This truly was a feel good read just as it promised to be. I adored the detail and research that went into this book, I felt I learnt a lot about perfume and aromatherapy and it really added to the story. A good romantic read with some lovely characters and beautiful writing. This author has quickly jumped up my list of favourite writers.

Another hit for Ms James. I especially loved the mystery in this one, and that the setting was in a garage for the most part! 

I wondered where this was going when it came to the perfumery side of things, because I've read a couple of books quite recently which have been based on the same theme of the main character being a perfumer, and I thought this one might be similar, but it did have a different take on the profession.
 
I enjoyed the main characters, Max especially (wish my local garage had someone like him working in it!), and all in all, this is a sweet feel-good chick lit.

I like chicklits but I found this too fluffy

A light, enjoyable read, but a little too sweet and girly for me, rather like the literary equivalent of candy floss.

Also my copy had grammatical and proofing errors that spoilt the flow of the book. This no doubt will be rectified in the published editions.

Thank you Netgalley and HQ Digital for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I really enjoyed this book i was hooked from the start and great detail was given in storyline, i look forward to reading more by this author.

This book is tagged as “A fabulously feel-good holiday romance!” and it really lives up to that tag.

When I spotted this new book from Daisy James, I just had to request it - I love escaping into her heartwarming novels! This is a delightful story of deciding what is really important in your life and being brave enough to make decisions that help you keep them central to your well being. In this story Gabbie Andrews has worked as a perfumer at the House of Gasnier on the French Riviera but when she is offered a promotion to work in the company’s Parisian laboratory she quits as this would mean she would lose contact with customers and that’s something she really enjoys. She returns to her Devon home and discovers that all is not as well as she had thought and more life changing choices are on the cards for her.

With people seeking her aromatherapy skills, problems in her family’s garage, a handsome new mechanic - Max - to whom she’s attracted, the accident prone romantic Will and friends old and new in this lovely community spirited story. There are so many great characters, a healthy dose of fun and laughter amongst the requisite drama and a little mystery, It is a fun read that had me laughing out loud at times and anxious at others. I loved the information incorporated into the story about the use of ingredients in aromatherapy and will definitely explore some aspects of it later. I have no hesitation in highly recommending this - and any other book by this talented author - to anyone who enjoys escaping into a small community with great characters, a touch of angst but a lot of fun, love and laughter in a delightful romantic comedy.

I requested and was given a copy of this novel, via NetGalley, with no obligation. This is my honest review of the book after choosing to read it.

Warm, enjoyable and evocative. Loved the alchemy of the fragrances.
A relatively light read - whilst its tinged with sadness, it's also heartwarming.

4* - another gem from Daisy James.

DNF at 27%

Gabbie Andrews leaves Devon to pursue a career in perfume in France but when her boss asks her to step over the line she resigns and returns home to her fathers's garage and the appealing new mechanic Max who works there.

This just didn't grab my attention, over a quarter of the way in and nothing was pulling me in.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Another amazing novel by the very talented Daisy James. The first thing that always makes me want to read Daisy's novels is the cover. This one in particular is so colourful and inviting. I just want to dive straight in! I absolutely adore the colourful flowers, the cute building in the background and even the characters outfit in the centre of the cover is really cute! I also really like the title of this novel, The Summer House of Happiness just sounds beautiful and inviting.

Upon starting this book, I found I got into it straight away. Even though it's nearly 400 pages long, it was such a quick read and I found I was trying to find more time in my day to read it! The story follows main character Gabbie, who quits her job at the beginning of the novel, once she is told that she will be working in a factory for months on end to help create a new perfume. Gabbie, who really loves working with customers to see their reactions to her perfumes, declined the offer and quit on the spot.

She then moves back to her hometown in quiet Devon and soon finds that quite a lot has changed and she quickly finds herself working hard to get her dads business back to how it was when her mum was alive. As the story goes on, Gabbie gets close to new worker Max, and from the off it's obvious that sparks are flying between the pair! However, will Gabbie be able to give in to these new feelings of hers? Or is she going to shy away like she always does because she is too afraid of getting hurt?

One part of this novel that really broke my heart was about Gabbie's mum. Gabbie's mum died two years previous of breast cancer and this pretty much made me cry! It was so emotional and I really felt for Gabbie throughout the novel. One part that really broke me was when Gabbie was in the Summer House mixing ingredients and she went to turn around to ask her mums opinion - I mean who wouldn't cry at that?! It was so emotional! However, apart from this, the overall storyline felt really lighthearted and was so enjoyable that I got through it really quickly.

Overall, another really lovely and heartwarming novel by Daisy James. Thank you to the publisher for a chance to read this novel via Netgalley, which I have reviewed honestly.

