This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

For some reason, despite usually loving books set in bookshops, I couldn’t get into this novel at all. Perhaps my interest has waned since I originally requested it? It has lingered on my netgalley shelf for far too long but I finally have it a go, only to discover it wasn’t for me. Apologies to the author and publisher for not reading and reviewing sooner.

Can Emily and Kate overcome their differences to save Emily's bookshop? This is a lovely story of friendship and books. A good read.

Unfortunately I was unable to get in to this story and had to put it down, however, I'm sure it is a highly loved book and appreciated by the right readers.

Really enjoyable read. Good characters and a Good story. Well worth a read. Think others will enjoy.

This book follows the reunion of two long term friend as they remodel a bookshop in Wigtown. It sounded nice because I love books and Scotland! However, the story fell short. It was much more depressing than the cover made it out to be. I expected a nice wee romance with friendship in the middle, but it was very dramatic. The problem was that a lot of it was teenage drama so seemed a bit trivial too.

I wanted to love this book. I know all the places the author mentions and I enjoyed reading about them through her eyes. I also enjoyed the story, and the back story. It just felt a little slow. Too much description, too much narrative, a little more succinct would, for me, have been better. This book has loads of promise it perhaps just needs a little more editing?

The Bookshop of New Beginnings was originally published as Summer at Bluebell Bank. The title and cover have recently been changed but I think this is a much more substantial story than even the new cover suggests. Rather than being cosy chick-lit - and there's nothing wrong with that at all, who doesn't love a bit chick-lit? - I feel this is contemporary women's fiction. 

Emily Cotton has always wanted to have her own bookshop and has finally bought an old run-down building in Wigtown, which is officially Scotland's National Book Town.  Feeling rather overwhelmed at the task ahead of her, Emily emails her friend Kate who lives in New York. Kate immediately quits her job and heads back to Bluebell Bank where she spent many happy summers as a child. She had had an unhappy childhood living with her alcoholic mother and for her the Cottons were a large welcoming family who were "her sanctuary, her solidity in this world." They fulfilled her need for something she never really had, a place she felt she belonged. 

So many questions filled my mind as I was reading.  Why did Kate immediately decide to go to help Emily? Why had the once inseparable friends all but lost touch. Why did Kate split up with childhood sweetheart Luke and flee? What did Emily feel she should confess to Kate? There were so many mysteries at the heart of the women's relationship. There were secrets, guilt, lies of omission and a perceived betrayal. I was completely absorbed in the story from beginning to end.

I actually felt quite emotionally drained by the time I had finished this book. To me it's a sign of a really great book if it can evoke such an emotional response to the characters and their situations and The Bookshop of New Beginnings did that for me. It is an excellent read about taking second chances and being open to new opportunities and I highly recommend it.

First book I have read by this author and although it took me a while to get in to I did enjoy reading it.

This is the first Jen Mouat book i have ever read and will not be the last. Good solid characters and the story is about betrayal and loss. Misunderstanding and guilt. Vivid descriptions of the locations and it was certainly a page turner, i would recommend this.
Thank you to net galley and the publishers for this.

A good debut novel from Jen Mouat. I liked the idea of the story and enjoyed reading about the bookshop being done and the big Cotton family but the book annoyed me a bit in places. It just seemed to go on and on about the past and reminiscing too much for my liking. I didn't really connect to Kate as a character until the end and felt sorry for Emily. I enjoyed reading the truths being told and didn't see the ending coming which was sad but glad it brought the whole family together. It was obvious Kate and Luke would end up together and Kate staying. I'm glad Emily found happiness with Mike and Kate connecting back with her mum. It has ended where they could be another story carrying on from this one and I would look out for it. Thank you for letting me read and review this book, I look forward to the next one.

Three and a half stars

I see this is billed as a charming romance, I must have read a slightly different book to that reviewer!

Kate Vincent is living the dream in New York, a flashy job in advertising, a wealthy boyfriend and evenings filled with dinners with friends. Then an email arrives from her best friend Emily, a best friend she has neither seen or spoken to in years, begging her to come back to Scotland, back to Galloway and the house where they spent so much of their childhood, Bluebell Bank.

