image of the capital, the serenity palpable through the wonderful and magical depiction. I felt transported to Lisbon (and later the other destinations); yet I must reinforce that at no stage is the energy and ease of the narrative sacrificed for the sake of the locations.

Travel is so much more than sightseeing and this is case for Pepper who finds herself transformed through her travels and experiences. First in Lisbon she meets a German named Finn and the two of them seem destined to be together. As the story moves back to Aldeburgh, then to Hamburg, Barcelona and Guernsey, Pepper finds increasing creativity and freedom within herself as she faces the guilt of moving forward with her life, both personally and artistically.

“Guilt that her own pain did not run deep enough, that she dared to hope for elation in the wake of tragedy.”

Excerpt from ‘Hello, Again’.

Romance is interwoven throughout the book and interestingly played out across the various generations. Whilst the love interest between Pepper and Finn dominate, her enigmatic friend Simon becomes a frequent presence in her life. The romantic life of Josephine and even that of her mother and father also are explored with sensitivity and warmth.

Through this powerful portrayal of love, loss and friendship I found myself drawn ever deeper into the lives of all the characters, hooked by their tangled romantic encounters and I cheered along as they found a life beyond sadness. Nothing is predictable and the continual surprises ensure this is a rewarding, thoughtful and entertaining book.

Finally, a note to myself! How has this author not been on my radar! ‘Hello, Again’ is Isabella Broom’s eighth book and I now look forward to catching up with some of her previous works. I think I’ve got my summer reading sorted!

I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest and impartial review.

Once again another well written, enjoyable book. It just proves that sometimes we have to act outside our comfort zone in order to get out of a rut (even when we haven’t realised we are in a rut!).