My first book my this author and likely won't be my last. The village where the story is set, Langtry Meadows, is beautifully portrayed. The story is nicely paced and gives the reader characters to fall in love with. Well recommended.

Beautiful book cover but the story was too slow for me and couldnt connect to any of the characters

Loved this book! Set in a wonderful village, full of great characters. A "Will they? Won't they?" love story and difficult pasts to overcome. I couldn't second-guess at all.

I really can't wait for the next one in the series - well done Zara!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If it’s a cosy heart-warming read set in a picturesque location, sprinkled with oodles of charm then Summer with the Country Village Vet by Zara Stoneley is the perfect summer read for you.

When Lucy Jacobs is made redundant from her inner-city teaching job she fears her career is over. Teaching is all Lucy knows and she’s determined to get back in the classroom as fast as she can.

Except the only job on offer is at an idyllic village school in the middle of nowhere – Lucy’s idea of hell. Where are the disadvantaged kids who need saving, where is the challenge?

But as Lucy finds herself welcomed into the warm-hearted community of Langtry Meadows, she begins to realise new challenges await – like frogs in the classroom, a rather difficult donkey, and a very brooding local vet…

Local boy Charlie Davenport has his own issues about living in the close-knit village of Langtry Meadows. His private life is already fuel for the well-meaning gossips and the very last thing he needs is to get close to the new school teacher…no matter how lovely she is.

But as summer days drift away Langtry Meadows weaves its magic, Charlie and Lucy both get the chance to turn over a new leaf and start anew…maybe with each other?

I simply adored this book, Lucy was my type of girl, I bonded with her from the very first chapter but there was more to her character than meets the eye. In the classroom she was a confident teacher, adored the children but on the outside she was battling her own insecurities. As she adapts to village life, these insecurities begin to creep in when she suddenly finds herself questioning her own childhood, what really did happen in her past?

The whole of the book is so heart-warming, you can’t help but fall in love with each character and feel part of the Langtry Meadow Community. This book had everything from the grumpy gorgeous local vet, the village busy body, Elsie Harrington who doesn’t miss a trick and the parade of fabulous animals who provide that little extra humour to the story. Everyone needs a Gertie the Goose in their life!

This book was not only animal magic but warm and wonderful too, full of quirky characters and the perfect summer read all wrapped up in a stunning summery cover.

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Review
CHARMING

Even though I felt the romance was in the background. I don't know if that's quite exactly accurate? Maybe it was because it was slower paced (the romance not the book).

Again, I thought this was cute and it hit many of right notes for me, especially in my romances:

quaint town/setting, an out of her element heroine with a sexy hero , with some humor.

Although it has some over done tropes, the novel still felt fresh and I would read another book by this author.

The Cover

I love the cover, it’s bright and inviting. It really stands out and if I saw it on the shelf I would pick it up.

My Thoughts

So my preconceived notion that the book would a quick easy enjoyable read, was incorrect. Yes, it was enjoyable but it wasn’t the quick read I expected, in fact, it was so good I didn’t want it to end. I loved the country village of Langtry Meadow, I would move there tomorrow.

The book although light-hearted at times with an array of jovial animals and adventures actually covers some deep rooted issues. Zara Stoneley, has a marvellous way of weaving a story. In the Summer with a Country Village Vet, we learn about Lucy and Charlie and their fight to battle life’s troubles and the past, that continue to haunt them. Will they succeed? You will have to pick up a copy of the book to find out.

To summarise my review, I would start by saying I would recommend this book to my friends and family. I enjoyed the writing style and I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up another novel by Zara Stoneley. The only thing I didn’t love, was the title. It didn’t speak to me and I felt the book had so much more than the title makes you expect. But that’s just a personal feeling. The book takes you on a varied path of mixed emotions. One minute I was laughing out loud the next a trickle of tears rolled down my face. Everything you could possibly want from a book. A story with a beautiful core. I am hoping there will be a sequel. I definitely want to visit Langtry Meadow again and again..