Emily Cotton and her large family were the mainstay of Kate’s life, the security and love for a young girl whose mother found comfort in the bottle and her unsuitable boyfriends. Emily and her brothers Dab, Alastair, Noah and Fergus together with their parents Jonathan and Melanie and their grandmother Lena looked after that sad, frightened little girl and nursed her broken heart when her first love, Luke, broke her heart into a million pieces.

When Kate returns to Scotland she finds that things are very different now. Emily is divorced, depressed and has bought a barn which she intends to turn into a book shop, but has yet to do anything more that sit and read books in the cavernous space. Lena has Alzheimer’s and can’t be left unsupervised for long. Noah was expelled from school for crimes as yet unknown, Fergus is in Australia, Ally is in Edinburgh and Dan is married with a baby on the way. Everyone has secrets, explosive damaging secrets to reveal, things that have remained buried for years and they are festering, causing rifts between family and friends. And there is as much anger, betrayal, jealousy and sorrow as love mixed up in Kate’s feelings for the Cottons and their’s for her. The whole family seems to place such high expectations on Kate’s return, as if this woman with abandonment issues is more together than a close-knit family …

Then Luke returns to renovate his father’s old cottage and Kate must look deep into her heart and decide what she truly wants. Is it Ben her boyfriend, is it Dan, her best friend’s brother that she was in love with for most of her childhood, or is it Luke, her first love who broke her heart? But Kate can’t make her decisions until all the secrets have been revealed.

Half of me loved the way that so many of the secrets were teased and hinted at throughout the book, that delicious anticipation of when the truth will be revealed. The other half was exasperated, feeling that there was absolutely no need. I had similar feelings about Kate and Emily and Dan – all three of them at times were so selfish, so centred on their own feelings, their own desires, that they rode roughshod over other people. Frankly I had a hard time liking Kate.

I would most definitely classify this as women’s fiction, the real story is the friendship between Emily and Kate, how the secrets they have kept from each other may break the friendship that they are forging anew. How jealousy can lead to destructive behaviour and burying your head in the sand is never the answer.

I enjoyed this book but I didn’t like it. I didn’t feel it was uplifting, more cathartic.

This was a light, yet not flossy read about friendship and family, love and loss, (re)building a life, possible future, and books.

This was a delightful book and I really enjoyed it.

Kate and Emily are our heroines. I can relate to both of them in different ways which I liked. Life for these women has changed but neither realises how much and what each other can do for each other. Its a typically example of out of site out of mind and thinking it will all be the same when they return.

The characters are really strong in this book and real. The story is full of family struggles as well as good times, romance and hope.

The cover of this book is bright and colourful and has summer written all over it. Also the fact that it is set in a bookshop enticed me as well.

Having never read a book by Jen before I didn't no what to expect but I was not disappointed.

This is one to read.

Sending emails while under the influence of a good Merlot is probably never a good idea. Responding to them by throwing in your job, breaking up with your boyfriend and flying from America to Scotland is probably an even worse idea.
This is exactly where 'Summer at Bluebell Bank' begins as Kate Vincent returns home in response to her friend Emily Cotton's drunken email request for help. Their friendship established in childhood may have frayed over the last few years because of time, distance and choices they have made but it still is solid at the very heart of things.
Kate is quick to find that the Cotton family who were her pillars of strength in childhood and teenage years are no longer quite as strong as they once were. Emily is suffering from a rather messy divorce which has left her with no confidence and a lack of direction. Lena, the family matriarch, has developed Alzheimer's and is slowly losing all memories of her world. Noah, the youngest of the Cotton boys, has been expelled from school. It appears Kate is going to have her work cut out to help Emily and the rest of the Cottons. along the way, find inner peace and a new path to follow.
If that isn't enough to deal with Lucas Ross re-enters Kate's life; her first love and one she never really got over. This summer is going to be long and interesting as Kate rediscovers friendships, family, and love.
This is actually a four and a half star book for me. I found it hard to get started as I felt like I was actually intruding into an existing situation for the first couple of chapters but once I got to know the characters it was very engaging and I grew to really love these people. It was no lightweight chick lit read but rather a deeply involved story that made you really consider the value of friendship and family. These characters were well and truly multi-dimensional as they came to life for me. I wanted to visit Bluebell Bank and help Lena in her garden. I wanted to walk the beaches and the paths around the village. I wanted to sit near the wood-burning stove in Emily's bookstore, snuggle down into an armchair and enjoy a good book and a cup of tea (Sorry Kate, I prefer tea to coffee). This is well worth a read and as the first book for this author, I hope she has many more stories ahead.

