Beneath Cornish skies by Kate Ryder

A a well written feel good book. Set in Cornwall it's a winner before the story begins. A well thought plot right with the amount of romance starts out in South Downs all the way to the Cornish coast
where Cassie escapes from a controlling boyfriend to be a house keeper in Cornwall . Likeable characters great description and a storyline that just flows .There is something a little magical feel to this story . Lovely feel good story you wish you were there.

Lovely feel good book to read. It was a joy to read. Lovely characters. Great plot. The book was charming. Very well written. I’d definitely recommend this book

A beautiful book, set in Cornwall. Just the right amount of romance and a sprinkle of magic. A delightful read.

Enjoyed this story where it should've felt like a tale was strung on the backdrop of a guidebook to the South Downs in Sussex and then the Cornish coast, but surprisingly, the author balanced both wonderfully, making this an engaging read that simply flows and you don't see the time passing.

A good story Cassie is a likeable main character who escapes from her controlling boyfriend to start a new life as a housekeeper in Cornwall. I loved the descriptions of the location as it is my favourite part of the country and I enjoyed the whimsical ghostly aspect to the story. Enjoyable read

This was a brilliant read and is being featured on my blog for my quick star reviews feature, which I have created on my blog so I can catch up with all the books I have read and therefore review.
See www.chellsandbooks.wordpress.com.

If you were to meet Cassie Shaw you would be convinced she has the perfect life. She has a very handsome partner,he's rich showering her with expensive jewels, she lives in a beautiful, luxurious house in the English countryside,he insists she doesn't need to work and she spends her days riding her gorgeous horse.
What outsiders don't see is that she is empty inside, he's not attentive to her and has a roving eye. When the housekeeper becomes his latest conquest she knows she can not stay as it's affecting her mental health too much.
Answering an ad for nanny/housekeeper for a family with three small children is Cassie's way out and her self-doubts and insecurities start to fade. This family living in a rambling manor house on the rugged North Cornish coast makes her feel so welcome, she works hard but feels fulfilled finally.
There is a hint of ghostliness in the majestic manor, she has been drawn to the isolation of the coast. She is finally starting to feel alive again. I loved the descriptions in this book and really felt as though I was there along the coast experiencing the waves crashing and feeling the breeze.
Who is the mystery man she meets along the beach ?
She can feel her resolve crumbling as her former lover tries to draw her back into his life, can she resist the pull?
A not to be missed beautiful romance and self discovery book!

Pub Date 07 Jan 2021
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.

When Cassie is forced to see the truth about her partner she ups sticks and moves to Cornwall. Yes, it was predictable in every single way but I enjoyed it! The historical snippets, facts about flora/fauna and the wonderful descriptions of both the South Downs and Cornwall. Some supernatural goings on too. It was a bit sugary in parts when she gets to Cornwall and some parts were glossed over when they should have been included - eg important interactions between certain characters. Instead we are told this or that happened instead which detracted from the story. I liked the author’s style of writing very much and would be happy to read other books by her.

If you want to be transported to a magical place, then "Beneath Cornish Skies" just might be the book you need.

The Cornish setting stole the show here, in my opinion. The beautiful rural locale added greatly to my enjoyment of the book and, if truth be told, was the reason I chose to read it.

The romance was fairly predictable, but then anyone choosing to read a romance will likely accept that likelihood going in. The characters were well drawn, and I enjoyed getting to meet Cassie, the Kinsman family, and their neighbour Hunter Harcourt (aka Luke).

David Ashcroft was a shifty character whom I immediately disliked - as I'm sure was the author's intention.

The only real negative opinion I have about the book is that Cassie seemed too enraptured in Luke's teachings. She was almost fawning, which I disliked. She had little self esteem and seemed in awe of his great mind. I found that grating.

The paranormal elements were deftly incorporated in the narrative. Cornwall is the perfect locale for a ghost or two...

Anyone wanting a comfort read in the form of an enchanting romance will surely love this novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story regardless of the genre (romance, paranormal ??)
It's a well written and engrossing story and I liked the characters and the setting.
I found the last part a bit rushed but I liked it.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Beneath Cornish Skies by Katie Ryder – publishing on 7 Jan 2021

I would like to extend my thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for sending me this book in order for a fair, frank, and honest review.