Summer with the Country Village Vet, is one of those books where pretty much all of the storyline is linked, in one way or another. Cue ultimate vague review, and rightly so! Just like Zara Stoneley's previous novels, they're to be devoured with your own eyes so that you can appreciate every single thing, and no less.

At the time of reading Stoneley's book, I was going through a really rough patch and I couldn't wait to lose myself in Zara Stoneley's majestic words. Now, before you start thinking that this book is all kittens, puppies, and glorious scenery (trees and people included) due to the colourful cover, be prepared to open your mind. Why? Because, whilst the storyline has light-hearted and fun elements to it, it also contains deep emotion, heart breaking circumstances, as well as deep and meaningful reminders.

Charlie, the village vet, seems to have all the women in the village tongue-tied and creating hefty vet bills due to their constant 'need' to see the vet. I don't think that it's their animals that are needing a thorough checking over either!

Lucy, the main character, is trying to get her foot back on the teacher ladder, and ends up making friends with several children in the local school. Oh, and their frogs.

Personally, the storyline ran a lot deeper than I had anticipated. I too, thought that the storyline was going to be fluffy and serene, but it wasn't. And, to be honest, seeing as I was going through a situation at the time, just like in the book, I was able to relate to certain characters even more. Not only that, it made me quite emotional. I really wanted to reach into the book and give the characters involved, a really big hug.

As emotional as those parts were, they made me feel whole and gave me the support I needed which I wasn't getting in real life. For an author to be able to unintentionally do that, just wow, incredible. 

'Summer with the Country Village Vet' made me smile, laugh, cry, reminisce, and of course - go 'awwwww' more times than I could count. The entire novel had everything I could have ever wanted in a book! Zara Stoneley, once again, has written flawless descriptions that became vivid imagery in my mind. I have absolutely no idea how she does it, all I know is that she is absolutely brilliant at it.

There was nothing I disliked about it, at all. The pace was on point. The characters (albeit two who needed their heads banged together to see sense), were such fun to be around, especially the children. Hilarious! The vet, well, he was a lovely addition to the storyline. Cough.

But for me, the real star of the show was Zara Stoneley's incredible story telling, she has completely blown me away with the mixture of cute, sassy, and heart-felt moments. This book, really is, a beautifully written tale straight from the authors heart. You can tell that the author has put her heart and soul into every situation, every character, the animal stars, and every emotion. It's clear at the start, and it remains clear at the end; this is by far Zara Stoneley's best book yet.

A beautiful, life affirming and heart warming tale about love, life and learning to have faith in your instincts. Not everyone's life is picture perfect yet Stoneley, has proven in her new book that lives can be anything BUT picture perfect and yet still fill your heart with joy.

Thank you Zara Stoneley & HarperImpulse.

When Lucy is made redundant from her job as a primary school teacher she is devastated - after her difficult childhood she had her career all mapped out and had just bought a house and taken on a big mortgage.

The only job available is in a small picture perfect village in Worcestershire, her idea of hell - she spent her first 8 years in a country village and never wanted to go back to one again - but needs must and so she takes the job.....it is only for six weeks after all!

Her first encounter is with the locum vet Charlie - she is not interested so why does her heart keep fluttering! She seems to be spending more time with him however as he appears to be in the same boat as her - here for a short time and definitely not wanting to be - he grew up in the village and does not want to share his personal life with the whole village!

A lovely summer read with plenty of comedy moments and great descriptions of village life and the animals that Lucy is left looking after - looking forward to follow on books in the series

Nice feel good read. Set in what sounded like an iydilic village that made me want to move to. Loved the characters and storyline and fun they had

If you want an entertaining read full of captivating characters, a picture-perfect village community, hilarious antics, and a little romance thrown in for good measure, then SUMMER WITH THE COUNTRY VILLAGE VET by Zara Stoneley is a perfect choice.

