Another magical visit to Little Bramble!

Fast approaching the big 5-0, Emma Patrick realise that she has no work/life balance – it’s all work, work, work. That’s the problem with working from home when you live alone. When her father needs her help, she returns home to help him out and realises that the village she couldn’t wait to leave in her youth may not be so bad after all. However, there’s more than one reason she hasn’t returned to the village too often and some people she’d rather keep her distance from. Surprisingly, Emma soon finds herself immersed in local events and it may not be that easy to avoid certain encounters . . .

It’s lovely to return to Little Bramble, and I enjoyed that previous characters pop up in this one. With lots of threads weaving in and out, this is a well-crafted story in a charming village which makes a good job of tackling the issue of dementia and how it affects more than just one person. However, this isn’t a sad story, it’s very much an upbeat, uplifting tale with twists and turns along the way making it a very entertaining read! It’s such a pleasure to read about a 50 year old singleton and this book reveals it’s secrets little by little. Terrifically enjoyable, and I live in hope of a return to Little Bramble in the future. Cathy Lake knows how to spin a yarn and satisfy her readers by the final page. Highly recommended and well worth 4.5*.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley; this is – as always – my honest, original and unbiased review.

Thankyou to #Netgalley and #Bonnierbooksuk for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This is book two of, The Country Village series.
Having been given a copy of this book, i quickly got in a listen to the audio version of book one, The Country Village Christmas Show. A lovely story, that i’d thoroughly recommend.
So, back to The Country Village Summer Fete.
Emma, is pushing 50, single and a menopausal, workaholic. Following her father’s ill health, Emma heads back to Little Bramble, the village she grew up in, to care for her Dad, with the intention of getting back to her life in London as quickly as possible.
Back in Little Bramble, Emma comes face to face with her past.
Will Emma run back to London, or will the draw of village life be enough to make her stay.

This book is a lovely read. Warm, well written and entertaining. Cathy Lake creates a real sense of community and the village of Little Bramble will envelop you and leave you with a feeling of warmth and belonging.
It was good to catch up with previous characters from The Country Village Christmas Show, but equally this book can be read as a stand alone story.

A fabulous summer read. Five stars from me.

Thanks to Bonnier Books UK and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for a review.

This is the second of a series of books set in Little Bramble but this can definitely be read as a standalone. Emma who is just shy of her 50th birthday finds herself shopping at Tesco in the middle of the night in her pyjamas and then gets a call from home as her Dad has become a bit forgetful and has been found wandering and lost. Alarm bells start ringing and Emma goes home to Little Bramble where she left many years before.

Enjoyed this book, as I did it's predecessor and look forward to being back in Little Bramble at Christmas.

A wonderful feel good book, a story of Emma who returns to her old village to look after her elderly father and the ghosts of the past catch up with her. A light and easy read.

At the beginning of this book it mentions that Cathy Lake writes uplifting stores about strong women, family, friendship, love, community and over coming obstacles and all these characteristics certainly shone through when reading this book. It’s a wonderful story, a quick read which I loved from beginning to end. I hadn’t read the previous book, The Country Village Christmas Show, but that didn’t matter in the slightest as I could tell from little snippets what had already happened and I felt I was fully able to engage with everything that happened in this new story. I will say though that the fete of the title doesn’t occur until near the very end and it’s not the sole focus of the book. But really it didn’t need to be at all as this was about one women’s journey to figure out where she needed to be in life and to deal with past events and a trauma in order for her to be happy, supportive and at peace in her current life. So the fact the fete was more of a background event didn’t bother me in the slightest because the main storyline focusing on Emma was very well written.

Emma Patrick lives in London and it’s clear from the outset she has been working too hard and hasn’t felt right within herself for quite some time. When you find yourself in the local Tesco in your pyjama’s in the early hours of the morning buying vodka and not really knowing how this has happened it’s clear something needs to change. Emma feels disjointed and unhappy and the feelings niggling away at her that things need to change, well she has done her best to ignore those. Up until now she has enjoyed her single life and her work as a freelance editor having left the office behind to work from home. She has flexibility in her life and no one that relies on her and she hasn’t allowed to tradition to claim her. But is that what she really wants and needs from her life? Has she alienated herself from friends who have moved on to the relationship, marriage and kids stage of life? Not that there is anything wrong with being single but she has worked herself to the bone, to the point of exhaustion and deep down she knows she is but a mere step from a breakdown that may be very hard to come back from.