This book was really good, I felt an immediate connection to the characters in it. The story line was great and it was very well written.

When Kate gets a drunken email from her old friend Emily, a cry for help in running her bookshop, she decides that although she left Wigton in Scotland 6 years ago it is time that she came back and this email is obviously an olive branch from Emily, maybe they can get back their former close relationship

As a child Kate didn't have much of a home life and when she became friends with Emily Emily's family welcomed her into the fold, took her on holidays and included her as one of them, so to Kate this is a real homecoming with the past being sorted out she can really help Emily with her business and also maybe help the Cotton family the way they once helped her

A lovely book, great back stories to be filled in and plenty of emotion and both happy and sad moments. Definitely more than simple chick lit and easily recommended

An uplifting, relaxed summer read. This book has a lovely setting with a brilliant family at the centre with some lovely descriptions. It drew me in and made me want to keep turning the pages to see what happened next. I love a good bookshop and loved the way this played centre stage in the story alongside the lovely Cotton family who reminded you of your own childhood summers. I thoroughly enjoyed this a recommended read.

Enjoyed the story and the plot. It had many ups and downs that I wasn't expecting.

I was looking through my TBR for something nice, light and easy to read and came across the début novel from Jen Mouat - Summer at Bluebell Bank. To be honest I had completely forgotten I had it waiting to be read and really it was the bright summery cover that made me think this was the read I was looking for. Something not too taxing but with a nice message none the less. I glanced through the blurb and it sounded like a good read, the fact that it had a bookshop in the story made me want to choose it even more. Well, I wasn't one bit disappointed in my choice as this proved to be an excellent read and a highly impressive début that made me think why is it now we are only hearing from this author?

Don't be mislead by the cover that this is a run of the mill chick-lit read as you would be disappointed to miss out on this one. It's far from the boy meets girl story, it had so much depth to it which really surprised me and the standard of the writing was phenomenal. The author really got inside her characters heads and because the writing was so detailed and emotional I felt as a reader I did the same. The author managed to weave in several topical issues around the main strand of the story -that of the attempts of Kate and Emily to rekindle their friendship. In many other books I have often felt the author was throwing in little sub plots just to take up space and make things slightly controversial and it feels very contrived. Here the author did this but it wasn't page filling and I felt they combined very well with the overall storyline.

Summer at Bluebell Bank opens as Kate Vincent returns to Wigtown in Scotland after an absence of six years. She would much prefer to be back in America getting on with her advertising job rather than entering a musty old bookshop to meet a friend she had ran away from so many years ago. But Kate is a prime example of, if someone gets in contact with you and is in desperate need no matter what has happened before, you will always come running to help. Kate received a drunken email from her friend Emily Cotton, basically a cry for help. She has bought a bookshop but is floundering and doesn't know what to do with it to bring it back to life and start making some money. The only problem is Kate and Emily haven't spoken in so long and given they were the best of friends and lived in each other's pockets it's brave on both women’s parts to reopen the lines of communication.

Instantly I wanted to know what had happened to make the pair cease all communication. I knew I wasn't going to to get answers all that easily and the pace of discovery of their back story was a joy to read. The author moved back and forth between the present and also offered glimpses into their teenage years and how Kate and Emily came to be almost like sisters, yet something tore them apart. But the reader can sense that this could be the turning point, that the two wish to re-establish their friendship. The fact they have made the first steps in a tentative reunion can only be a good thing.