Lucy Jacobs is stunned when she is laid off from her teaching job in the city. Ever since her tumultuous childhood, she has planned and controlled everything in her life to ensure that massive upheavals like this do not happen. With a mortgage to pay, Lucy takes a teaching job in the countryside of Langtry Meadows. While for some this would be the perfect setting to settle down and start a new chapter, this is not the case for Lucy who likes to lose herself among the hustle and bustle of city life. But it is not long before Lucy realises that Langtry Meadows has a lot to offer, including the devilishly handsome Charlie Davenport who also seems to be struggling with elements of his past. Who knows, maybe this city girl could become a country convert if she could just take a risk...

I really enjoyed all of the characters in this story, and am already eagerly anticipating my next visit to Langtry Meadows. The plot is well-paced throughout with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments along the way. SUMMER WITH THE COUNTRY VILLAGE VET by Zara Stoneley is the perfect summer read and I highly recommend it.

There is a popular saying at the beginning of “Summer with the Country Village Vet”: “Never work with children or animals”. Well, I work with both, ha, so this here plus the fact that it is Zara Stoneley that has written this novel, made me feel sure that I am going to love it. This book really has it all – beautiful, idyllic setting, more than likeable characters, funny animals with their antics so realistically written, adorable children with their belly – aching banter and the wonderful atmosphere. This all written with this lovely, warm and inviting Zara Stoneley’s writing style – it is already so recognizable, that I can bet if you were given this book not knowing the author, you’d guess it immediately.

I loved our main character Lucy’s passion to her job – the same as Charlie’s, to be honest. They were the right people in the right places. Lucy, just like most of Zara Stoneley’s heroines, was just my kind of a girl. She was a great teacher, she loved her job and she thought about her students and not the bureaucracy. She was clever, witty but she had her own demons and skeletons in the closet and this all made her character so beautifully complex and adorable. There is this brilliantly interwoven subplot of Lucy’s childhood, so we get a chance to learn where all her insecurities are coming from – I really liked that she finally started to ask questions. However, she didn’t let the insecurities to overwhelm her and on the outside she was a sunny, lovely girl that everybody loved and nobody could say “no” to her. Really. You’ll see for yourself when you read the book.
And let’s not forget Charlie, the moody and broody village vet. Oh my, he was GREAT! I’ve no idea how Zara Stoneley does it but with every new book her male characters are even more gorgeous, with a swoon – factor. Absolutely devoted to his job and also with past demons that suddenly start to surface… To be honest, there were moments that I wanted to bang his head on the wall, not too much of course, but that he stopped brooding and behaving the way he behaved towards Lucy because he made her feel so confused, and better don’t mess with me when you confuse Lucy, because Lucy is too nice to be messed with. So there. But apart from that Charlie was perfect, guys, but not perfect in this boring way, no, he was adorable, gorgeous and had a distance to himself and all the pets’ female owners.
I also adored the banter between Lucy and Charlie and the way they were around each other – it was so, so realistic! The will they/won’t they was brilliantly solved, you really couldn’t be sure what’s going to happen, as there were so many obstacles in their way, and even though there were moments that I SO wanted to bang their heads together, especially Charlie’s, I still could fully understand their reluctance and uncertainty.
But not only the main characters were brilliant, Zara Stoneley writes them all so well. The whole Langtry Meadow community, starting with the school staff, the nurse in Charlie’s surgery, the village busy body, knowing all and everything Elsie Harrington – they were all larger than life, warm, quirky and so true and genuine.

There wouldn’t be Zara Stoneley’s book without some gorgeous, mischievous animals. Next to newts we have all the animals that Charlie looks after in his surgery (the chihuahua. The chihuahua!) and also the bunch Lucy is baby – sitting. I absolutely loved the fact that each and every one animal that Lucy was baby – sitting was given a scene or two. We have Gertie the Goose who is very attached to very pink wellies, we have a pony Mischief, a pig that likes to be taken on walks, and many, many others. Again, they were written with so much heart and understanding, it was a real joy to read about them. Those animals have more than once stolen the show, really, but this all had such an authentic feeling to it. As much as they say “never work with children or animals”, we could advice some authors please don’t write about animals and children because it’s not as easy as we could think, but Zara Stoneley has mastered it, and both animals and children feel so authentic and genuine in this book.