This book is, at its core, is good. It tells the story of Cassie getting a second chance at life. Cassie bore the brunt of a cheating partner and had been left with little, or no confidence. It was difficult to choose a specific genre that it in. Sometimes it spent way too long in describing the countryside and the sea. I get really bored with that and tend to just skip past it.

It was not remarkable.

3 stars

This is definitely a book that's hard to categorise, and if I'm completely honest I don't really know what to make of this one. I've never read anything by the author before, but I'm all about new experiences, and it sounded like an interesting read. And it was! But it's definitely a book that's hard to describe. I think for me the thing I found strange was the tone

What an absolute joy it was to lose myself in Kate Ryder’s lyrical, atmospheric and intriguing new novel, Beneath Cornish Skies.

Cassandra Shaw leads a life most people would envy and admire. Living in a beautiful house in the English countryside with a handsome and wealthy boyfriend who insists that she doesn’t need to work for a living, Cassandra knows that most women would give their right arm to have this kind of lifestyle. Yet, beneath the gloss, wealth and glamour, Cassandra cannot help but feel lonely, alone and frustrated. Her boyfriend seems to treat her more like a servant than a partner and he seems to be growing colder and colder with each passing day. Something is clearly not going well between the two of them and realizing that she needs to take a chance and live life on her own terms, Cassandra decides to leave her boyfriend and to accept a job in Cornwall working as a nanny, dogwalker and domestic goddess extraordinaire in a rambling manor on the picturesque North Cornish coast. Is this the fresh start Cassandra has been yearning for? Will her horizons broaden and widen? Or has she just made the worst mistake of her life?

As Cassandra begins to settle in at Foxcombe Manor, she cannot shake off this feeling that there is something almost otherworldly going on in this beautiful part of the British isles. Just why was she drawn to this particular job and to Cornwall? Cassandra always senses that there is something – or somebody – close by wherever she goes. Is it just a figment of her imagination? Is she conjuring up wild flights of fancy? And what about those lights flashing in the valley? And the enigmatic man living deep in the woods?

Will the beautiful Cornish skies provide Cassandra with the answers she has long been searching for and a home of her own? Or will she end up regretting the decision she had made to leave her old life behind?

I was captivated by Kate Ryder’s Beneath Cornish Skies from the very first page. An enchanting, enjoyable and engrossing tale written with warmth, intensity and heart, Beneath Cornish Skies is an emotional and immersive novel about taking chances, courage, hope and resilience written by a master storyteller who brings Cornwall and its colourful and nuanced people to vivid life.

A beautifully written tale perfect for a cold and dismal January day, Kate Ryder’s Beneath Cornish Skies is a must-read for Lorna Cook and Santa Montefiore fans.

Cassie who is starting. anew finds a job at a manor house on the Cornish coast. Good romance, great intrigue.
Good read.

I enjoyed this book immensely. From rags to riches to rags to love. Cassandra Shaw a girl who was born to parents who left her to her own devices did not have much but loved animals and wild life and nature. Things took a turn for the worse in her life but there was someone there to look after her. She decided she needed a change of life after reading an advert in a magazine. So off she went leaving behind her a nice comfortable life. Then she met a nice family and a writer who wrote about supernatural things around the area she moved to. Things that she felt a connection too.
I won't give anymore away but this book has enlightened me that there is more to go and see in my favourite place of Cornwall.

Beneath Cornish Skies is essentially a love story with elements of the supernatural. Cass leaves her unhappy relationship to take up a post as a ‘superhuman’ helping a family in Cornwall. She meets Luke who shows her the area, and gives her a detailed history lesson every time they meet. Cass makes a few other friends who give her a sense of belonging in this new area.
I wasn’t exactly sure where this book was heading and it did seem to end quite abruptly. I liked the characters and the storyline did keep me engaged throughout. I’m just not quite sure which genre it would fall into.

On the surface, Cassandra Shaw has the perfect life: a beautiful home, a successful boyfriend, and a luxurious lifestyle that many would envy. But deep down, she's unhappy and when she discovers that her world may not be so perfect after all, she decides to make a change. Leaving everything behind, she flees to Cornwall, beginning a new life as an all round 'superhuman' working for a chaotic but loving family.

