Interior decorator meets brooding woodsman, who has a baby owl, in the long awaited return to Middledip, which features so huge storylines that kept the drama high, not to mention sparks flying between our two main characters, in a superb story.

Lets start with Middledip a location that Sue Moorcroft fans will recognise instantly, as its been home to a few of her previous books. Although I have read some of those, its been a while so the familiarity I personally hoped for wasn't there, but it didn't matter, as you didn't need to know anything going into the book. That being said there were a few characters mentioned, where my thought was yes! I've read the book they feature a lot in.

Alexia is looking forward to working on the project that will ultimately launch her career and allow her to leave Middledip for bigger and brighter jobs. It is the refurbishment of old pub The Angel, and turning it into a community cafe.

The night of the wrecking party, she meets Ben the local tree surgeon and lets just say things become a bit awkward between them after that night and subsequent morning. Not least because the funds for the community cafe are discovered missing, which sets into place the chain of events for most of the book.

Ben moved from one small village to this one, in part to be closer to his uncle Gabe, and because he had personal problems of his own. He is looking after Barney who has a great character for an owl and always raised a smile from me whenever he was in the scene.

There are many surprises along the way and I was drawn into the action immediately and despite being busy in my real life I was continually longing to be back in the book to see how things were going, and how everything would turn out in the end.

As always with a Sue Moorcroft book I was thoroughly enjoying the story, location, characters and their various situations. It deals with a few different issues, and discovering the truth as to what led Ben to Middledip was very interesting, and I'm not sure how I would have coped in his situation when various truths began to emerge.

Finally for those that love leaving books with Christmas in the title until December, don't worry Christmas actually plays a very small part in this book, and its more of a autumn/winter book than one that will make you reach for the mistletoe!

A good read with likeable characters. Probably just a bit too many sub plots going on but still enjoyable. I would have liked it to be a bit more Christmassy, but it was still good. It might not have been my favourite but I am sure lots of people out there will love it. Thank you

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books for a copy of this delightful book. A real page turner: romance, friendship, animals, 'goodies', 'baddies', it has got it all. Fortunately love and hard work conquers all. I've always been a fan of Sue Moorcroft's books and this one is no exception. Perfect read for the lead up to Christmas.