I absolutely liked that everything was so neatly wrapped up in the end, that all things were explained, that Lucy had this huge talk with her mum and that she started to feel better after that. It was a fast – paced story and there was all the time something happening and I more than often found myself thinking, only one page more, and then, hours later, realised it’s time to bring the little one to bed.

I love all Zara Stoneley’s books, she really can do no wrong and I hope she’ll keep them coming and coming. There is always such a feel – good factor to them all, they so effortlessly transport you to the fiction world of the characters’ and you immediately want to move to the place where the book is set. It was the same with Langtry Meadows – I immediately fell in love with this place, with all the villagers and the author has so easily brought this place to life – with May Pole dancing, with the pub and cosy cottages, village greens and the cosy school. “Summer with the Country Village Vet” was so heart – warming and it was so easy to fall in love with the place and all the characters. I loved all the challenges they were facing, some of them very normal ones, such as what kind of animal are the children going to bring in their pockets to school, or more difficult ones, such like coming to terms with a difficult past, finding peace and letting the demons go. I had no problems to immediately feel a part of the Langtry Meadow community, they were all so easy to fall in love with. This story was a real breath of fresh air, it was as colourful as cover of this book but with a depth and some emotional moments.

But what is best is that this book is the first one in the series! I can’t wait to visit Langtry Meadows again as soon as possible!

This is the first book I've read by Zara Stoneley and everything about it sounded right up my street: the idyllic village setting, the brooding vet, the city-girl out of her comfort zone, close-knit community and romance.

"...being here was a temporary fix for both of them. They’d both be moving on soon, so what was the harm?

I can't really put this any other way, I found this particularly steady going. I really don't mind a slow burn romance but if that's the path an author takes, the couple need to hold me captive by other means and sadly, despite hoping, that never really materialised. What kept this going for me was the secondary characters who brought some humour, and whose love lives I found myself more invested in than the couple in question.

"I meant just taking it slow, getting to know each other, you know, seeing how it goes."

I think much of this boils down to length—at over 300 pages a will-they-won't-they romantic dynamic can run out of steam and this was the case here, affecting my investment in Lucy and Charlie's plight. But, I am in the minority with my thoughts, so I'd definitely judge this one for yourself as this may well work better for you, it simply wasn't for me, although based on my like of the secondary characters and the potential, I wouldn't rule out reading their stories.

Unfortunately the book was not for me, no review was publicly posted on Amazon, B&N, Goodreads or Twitter etc, so no ratings were affected in relation to it.

Review: I totally fell in love with the people of Langtry Meadows. Lucy Jacobs arrives in Langtry Meadows out of necessity it is not a place she thought she would ever end up at again. She has to face up to thoughts and feelings she thought she had long left behind. I can relate to Lucy on so many levels I even have my own Charlie Davenport the only difference is he is not a vet. Lucy has become one of my favourite characters in the literacy world.

Charlie and Lucy have many things in common. They are both running from pain and having their hearts broken again, although the actually reason is different which makes for interesting reading and creates many links for the characters in the story.

It is brilliantly written and keeps the reader guessing. Just as one question gets answered another one appears. The other characters which the reader gets to know throughout the story are intriguing and as there is another book coming out in this series I am looking forward to getting to know them better. Especially finding out what Elsie has been keeping hidden in her past.

This is a great book and one I would recommend. It is full of romance, friendship, family and funny views that can only come from children.

Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher. I absolutely loved this book, I loved all the characters. Brilliant

When Lucy applies for a temporary teaching job in Langtry Meadows she has no idea how it will change her life. First she finds herself in the arms of the rather handsome village vet (completely by accident, of course) and then before she knows it she is absorbed into life in this idyllic village in a way she hadn’t expected.
Lucy is a likeable heroine who gradually learns to look at life a different way. Langtry Meadows is a lovely setting with warm characters. This is a good light hearted romance with a nice little supporting cast of furry (and feathered) friends that animal lovers will enjoy. The start of pleasant series and a full length novel that is not dissimilar to Sheila Norton/Bella Osborne cosy village stories.

