Member Reviews
There is romance, mystery, family saga, and more in this book with a setting of Spain. It is an enjoyable read.
The Spanish House by Cherry Radford is a heartwarming story about a woman’s journey to find her heritage and her missing past.
Julianna works in London as a TV and movie extra. Her Spanish mother left her when she was a small child, and she has never explored the Spanish side of her family. When she receives a letter from her Uncle Arturo, asking her to housesit and work on his old coastal home in Andalusia, Spain. Julianna is excited to spend some time on the Spanish coast and explore her Spanish heritage.
Julianna works on redecorating the cottage and learns more about her mother’s work at the nearby film studio. She also learns more about her neighbors, especially the handsome and mysterious artist next door.
The Spanish House is a heartwarming story of Julianna’s journey to discovering her Spanish roots and heritage. The book is easy to read and is both emotional and inspiring. I enjoyed all the characters in the book and rooted for Julianna to find herself. Uncle Arturo was mysterious, but I always felt he had Julianna’s best interest at heart.
The authors’ descriptions of the scenery, including the cottage, the beaches, and the film studio are exquisite. I felt like I was transported to the Spanish coast and this book has a real summer holiday feel.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
This was a really lovely book, that I couldn't put down! I felt like I was in Spain and making these discoveries too. A good summery read to take you to another place.
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!
Excellent book! This is the first book that I have read by this author. I liked her style quite a bit. The plot was very interesting and flowed easily. The characters are developed wonderfully and I cared about them almost immediately. I was not certain where the plot was leading, but I was invested the entire time I was reading about Juliana’s progress to fulfill the list of requirements to be gifted her uncle’s house.
I felt like I was in Spain while reading the story since the scenery is described so beautifully. The beaches, restaurants and food made the story come to life. While Juliana was exploring Almeria’ city, so was I.
I want to mention, since I know very little Spanish language that sometimes I was confused when Spanish words were used intermingled with English. Since I was reading on a Kindle it was easy enough for me to highlight a word and go look at a dictionary or Wikipedia, which helped me greatly.
I recommend this book for anyone that reads Women’s fiction. It does have a bit of romance in the book but not too much that someone not interested in reading a romance story would be put off by.
I want to thank NetGalley and Aria & Aries for giving me the pleasure of reading the advance reader copy, with no obligation to write a review. My review is written freely as a hobby, and is totally my own opinion, not influenced by receiving the ARC.
I fear I’ll be one of the few who will state they didn’t like this one, mainly because my expectations weren’t met. “The Spanish House” is undeniably well written enough and there are some precious moments included, but I just feel like I didn’t get what I was promised. My main criticism is that it often felt like a lot of things were happening off page, like I would awkwardly realize that so and so had already gotten to know each other in a scene I wasn’t privy to. I was confused a tad too many times to be able to enjoy the story at its full potential. Maybe it’s just me though.
I was offered a free copy of this book from the publisher and am glad I was. This was a fun read.
The novel follows Juliana a young woman of Spanish descent who is offered a chance for a vacation by housesitting her Uncle Arturo’s house in Andalusia. Once at her uncle’s house, she finds out that the house will be hers if she completes 10 tasks that are set for her. This gives Juliana a chance to research her past, find a connection to her mother, and possibly find love too. The description of the house and Spain were enchanting. This was a lovely read. This was my first book by the author Cherry Radford and I will be looking for her future novels.
Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher Aria and Aries, and the author for the chance to read and review this book.
With thanks to netgalley for an early copy in return for an honest opinion.
DNF.
This book was not for me when there is swearing on the very first page.
I swear I did try to read this book. But Just not a book for me. Thank you to netgalley for letting me read this e arc in exchange for an honest opinion
The Spanish House, by Cherry Radford, is a quick romance following Juliana, a young extras actress who is bored in her monotonous life, when she's offered her uncles house in exchange for fulfilling a set of conditions in and around the little Spanish village it's situated in.
The writing is fast-paced, with wonderful descriptions of the scenery, amazing chemistry and a touching and believable romance, when least expected. The characters were realistic and compassionate, and the book gave an enjoyable insight into Spanish culture, and overall was a lighthearted and entertaining read.
This weekend I had the privilege to escape to Spain via Cherry Radford’s latest novel The Spanish House. Her descriptions of the country, the villages, the beaches, and the food are incredible you truly feel as if you are there. The characters in the novel are as well developed, as one would find in a Hallmark movie of the week. At times I felt I knew what was coming next based on the formulae of Hallmark movies – which I love! This is true chick-lit, a great beach summer read.
Thank you #netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Juliana's monotone life as an TV/film extra in England becomes some sort of adventure when her spanish uncle Arturo offers his house in a little spanish village to become her inheritance if she respects all terms and conditions Arturo has written on a short list. And what a to-do list that is! The tasks seem to be pretty simple to accomplish and Juliana gladly accepts the challenge. And a journey to explore her own heritage and family.
