A lovely romantic story with wonderful descriptions of Spain and Mojacar.

I'm sorry I found the main character annoying and couldn't finish the book

A bit long winded but I enjoyed it nevertheless. Lovely descriptions of Mojacar, I could visualise it well.

Once again, Isabelle Broom has me reaching for the atlas as she takes me far away from grey and dreary (at the moment) London.

After exploring the delights of Zakynthos, Greece and then Prague, Czech Republic, in her first two books, we pack our bags for Mojacar, Spain. The description of location, along with the food, was a perfect antidote to the current weather conditions in the UK. I felt as though I was there right along with the documentary film crew that Hannah, the main protagonist, works for there.

This would be a great book to pack along with your swimsuit for your summer holiday.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin/Michael Joseph for the preview copy given to me in exchange for an honest review.

As always Isabelle Broom has had me pulling out my trusty backpack and frantically searching for last minute holiday deals online.  Such a beautiful book set in what sounds like the most idealic spanish village.
Mojacar is the where we set our scene, which is in the province of Almeria in southern Spain.  This book has it beautifully detailed, down to the very sights, sounds and smells. In the book we follow Hannah, a researcher, her best friend Tom, a photographer and their boss Theo as they set off to make a documentary of Mojacar and the people who live there.
It follows them around this beautiful island and all their ups and downs laid out on the pages.  Hannah who is head over heels about Theo, Tom and Hannahs relationship which is very much 'will they, wont they' and then to add to the chaos you have Claudette.  A man eating French woman and Nancy, Hannahs half sister who shows up out of the blue.
Each character was just as essential to the plot and story line as the others.  We meet Elaine, an ex pat which her own tragic reasons for leaving England and Diego the bar owner.  All these people brought their own wee storyline to the forefront.  It follows the path of so-called true love and heartbreak, friendly banter to massive blows and realising true happiness isn't always where we believe it to be hidden or gained.
What strikes me as quite fascinating is that there is narrations of Mojacar for the documentary written within the descriptions of the book which cannot be an easy thing to do.  It was as if the author was writing a duo.
Then, Now, Always is beautifully depicted and impeccably written.  A feel good book with escapism on every page.  What more could a girl ask for.

Another excellent read. I was transported to the sunny climes Mojacar in Spain. With her wonderful descriptions it was really like I was there soaking up the sun.
Fabulous characters and a fabulous story, what more could you ask for ?
I give this excellent read 10/10

I have to start by saying how much I adore Isabelle Broom. She should work for the tourism industry as she sprinkles a beautiful magic over the destinations she writes about and leaves the reader (at the very least just me) with an overwhelming sense of wanderlust and desire to experience the locations.

Hannah has a special place in her heart for the town of Mojacar in southern Spain, she holidayed there as a teenager and holds it dearly as her coming of age, a holiday spent without her parents accompanying her best friend's family. She has a small tattoo of the Indalo man, a symbol adopted by the community of Mojacar to represent love and hope, which she treasures, so when the 'love of her life', crush and boss, Theo asks her to research somewhere to do a travel documentary on, she instantly knows the place.

While on their film-making-working-holiday, she wants to make Theo fall in love with her, difficult when she has little experience with relationships and it seems that Theo has plenty - but still she tries.
Until half sister Nancy, who she despises, turns up and seemingly ruins everything.

Hannah learns as much during her adult stay in Mojacar as she did as a teenager, and once again there is a shift in her life, one that teaches her what is important to her and where her future should lie.

I loved the characters in this story, I initially loved to hate Nancy, until we learned her true story, but my favourite had to be Elaine - a local woman who relocated in her own teens due to an incredibly traumatic experience in her life. I loved how the story ended for her, with all ends tied up beautifully.

This is a glorious, beautiful and heart felt read - with many laugh out loud moments, but all in all just a well written book that will take you deep into the heart of Almeria and leave you yearning for more.

A hugely well deserved five stars.

This is the second book by Isabelle Broom I have read and, like the previous one 'A Year and a Day' it has a wonderful setting. As a travel brochure it is a fabulous advert for the town and indeed the region.

The story has a good basis but it is very long winded. There is almost too much going on and at times I struggled to keep going. By the time I had finished, all loose ends were tied up, all possible questions answered and it should have felt like a satisfying read. However, there was a large chunk of this book which - for me - just didn't fit. For the characters to be in their 20's, 30's and even 40's there was a lot of very teenage like behaviour and it definitely reminded me of a very confused YA read. This definitely took away from my enjoyment overall, despite the fabulous location, and I really cannot give any more than 3 stars.