Kate is soon on board with plenty of ideas to help Emily get the bookshop up and running. Emily had been stalling for so long and her family were worried about her. She was at a loss and to be honest I thought she was an emotional wreck and very vulnerable, that any little thing would set her off. Basically she wasn't coping very well and as she slowly reveals some of her story, it made much more sense to me and I completely understood the way she was and why she was in the position she found herself in. With the return of Kate maybe memories could be resurrected, good times and bad and old ghosts and secrets put to rest.

I had initially thought the focus would solely be on the bookshop and god I love nothing than a good old story based on books and bookshops but instead it was a mere starting point and a focus at times at various times throughout the book. Normally I would be disappointed the bookshop wasn't getting enough attention but I wasn't here at all and that's down to the amazing writing from the author where every word was carefully chosen, every sentence so artfully constructed and such attention and care given to each character and their storyline and the range of emotions and situations they were dealing with and experiencing. I found myself completely drawn into the story just like Kate was once again drawn back into the embrace of the Cotton family. A family who meant so very much to her in the past, who took in her during holidays and offered her stability, comfort, hope, protection and love when it was so sorely lacking in her own home.

Kate had a business head on her and was practical regarding every aspect of her life where it seemed to me initially that Emily partly had her head in the clouds yet on other occasions she exposed her fragility and lack of confidence. Kate hopes to start afresh and that everything at Bluebell Bank – the house where Lena, Emily's grandmother lives, will have remain unchanged. The Cotton family and Lena were there for Kate when she needed support the most and now that she is back to confront old demons and help Emily too she wishes that everything has remained the same that the fond memories she has were not just made up in her head.

I thought Kate was bit foolish to expect to return and that time had more or less stalled in her absence. Life moves on at a fast pace on a daily basis and she was silly to expect people to be there waiting for her or that their feelings hadn't changed or that they hadn’t moved on with their lives. It's disconcerting for Kate to see Lena whom she loved so deeply declining with Alzheimers and now Emily is left to look after her. The brothers Dan, Ally, Fergus and Noah have all grown and moved on with their lives. I think Kate needed to be more realistic with her expectations and also more willing to accept what people were trying to say to her. She was very stubborn most of the time and she found forgiveness very hard to dish out. Kate was looking for redemption with Emily, to go back to more happier times, to start afresh, to retrace their steps and get everything out in the open but after everything they have been through and with Emily in a precarious state will the path to the end be smooth sailing?

Love in all its various forms plays a crucial role throughout the story, be it the love between close friends, the love a family has for each other or the love between a man and a woman. Love in fact is one of the main problems Emily and Kate have and if they can't resolve their issues and put the past to bed there will be no way of moving forward. Regarding Kate's situation I became very frustrated with her and at some points I started to dislike her and then within a few chapters I liked her again. That's the sign of a good author making you change your feelings and opinions of characters several times over all within a few chapters. I couldn't fathom how her heart and mind stirred up such feelings for certain characters when with one it should have been a no-go zone entirely despite their shared history. Kate's story was complex and riveting, I never knew how it would all end but I knew as the book progressed she wasn’t going down without a fight. In the same way Emily wasn't as strong she too began a slow transformation but she had a lot to get through before she could see any glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel

I'm glad this book wasn't all sweetness and light and plain sailing with everything virtually handed to the characters on a plate and everything wrapped up quickly. Instead Kate and Emily had an emotional struggle to right the wrongs both had done. The various minor characters had their own battles to deal with too and all were handled with such tact as we journeyed with them to bring things out in the open. Things that had been suppressed for too long. The only minor criticism I have is that I felt the middle part of the book dragged on a bit with not much happening before the latter quarter really ramped up the pace and became a real page turner with lots going on. Towards the end I thought there was a beautiful analogy that characters in books as in the books Emily loves to read so much, do not transform once the pages are closed you can return for comfort and reassurance. Kate was hoping returning to the Cottons would be like this but as each family member is coping with something one wondered throughout the book would she find the reassurance she so desperately sought?

I thoroughly enjoyed every moment I spent reading Summer at Bluebell Bank and I really got that thrill of discovering a new author and knowing that you will always look forward to reading whatever they write in the future. The story brought me on a journey with Emily and Kate and such compelling writing really transported the reader to the heart of the story. Don't let this brilliant read pass you by.