This is definitely a book that's hard to categorise, and if I'm completely honest I don't really know what to make of this one. I've never read anything by the author before, but I'm all about new experiences, and it sounded like an interesting read. And it was! But it's definitely a book that's hard to describe. I think for me the thing I found strange was the tone. It meandered between genres, containing elements of domestic drama, romance, supernatural suspense, and factual, almost non-fiction writing. I struggled most with the more fact heavy sections of the book. Normally I really enjoy there being historical elements to the books that I read, but I think the way this was written made it feel more like there were these random sections where there was suddenly all this information being dumped on you, rather than being weaved into the story in a more subtle way. Very much reminiscent of being at school!

Now, that's not to say I didn't enjoy the book, as I absolutely loved Cassie, and I thought her new life with the Kinsman's was so so lovely to read about. And the romance element of the book was really well written, a beautiful tender slow burn of a romance, definitely more of a meeting of minds than an initial lust which I personally found so much more romantic. I also really enjoyed the supernatural elements of the novel, as this is something I've always found interesting, and it was written in such a subtle way that it didn't derail from the rest of the book. All in all, I did enjoy it, but I personally felt it could do with another edit, and maybe some of the fact based sections could have been rewritten in a way that made them a little less heavy. But that's also me being fussy!

3.75 rounded up to 4.

Disclaimer - I was fortunate enough to be provided with an advance reading copy of this book by NetGalley. This has not affected my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.

Cassandra Shaw seems to have everything she desires but underneath the facade of her seemingly perfect life, with her successful boyfriend, Sandra is deeply unhappy. When the circumstances of her relationship go badly wrong she is forced to make a daring decision and leaving everything behind she takes up a paid position as a family help at the beautiful Foxcombe Manor, in Cornwall.

What then follows is a really lovely story which allows Cassandra the chance to become known as Cassie and the opportunity, finally, to become the person she has always wanted to be. Instinctively attuned to the nuances of nature, Cassie soon finds that she is irresistibly drawn to the area around Foxcombe and is sensitive not just to its ever changing moods but also to its deeply haunting atmosphere.

The author has portrayed Cassie's indecision beautifully and brings her awakening to life with deliciously light touches. I so enjoyed watching how Cassie's character grew in confidence as the story progressed and the intriguing paranormal elements added just the right amount of mystery without becoming overly gothic. The story flows so quietly that I could almost hear the whisper of the trees as Cassie explores the area on Caspian, her glorious Arabian horse and when she comes into contact with the mysterious inhabitant of a cottage deep in the adjoining woodland, Cassie's life is about to be changed forever.

Beneath Cornish Skies is a beautifully written romance story which looks closely at a life which has been influenced by tragedy but which comes awake with the promise of love and a second chance at happiness.

Sadly I could not get into this book. I tried several times...the Cornish country side is something I like so I thought I would like this. I would not object to trying the author again tho.

I hadn’t realised until after I’d finished this book that it is the third book in the Cornish Cove series. However, the book read perfectly well as a standalone, it flowed and there were no gaps in the story. It is well written and there are some really beautiful and vivid descriptions of the Cornish coast, the scenery, the villages and the beaches. A sense of peace and tranquility really shone through in the writing. There are also some well referenced snippets about the history of the area, as well as some interesting aspects of horsemanship explored and as a previous horse owner I could relate to this. I particularly enjoyed the references to the more natural aspects of horsemanship, such as the comments on leaving a horse unshod and bridles without bits, I found this quite fascinating.

I liked most of the characters who were warm, endearing and likeable, David and Amanda I didn’t warm to so much and very much came across as the bad guys in the story. I particularly enjoyed the scene in the hotel room towards the end of the novel with Cassandra which really put David in his place. I admired Cassandra for her strength and courage in breaking free of her controlling husband and forging a new life for herself in Cornwall. It was a joy to see her blossom in her new environment and her life slowly become her own. It bothered me slightly that both characters were married when they met, albeit not particularly happily married, and there did appear to be a modicum of infidelity happening in both relationships.

I didn’t think the paranormal aspects were necessary and I’m not quite sure why they were there. It just didn’t sit quite right with me in this contemporary novel and the story would have worked just as well without the ghostly sightings.

Beneath Cornish Skies is a well written, pleasant and easy to follow book. It’s warm and uplifting, with a sweet romance and is wonderful escapism. It made me want to pack my bags and immediately head for the Cornish coast (when we can all travel again). The whole story ties up a little predictably but we do love a happy ending! This novel is highly recommended if you love animals, nature and history with a dash of romance.