I received an arc via Net Galley in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

MoMo’s Book Diary highly recommends this latest release from the wonderfully talented Isabelle Broom.
                       
Isabelle Broom has done it again. I had never heard of the town Mojacar on the south coast of Spain before reading this book yet now I have a strong desire to make time to go and discover this town for myself.

Isabelle Broom has a way of writing that takes you deep inside the story and you almost feel you are there along with the characters. I felt the bond between the characters was true to life and very real. The complex and at times troubles that we face through life are sprinkled here perfectly.

I will rave about this book to friends for a long time – and like I did with Isabelle’s last book – A Year And A Day – I will buy and send copies to good friends who I believe will enjoy the book as much as I did.

Thanks to Netgalley, Isabelle Broom and Penguin UK for the chance to read and review this book prior to publication. I was uncontrollably excited when I received the email asking if I would like to review this book and I just couldn't put it down...

Isabelle Broom's books always make her readers want to travel and this book is no exception. This writer clearly has a gift for describing settings so that they jump right off the page. She describes the sound smells and feels of the Spanish coast so that you can literally feel the eat in the air, the sand between your toes and the kick of the Sangria hitting your veins. This is a definite must for any travel junkies on a budget, just like myself because you will be able to sample all that Spain has to offer in wonder descriptive reality without having to fork out for those plane tickets!

Your trip will be courtesy of Hannah and her work colleagues Theo, Tom and Claudette. These characters are written to be just as real as the setting, and whilst I didn't find myself warming to them, I believe that that was a deliberate choice on the part of the writer and so she has clearly done her job. Hannah is really rather self-centred and her tales of her childhood began to wear on me a little after a while, but I loved the storyline that she has about the relationship with her sister, and I really liked the fact that she remained committed to her work despite having many set backs, some of them self-inflicted, whilst she is in Spain.

As I mentioned, I didn't warm to many of the other characters but that is because they seem to be out to cause our Heroine as much physical and emotional trouble as possible. It was sometimes hard to read Hannah trying to carry on with her job, and her life, whilst everything was against her and this sometimes made the book drag for me but overall it was an enjoyable read. The storyline is based around friendship and possible romance. Of course, being Spain, there is an element of holiday romance in there too, which was great fun. This would make an excellent book to take away with you on holiday, but would equally transport you away from the British summer weather if you're not going away this year. You genuinely will feel like you are living the med trip alongside Hannah and Tom!

Good holiday/bedtime/cold, wet day reading .Very enjoyable, hard to put down. Hannah returns to the beautiful scene of happy holidays and finds out a lot more about herself. -her friendship with Tom,her infatuation with her boss and her relationships with her father and half sister. All the characters are well written and the story line is interesting. I shall be looking out for more books by Isabelle broom.

This was utter perfection. I was whisked away to an idyllic and secret part of Spain. By the time I had finished this book I was ready to pack my bags and go off on an adventure. It was an awful pity that I had work the next day...

I could visualise every part of this journey, the descriptions left me dreaming of a holiday. To be honest it just wasn't Spain that was sizzling. The romance was pretty hot as well. A fit Greek man? Yes please. I could see why Hannah had fallen for him.

I loved the bickering between Hannah and Nancy. They may be sisters, but their relationship is not easy, I loved the tension in the beginning. And it was the fact that they were forced together that made them learn to trust one another. Nancy certainly added plenty of drama to the story. Especially as I wasn't entirely sure why Nancy was there. Or more precisely, why she decided to visit Hannah.

This felt completely different to A Year and a Day despite shouting about a beautiful destination and showing off the magic a different place can have. I can say without a doubt that Isabelle Broome is one of my favourite authors and I cannot wait to read her next book.

This is a gorgeous summer read. Perfect for that lazy day of sitting by the pool. Or just the day of wishing that you were sitting by the pool. It is about romance and escapism and finding out that the love you want may not be the love you need.

If you are after something sizzling then look no further. Let the wanderlust begin!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced reading copy. All opinions are my own.

Isabelle Broom's books should come with a warning on the front cover: ADVISORY: READING THIS BOOK WILL MAKE YOU WANT TO BOOK A HOLIDAY RIGHT AWAY!

Ahh this book is so lovely. As ever, Isabelle immerses the reader in beautiful, warm and sunny surroundings, and reading this is the next best thing to being in the Spanish village of Mojacar. It's descriptive without bogging the story down with too much detail, but enough to evoke the sights, sounds and smells of the setting perfectly.

The characters are written equally well. I felt I was Hannah, and could see why she was so in love with Theo.

The awkward relationship between Hannah and her half-sister Nancy is very poignant. Despite blaming Nancy for her father's indifference, Hannah still feels the responsibility of an older sister and feels she has to look out for Nancy - even though she annoys the hell out of her.