When she receives a phone call to say her father has been found at the local bus station in the village of Little Bramble in the early hours of the morning, appearing lost and confused, she knows she needs to return. Emma has only been back to the village in recent years for fleeting visits. We can tell something has kept her away and the way she acted all those years ago leaving a trail of devastation, loss, hurt and anger behind her will be difficult to reassemble into some form of acceptance and forgiveness. That’s even if she is willing to try and make amends and confront what she has spent so long running from. Her father’s mental health and general ability to cope on his own raises questions as to whether he is suffering from dementia. She knows she needs to return but can she cope what Little Bramble will throw in her path.

Emma was a brilliantly developed character. There were aspects of her that we could all identify with. She feels like she is on a treadmill where social media and losing hours on various media platforms has turned her into a ball of anxiety. Work dominates and she has made no time for the people who were once her friends. It’s clear she needs a complete break and to step back and evaluate what could be changed in her life for the better. What needs to go and what can she do to make her feel better? She works so hard on her career and not on her physical and mental health and I think a lot of us do the same. The deep reasons for not returning long term to the village, well Emma has kept those hidden, but she longs to assuage the guilt she feels and to turn back the clock and make things right. But the person she caused so much damage, complications and heartache to may not be willing to listen to what she has to say. That’s even if she can pluck up the courage to get everything off her chest.

I loved the village of Little Bramble. The rural setting felt fresh and vibrant and there were just the right amount of characters introduced so as not to feel overwhelmed keeping up with everyone’s story. The relationship that Emma has with her father Greg is a tentative one at first and I could see why this was the case. She didn’t want to admit to herself that if suspicions were true then maybe she would end up being his career. But also the unspoken words between them surrounding the loss of her mother weigh heavily in the silence. I thought the way that particular situation was developed was excellent and the overall outcome it could have been a cop out as to the specific explanations but instead it felt real and that yes this could have happened and relating it back to the loss Emma and Greg experienced was excellent. Little Bramble was comforting and there was something special knowing that people cared. But the explosive decision she made 30 years ago, well the after effects are still very much being felt. She feels that some things are better left ignored never to be waded through or stirred up again but we all know avoiding what needs to be said and dealt with head on is perhaps not the best policy to adopt in life.

The guilt and burden Emma feels relating to her mother and also the big event that caused her to leave the village weigh enormously on her. She tries to avoid dealing with things but having to take care of her dad brings new emotions out in the open and when she delves back into the past and reopens her mother’s studio at the bottom of the garden something is ignited in her and a change begins to happen slowly and tentatively. The studio was used for making jams and chutneys by her mother and has remained untouched. Having this connection to her mother starts to alleviate some of the guilt she feels with regard to this aspect of her life. She sets about making jams and chutneys for the village fete and this is where the fete finally starts to come into play but if it had not been present I wouldn’t have minded at all because this was a real character driven story rather than being fuelled by events. There wasn’t this urgent need to try and save something through community effort and hard work as has featured in many other books and I think I enjoyed the story all the more for it. Although the scenes at the fete were lovely and heart-warming and really brought the story full circle.

The book also focused on Connor. He runs his own business, The Lumber Shed, and has a daughter Grace who is 25. We get chapters from his perspective which I thought really broke up the story as Emma did feature strongly. His ex partner Sadie is a nightmare and she doesn’t seem to have gotten the hint that things are over and perhaps really they should have never have been together in the first place. She was such an annoying character, forever demanding of Connor and not getting the hint or giving him any freedom. You instantly want to know more about Connor and exactly what had devastated him in the past leading to such animosity with a particular someone. His storyline was wonderfully intertwined amongst the overall plot and I couldn’t wait to see would things that had been left unsaid for so long finally come out into the open and allow for rejection to turn into acceptance?