An easy, enjoyable read and I loved it. Gabbie enjoys helping people using aromatherapy. After her mother dies she moves to France to work in the perfume industry. However, when she is offered an opportunity to work on a special fragrance she realises that her ambition is to work with people not in a laboratory and when she turns down the job she is fired. Gabble returns home to Devon where her father owns a garage. There she meets Max who is working for her father as a mechanic and who is also renovating a vintage car- he becomes a shoulder for Gabbie to lean on. In his grief her father has let the house and garage become run down and Gabbie works hard to get it looking as she remembered it when her mother was alive. But then other problems begin to surface and her father needs her help and support. Does The summerhouse where she helped her mother overcome the effects of her cancer treatment with aromatherapy hold the key to Gabbie's future. Can Gabbie overcome her grief and unlock the summerhouse.and use it once more to help people.

This book is about love, family, friendship and grief. A brilliant summer afternoon read not to be missed.

I have read quite a few Daisy James books now and have really enjoyed them all. Her books are like a breath of fresh air, which is perhaps very appropriate given the focus is on scents in this book.

Gabbie is working in a prestigious perfume house in Grasse in the south of France when she is offered the chance of a lifetime: to work in the Paris labs for six months creating the season's new fragrance. Now you might think that this would be a dream come true but not for Gabbie. She enjoys face to face interaction with people, creating fragrances for the individual. So she quits her job and goes back home to Devon.

Back home living with her dad, she is horrified to find that the family business, the local garage, is in trouble and she is worried about her dad's health too. Moving home brings back sad memories of her late mother especially of the time they spent in the summerhouse in their garden working on aromatherapy together. Gabbie's mother loved flowers and perfume and used them to create an ambience. Theirs must have been the only garage to smell of roses or jasmine! Standards have slipped since her mother died - the garage is untidy, disorganised, unclean.

There could be a distraction in the form of new mechanic Max and despite herself,  Gabbie is very attracted to him. Max is a rather gorgeous young man who is not without his own past problems but has a heart of gold. Gabbie, though, is afraid to get close to someone as she is afraid to get hurt.

We all know the certain smells can produce strong memories or feelings. At the moment the lilac trees are in full bloom filling the air with their heady scent. Every time I walk past one and breathe in the fragrance, I am immediately reminded of walking to school. There was a house round the corner which had several lilac trees and I always used to stop to smell them as I walked to and from school each day. It's strange, as I obviously smell lilac trees every year yet this is the memory they evoke.

The summer house in Gabbie's garden was full of memories. It was somewhere she and her mum worked together creating fragrances that helped her mum feel calm and relaxed while she was ill. They had fun making up what they thought would be perfect fragrances for celebrities and people they knew. This was her dream and why she quit her job rather than work in a sterile lab. Anyone will recognise the bittersweet memories that comes with grief and loss. Daisy James has written about this in such a poignant, touching way, capturing Gabbie's feelings beautifully.

The Summer House of Happiness is a perfect summer read. Although tinged with sadness, it's also a very uplifting story. As Gabbie discovers, life is about taking opportunities and chances, even if they aren't what you planned or hoped for. If you follow your dreams and stay true to yourself, who knows what might happen?

Gabbie works in the perfume industry in Grasse and enjoys creating new perfumes. She is asked to work in Paris but finds there will be no client interaction so she decides to leave her job and return home to Devon.

Gabbie had fled Devon when her mum passed away two years previously and on returning home she meets Max, a mechanic who works at her dad’s garage, she also discovers that the garage is in serious trouble. Gabbie wants to help her dad so she opens the old summerhouse where she used to make her lotions and potions before she went to France, her idea is to make some money by setting up an aromatherapy business, but has she left it too late..

An easy enjoyable read with a nice touch of romance.

The Summer House of Happiness by Daisy James is one of those books that warms the heart and brings the smile to your face.
When something in Gabbie breaks and she says no to the best professional opportunity she has ever had, she is immediately fired. She decides to go back home to Devon. She is grieving for her mother so much that it literally hurts and she doesn't want to waste anymore time away from her father. Back home she meets Max, her father's machanic and just maybe after all these years she will not push him away.
Charming book about love, loss, hurt and second chances. Beautifuly and realistically presented characteres. I loved learning bits and pieces about process of parfume making.