Then there's another fly in the ointment; the beautiful Claudette, whose flirty French accent and high maintenance winds Hannah up further. But then best friend Tom is always on hand to calm things down, but then he starts acting a bit weird too.

Of course the main reason for them all being in Mojacar is to film a documentary which could make Hannah's career. She meets the wonderful Elaine, an artist who has adopted the Spanish village as her home. But there's more to her story than the artist's community which existed years ago.

Of course the inevitable happens in the end, but the journey there is not always straightforward, and it is a great fun read that had me pouring wistfully over travel websites.

Isabelle Broom has filled me with wunderlust yet again...

Hannah loves her job as a researcher for a company that make travel documentaries for TV screening, but she is thrilled to bits when she is invited to travel with her boss Theo, her best friend and cameraman Tom and Claudette her colleague who usually fronts the camera and tells the stories. She is especially delighted when she learns they are going to Mojacar, in Almeria, Southern Spain. She loves it there and has fond memories of her teenage holidays there with her friend Rachel.
Mojacar is everything she remembers it to be: stunningly beautiful and full of stories about the history of the town and folklore as well. It will certainly make an excellent location for a travelogue and is bound to be popular. Hannah cannot believe her good luck and as the location shoots start she is even given the opportunity to film sequences of a human interest story. She has met just the right person already and Elaine already feels like a good friend and readily agrees to tell the story of her life in Mojacar as an ex-pat. Her boss Theo singles her out for a special day out with him as he wants to get to know her as well as he knows the other team members. She has secretly been in love with her handsome Greek boss ever since she first joined his team. She fantasises and almost makes herself believe he could have feelings for her as well. Things look like they are on the up for Hannah; that is until her half-sister Nancy unexpectedly arrives to gatecrash the party, as Nancy adds a new dimension to the team: one that Hannah really dislikes. It suddenly begins to look as though Hannah’s perfect, relaxing summer; her dream, is to be filled with drama.
‘Then, Now, Always’ is not only a story about sibling rivalry and petty jealousies but also of building bridges and having a greater understanding of how the past can colour your life. The story was full of flawed, shallow characters who behaved very badly and without dignity. The two half-sisters were immature, spoilt and acted like drama queens and Collette’s behaviour was almost as bad as the younger girls, who were both in their twenties. This spoilt the story for me, because I could not get past the fact that all of these characters were ‘adults’ and should have had more self respect. I liked the character of Elaine best of all and her story was very touching. I absolutely loved the descriptions of the Spanish countryside and the idyllic town of Mojacar. All of my senses were heightened and I could almost feel the hot sun and smell the wonderful aromas of the colourful flowers and tubs that adorned the verandas. I could also smell the delicious menus wafting from the local restaurants. It was wonderful.
I would like to thank NetGalley and publisher Penguin for my copy of ‘Then, Now, Always’, sent out to me in return for an honest review. This would make an enticing summer holiday read and I quite fancy a visit to the beaches and terraces of Mojacar myself, for this is a truly lovely tourist destination. It’s a 3.5* review from me.

This review is written with thanks to Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin UK, and Netgalley for my copy of Then. Now. Always.
Twenty eight year old Hannah is a researcher for a television company in London. She is thrilled when her boss, Theo, asks her to join him, cameraman Tom (Hannah's best friend) and presenter Claudette on location in Mojacar in Spain - a place where she has many memories of her teenage years from holidays with her friend, Rachel. Hannah thinks the trip could be the perfect opportunity to spend time with Theo, on whom she has harboured a crush for as long as she can remember, but with the rest of crew around and the unexpected arrival of her half sister Nancy, will Hannah find what she is looking for?
Then. Now. Always is my first experience of Broom's writing. It is not my usual genre, but any unease I felt about venturing into the unknown was immediately quelled by my introduction to Hannah. Hannah is a first person narrator, and there are moments in the novel where I laughed out loud when she retold anecdotes and described her relationships with her friends and family. It is clear from the outset that Hannah is infatuated with Theo, and at times, this did feel slightly unrealistic; however, overall her character is very relatable and this helped to maintain my interest in the novel.
The majority of Then. Now. Always is set in Mojacar, Spain. This is not a place about which I had previously heard, so I was fascinated to read about the history and the myths surrounding the area, which Broom has researched incredibly well. Mojacar is clearly a very beautiful place, and I was captivated by the descriptions of it, and throughout the novel I could imagine myself spending time there and became immersed in the lives of its inhabitants.
When I started reading Then. Now. Always, I had expected a lighthearted novel that was easy to read. Whilst it was easy to read, and elements of it were lighthearted, I was pleasantly surprised that the plot actually runs much deeper than that. It introduces some much more serious themes, and Broom has a way of making the reader consider what is important in their lives.
Overall, Then. Now. Always is a very enjoyable novel, and it will not be the last time I read Broom's work.