Once again Stoneley delivers with a book that you just cant put down, one filled with fantastic characters who can be serious but have a softer and funnier side to them. As a happily married woman I have to live vicariously through the female leads to get that fluttery in your belly attraction and Stoneley offers that up by the bucket load in this book. Hello Mr hunky vet Charlie Davenport. Right from the very beginning I knew I was going to like him... ('like' may be a little tame) and I was not disappointed.

I loved the chemistry between Lucy and Charlie.
I loved the country village setting.
I loved the friendship that felt so natural between Lucy and the residents of Langtry Meadows.
I loved all the different appearances from animals.
I could go on and on....

I am so glad this is the first in a series.. I have so many questions. Like who Is Elsie Harrington (I have my suspicions, and I hope I'm right but it's a long shot). Do Jill and Matt get together? And does little roly-poly puppy come and live with Lucy? You know, all the important ones...

Idyllic country village setting - check
Gorgeous vet - check
Cute and funny animal antics - check
Two characters who you want to bang their heads together - check
Some adorable children - check
Woman in the village who seems to know everything while being slightly manipulative - check
Flirty dog owner that seems to be determined to embarrass her poor dog - check
Characters with complicated pasts - check

I think that pretty much would be the Summer with a Country Village Vet check list. The book contains all of that and a whole lot more, wrapped up in a stunning cover, and some lovely writing.

Despite Lucy Jacobs being a school teacher, I found myself a bit surprised at how little I got to know the children in any of her classes. That being said there were a couple that spring to mind, and I loved seeing what random animals they would pull out of their pockets to show Miss Jacobs, and also what one of the kids "mums" says about everything!

Charlie is the locum village vet, and seems to have a huge female fan club, but senses in Lucy a kindred spirit of people in Langry Meadows for the short haul before being able to escape again. Nether believe they are suited to village life, but are both trying to make the most of things.

What I noticed and frustrated me a lot was Lucy and Charlie seemed to have a fair few conversations where what I thought they were saying was different to what they were saying, which was different to how each other was interpreting the conversation. It is clear they may be attracted to each other, but the will they-won't they finally get their acts together just dragged on a bit for me. That being said they had their reasonings and I could completely understand various bits of reluctance.

I loved Lucy's massive conversation with her mum, as she finally asks not be protected like she was a child to try and make sense of her own interpretation of her childhood which coloured her adult perspective on things.

There are some absolutely fantastic animals in this book, from Gertie the Goose, to the horse that almost runs Lucy over, to Molly an adorable dog, to a pig that is running around looking like a drunk. Plenty of moments that will raise a smile and a giggle.

Langtry Meadows is the sort of village I would love to visit, picturesque with plenty of just incredible people living there that just want the best for the village. I loved getting to know them and can't help but be excited with the groundwork that has been laid in this first book of Zara Stoneley's new Love in Langtry Meadows series. I am already looking forward to my return.

lLucy has a plan for her life and it does not include living in a rural village in Summer with the Country Village Vet by Zara Stonley. She is a hardworking young teacher in an inner city school who loses her job due to cut backs. When Lucy takes a temporary job in a small country village she discovers that things she believed while growing up were not necessarily true. I enjoyed this sweet story with it's strong sense of possibilities. I read it in exchange for a review.

Lucy who is a teacher in an inner city school has just been made redundant, she finds a placement at a school in the village of Langtry for six weeks. Lucy does not like villages, she grew up in a small village and does not have happy memories of it.

Charlie was born in the village but left for university to become a vet, and has come back to the village to take over from the local vet who is hurt and he needs a place to lick his wounds because of problems in his life.

Lucy takes the job and agrees to housesit for a local, this comes with a menagerie of animals and she becomes friends with Charlie. With the possible closure of the school, dealing with her own past and helping Charlie with his problems, Lucy settles into village life.

This is a fun filled book with lots of good characters, I particularly liked the head teacher and Miss Harrington who knew everything there was to know but seems to be hiding a secret. I hope we have another book in this series as I would like to know what Miss Harrington is hiding.