I am a massive fan of Ms James books and was really excited about reading this one, and I wasn't disappointed. I loved the character of Gabby, who is dealing with the death of her mother, and returns home to help her father with his business. Max, oh how I swooned, was perfect for Gabby. Would highly recommend

For all of us, in life, there is no map to show us the way, and we never know when there will be a fork in the road, a dead end or even more mysteriously, some cross-roads. We meet Gabbie Andrews, professional perfumer and devoted daughter, at just such a cross-roads. As we know, all roads lead home and that is where her heart leads her. Right into the path of Max the mechanic. As the story progresses, we begin to wonder, if in fact she had a homing device all along; a sat-nav of the highest order, that had her and her family’s best interests at heart.
This well-crafted story is put together as perfectly as one of Gabbie’s carefully concocted potions, it is really hard to put down and the characters linger with you long after you have closed the covers. Cleverly woven together sentences fizz and pop in the air around our imaginations like the sensational scents that Gabbie makes in her Summer House. I couldn’t put the book down for long. I felt like one of the close-knit members of the community and I cared too. What would happen if I left our hero and heroine alone? This reader definitely had a fear of missing out.
Like any journey, our cast of characters all take a few wrong turns, but in the end, they learn that they had the roadmap they needed with them already. More than meets the eye, this story has a message for us all if we have ears to hear, as well as eyes to see and a nose that reimagines pretty aromas. We learn that opening up is important and that facing facts, as well as our demons, can help us put our finger on what it is that we really need. The heart-warming true essence of this book is that self-compassion and helping others is a route to happiness that will last way beyond just one summer. We come away with a special delivery from the Summer House ourselves – the warming knowledge that acts of kindness are even better in their non-random variety, and that rising strong is possible, when we embrace our vulnerabilities - as well as each other.

Coffee Cup Conversations and Teapot Talking Points:
Following the story, I really wanted to fill up my senses of the beautiful scents left hanging on the air. If you and I dear reader were sitting down together today, having both read the book, here are a few of the points we could mull over together:
Have you ever lived abroad?
When we meet Gabbie, she is living in France, on the French Riviera – an idyllic place. Would you or have you ever lived abroad? I have as part of my degree – and I have very happy memories of the friends I met there, of the food, and the customs. Being a home bird counts but travelling is a creative experience – and now we can travel from the comfort of our arm chairs or garden hammock via the internet.
What is your favourite car?
This is not a question that I have asked myself very often. Cars are an important character in the book, and it made me appreciate that some of them are indeed works of art. Could it be that the type of classic or vintage car you prefer says something about your personality? We could come up with a quiz about that! I certainly have happy memories of the Rolls Royce which drove me to the church on my wedding day, and there is no doubt that a Porsche at the traffic lights will turn my head.
Would you say you have a signature scent?
I have a couple of perfumes which over the years I have always returned to. I used to be able to tell when my boss was coming as her perfume arrived ahead of her – and gave me a secret sign to be at my best. When I right I like to burn a scented candle – I like seasonal ones, like a crackling wood fire, or summer roses and white linen. Smells can take us back into the past too – and who doesn’t like the smell of old books?

After fleeing her job in the south of France, Gabbie returns home to Devon. She had left home in a hurry after her Mum passed away and she was trying to escape her grief.

Once back in Devon, she realises her ad is struggling so she sets about trying to fix things for him. Helps that gorgeous new mechanic Max is there to distract her from work!

This book is actually titled The Summer House of Happiness and it was a cute read. The lead character Gabbie is a perfumer and aromatherapist which is a unique career for a cosy romance lead. There are some inaccuracies in the book regarding aromatherapy but I let those slide :)

When Gabbie quits her job at a fancy perfume house and returns home to stay with her father, she's forced to deicde if she should start a business of her own or find another job in the industry. How can she leave town now when she's already met the love interest Max?

Overall a very enjoyable cosy romance.

Solid chick lit…doesn’t take itself too seriously! You’ll laugh, cry, and say “Oh! No!” Definitely a fun weekend read :c)

After losing her mother, Gabbie fulfilled her dream of becoming a perfumer, now though after rejecting a deal which would be left her working away from customers like she wanted, she is returning back home to Devon to see her father whom works in a garage he owns.



Only she doesn't expect Max, a mechanic at the garage who also restores his uncle's old vintage car. There's an instant sizzle of attraction and desire between the pair as they connect seamlessly bonding over their car knowledge and combined loss of mum's.



However, Gabbie can only help so much and when she has tidied up enough to make sense of the accounts does she realise the baggage is on the precipice of bankruptcy!



Gabbie also helps out locals wanting remedies as she rediscovers her mum's old personal summer house of aromatherapy oils and creams. While it makes them some money it's not enough, so when she gets offered another perfumery postion, will she take it and manage to save the business?



Ooh so much action especially in the last quarter of this book as everything comes to a head health, work and relationship wise! As a knight in garage overalls may just save them all from worrying anymore. Love, friendship, following your dreams and of course passion for your career shine through this book in every page as each character is dealing with something in those categories. I loved the idea of Gabbie working as a perfumer as it's so rare to fiction to hear of as a career and plot around that As I would love that job imagine the fun! It was a true show of family love throughout!



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

An adorable summer story set in beautiful Devon. Our protagonist Gabbie is an award winning perfumer in France before relocating to Devon. It’s a story of heartbreak, mothers love and also, of loss. It’s emotional and it’s funny. Full of well rounded characters that you wish happy endings on.
Highly recommend!