I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Isabelle Broom’s new release Then.Now.Always after reading her previous two books that had me completely captivated by her idyllic settings. I was longing to see what breath-taking location she would whisk us away to in her new book.
Hannah spent her teen holiday with friend Rachel in the stunning Spanish village of Mojacar, it is a place that has always stayed with her so when she gets the chance to return for work with her Handsome boss Theo and best friend Tom and the diva French Claudette she jumps at the opportunity.
Finally Hannah is on Theo’s radar and she is keen to spend more time with her crush but Tom and Claudette doesn’t make this easy for her and with the added surprise arrival of her sister Nancy her chances of getting any closer to Theo are slim.
Mojacar was not somewhere I had ever heard of before reading this book but it is now a destination that has flown to the top of my wish list to visit now. Isabelle Broom has captured the true charm and beauty of this inviting paradise that had me googling holidays on Thomson straight away. There was no need to look up pictures of this stunning village as the authors attention to detail when writing about this place just brought it to life and I could vision it perfectly in my mind.
As well as the breath taking scenery Mojacar has to offer Isabelle Broom also educates us in an entertaining way on the various history and knowledge surrounding Mojacar too especially surrounding the Indalo man who is a frequent feature throughout the book.
Hannah is an easy character to love she is a friendly, loyal character even though there is a stubborn jealous side to her too. Her love for Mojacar is clear to see throughout the book just as much as her love for her her boss! She has a wonderful friendship with co-worker Tom and although his character had a messy situation caught in the middle at points through the book I still loved him. As for Nancy and Claudette I didn’t know who I wanted to slap more but one of these characters gradually redeemed herself later in the book.
As with Isabelle Broom’s previous books this is perfect holiday reading and if like me you won’t be getting a holiday this year then this book will whisk you away to a perfect location and will leave a lasting impression on you.

Isabelle Broom Transports you to the South East coast of Spain with the scent of sun cream and sangria in the air in her latest book Then. Now. Always.

I've always enjoyed Isabelle's books but this is by far my favourite. Hannah works for a company who are filming in Mojacar - a place she used to visit as a teenager and she's thrilled when she's offered a place on the team alongside her best friend and gorgeous boss who she's had a crush on for a while. Things are going well until Hannah's half sister Nancy arrives bringing with her plenty of drama!!

This book is brilliantly written. The main characters of Hannah, Theo and Tom really blend well. Then you add in the dysfunctional Claudette and drama queen Nancy, you know you've got a perfect set of characters. The setting if the book is magical and you can easily picture yourself walking along the streets with Hannah or having a swim in the sea. A fantastic book that I will happily award 5 stars to.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin UK Michael Joseph and Isabelle Broom for the chance to review.

If you take only one book on holiday with you this is the one to take.
It is one of the best holiday books I have read this year.
Set in Spain it vibrates with a warm summer glow and engulfs you with warmth as you read it.
Love lust and rivalry combined with friendship.
Also be careful for what you wish for because in the end you might not want it.

In their teens Hannah and Rachel holiday with Rachel's parents on the beautiful Spanish island of Mojacar. They totally fall in love with everything about it from the beautiful beaches, the scenery, the laid back way of life, the Indalo Man and of course the locals who worked in the bars. So as they approach their 18th birthdays they are so excited about their upcoming holiday when Rachel's father becomes ill and the holiday is cancelled. Somehow the years went by and they hadn't returned.
Hannah and Tom are best friends they met at student union at universities freshers week since then they were almost attached at the hip.
When Theo who Hannah's boss and who she's hopelessly in love with explains they have a series of documentaries commissioned on the subject of modern folklore and myths she's know Majocar would work and sells it to Theo. He then decides as she knows the place is would be advantageous to have her there along with cameraman and best friend Tom and presented Claudette.
In the five years she had been a researcher at Vivid Productions London England she has never before been asked to go on location. She would be Theo's right hand woman. After all these years would Majocar still be the romantic place Hannah remembers and will she find love?
When I started reading this book I thought it was a bit like previous book A Year And A Day by Isabelle but as I got into it I realised it was totally different. It is a beautifully told story with descriptions to die for I want to visit there now. Enjoyed first book but totally loved Then Now Always. Will definitely be looking out for more Isabelle Bloom books.

Really enjoyed this story. Characters and settings were well developed and felt emersed in the story because of this. Would recommend.