The reader is immediately immersed in sunny Spain. The characters are believable and their inner feelings are well described and relatable.
This is an uplifting novel about identity, renewal and finding soulmate romance when you least expect it.
A heartwarming escapist romance novel of family secrets and love.
Lovely read.
Thank you to Aria Books, Net Galley and Cherry Redford for allowing me to read The Spanish House in exchange for a review.
In these currently trying times, how amazing is it to have a novel that completely transports you to somewhere as beautiful as Spain? A perfect escape to get lost in with great characters and an unexpectedly sweet twists and turns.
Juliana is tired of her London life, working as an extra in the tv and film industry so when her uncle Offers her his Spanish summer house, she jumps at the chance. But there are a few conditions Juliana has to meet to make the house hers; get on with the neighbours, paint the house, visit all the beaches and visit her mother’s grave… easy enough? But what Juliana finds is that there’s so much more to her Spanish heritage than even she expected.
I loved the location descriptions and the wonderful exotic feeling of the towns and I’d you’re looking for a sweet, easy story to take on a summer holiday; this ones perfect.
The setting sounded lovely.
The romance aspect was pretty good.
Overall, a ok read but not a favorite for me.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion. All opinions expressed are my own.
I found this one a little slow starting then when I got into it I was hooked. A great story, been swept away to Spain was just lovely, A really enjoyable read and some great characters.
I DNF'd this after chapter 3.
The writing is not good at all. There is no cohesive flow to the story.
The prologue had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the story. It would have been better if the concept of her recieving the conditions received a bit more airtime then spending it on the prologue. Especially since we were just bombarded with the email and the next scene Juliana is in Spain. Talk about whiplash.
In fact, the whiplash effect as a result from jumping from one scene to scene felt as if I kept falling into the middle of the conversation. Keep in mind, I only read up until the end of Chapter 3. For example, there is a paragraph that starts off, ‘I think we’re neighbours… I saw you—’‘Oh, when you said yesterday you were looking after your uncle’s house, I should have known – you’re Arturo’s niece.’ Pray tell, when did Juliana say this because we as the reader are not made privy to this introduction. How are supposed to know what they're babbling on about if little to no backstory is provided? How are we supposed to connect with any of the characters if we don't read about their interactions as they're happening in real time to the character?
There is also not enough writing about the location either. Setting a book in an exotic location requires atmosphere. The story fails to
do jus that. There is nothing to describe the street the house is on, the minimum is spent describing the cottage and there are times when the descriptions about the scenery makes the character sound awfully dumb (more on this in a moment).
Also has Juliana ever been to Spain? Because there are times when it comes across that she has and other times when she hasn't. But hey, why would we want to clarify this for the readers?
Lastly, so many one-liners that make absolutely no sense or makes the character come across as truly ignorant. For example:
"People could keep their pine forests and lines of palm trees;"
What on earth does this mean?!?!
"When did a hill become a mountain?"
Seriously, THAT'S what you're pondering when driving through the mountainside in SPAIN?
"One hill had a scampering herd of white goats – or maybe they were sheep with short coats;"
What?!
Oh and please can someone tell me how going to a region to taste a specific type of tomato is something of great struggle? Because the character makes it sound like an impossible task.
It's better that I end here for the sake of my sanity.
Will Juliana discover her roots in beautiful coastal Spain? Juliana gets a chance of a lifetime to obtain a home in Spain, but there are conditions. Find out if Juliana can overcome the challenges in this cozy story. This was just an okay story for me,
Okay, the setting was immaculate and the book was very cosy but I didn't dig the writing style at all. A lot of telling instead of showing that didn't work here. Sometimes I would forget whether it's written in first person or third person and it's just confusing at times!
This story was heartwarming and pleasant as it takes you through Juli’s journey of meeting each condition to inherit a house in the south of Spain.. The author not only does a great job with Juliana’s character development and her story, but also with the descriptions of the different settings and the accuracy of what a community is like in a small town of Spain (from the snoopiness 😝 to having each other’s back). Add on to this the romance and family secrets, and it was such a wonderful read.
A charming tale that follows Juliana as she discovers more about her Spanish heritage, her seemingly hostile neighbour and herself. This is an easy read, it's interesting, entertaining and light-hearted. You can imagine the characters, the beautiful scenery...it's the perfect Spain escape whilst international travel is tricky right now!
I really enjoyed how the tales interweave and love that it has a 'five years later' chapter, that gives us a really love happy ending!
Loved this in so many ways. One it is set in Spain in an area I love and my parents live. The descriptions were great. The story line with Juliana and her uncle and her father protecting over her mother. Twists in a good way. . I loved the list of tasks she had to do. The beaches especially .. Read this on kindle . Can’t wait for the paperback to send to friends. You got the love and friendship element with Josemi. A must must read