The Country Village Summer Fete was an impressive read infused with warmth and human understanding. It had me from page one and I was sad to finish it. If you like books in the vein of Cathy Bramley then this is definitely a read for you. It captures your imagination for the simple but effective way it conveys so many important life messages and lessons. The characters are so well crafted and developed and it will provide you with the perfect slice of escapism. I am delighted to have discovered such a fabulous author with a lovely writing style and I will certainly be reading The Country Village Christmas Wedding as soon as it is published later this year.

I have struggled with this book, the storyline is quite slow and I did not enjoy it, sadly I was unable to finish this book which is something I rarely do.

When Emma's dad shows the first signs of dementia just before her 50th birthday she decides to move back to the village she grew up in. However this is also the village she ran away from, ran away from her engagement party when she realised that it wasn't what she wanted.
Connor still lives in the village and as she moves back they meet up again.
A really nice story which I would recommend.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

Emma’s life is going off course and out of control. Nearing her 50th birthday, she comes to the conclusion that she's been so focused on work, and not had any real connection with people.

So, as Emma's father now needs her help, she goes home to the countryside, wanting to to be with him. But, it’s not easy for her to go back to Little Bramble, years away from there, she’s feeling that it’s now with difficult and there’s people she'd rather not meet.

But, as she settles in, she finds herself loving to be there,.

She’s given a chance up be part of running the summer fête. Pretty soon, she’s loving making jam, cakes and bunting.

Romance is also slowly simmering, abs she’s thinking, was she really happy with the city life she had......

A lovely feel good read, easy to follow, character were easy to invest in, which i like in a book. Enjoyed reading it a lot

would make a great holiday read

What a wonderful book this was as I got to know Emma as she returned to her childhood home of Bramble Village.

After finding herself wandering around a Tesco store at a ridiculous time of the morning she realises she needs a break from her life and career in London. She decides to return home when she hears her Dad has not been the best.

This was a wonderful story to disappear into for a few hours. A story that tells of how Emma had run away from the life that already seemed planned, instead of spending 30 years working hard, not fully embracing life and discovering she is running herself to the ground.

Being home opens old memories and brings heartache as she remembers things that have happened. She imagines people in the village will be hostile towards her and fears that the community has moved on. Things have indeed changed, but what makes the community is still there. The author brings a lovely sense of warmth, compassion and understanding to her village setting. A buzzing community with a sense of looking out for anyone who lives there.

This was such a wonderful read, it is a story of friendship and life, of family and friends. Moving on and accepting the past has happened but learning that it is ok. It is a story that had me smirking, feeling a sense of loss and also maybe the odd happy tear.

This is one for readers who enjoy a good bit of escapism reading, it has a lovely story with some friendly characters. It is one for contemporary romance and fiction readers and one that I would recommend.

I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend reading it. We meet Emma who returns to Little Bramble, her home town, a place she has tried to avoid over the years because of her history there but on hearing the news her elderly father is not well, she must go home to be with him. We meet some lovely characters along the way as well as some adorable four legged friends. As the story unfolds, the truths of Emma's past begin to emerge, especially when she sees Connor again, one of the reasons behind her avoiding coming home..

This is the second in a series of books but could just as easily be read as a standalone book. I really enjoyed it and felt it was much better written than the first book in the series. A lovely return to Little Bramble with new characters with new stories to be told.

An enjoyable way to spend an afternoon and I'm already looking forward to the Christmas book.

I loved this book and felt that I could relate to all the characters. Emma is due to turn 50 and is increasingly feeling that her life, job etc are not fulfilling her. A call from her dads neighbour alerts her to his failing health so she needs to return to her home and the little village she escaped from years ago. She left under a shadow and is worried how her return will be. I enjoyed it so much and do hope there will be another.

Emma left the village when her boyfriend proposed to her when she was younger and wasn't ready to settle down, but returns when her dad has a health scare. Emma falls back in love with the village again and decides she is moving back for good, she meets up with Connor her ex who is still angry with her for leaving him all those years ago but soon realises her never actually got over her.
A lovely easy read on a wet afternoon

Really enjoyed this book. It was simple, well written and easy reading. Emma (the lead character) a likeable 40 something who never got over her first love. The story charts her return to Little Bramble - the village she grew up in to look after her father.
It was lovely that the book didn’t just cover her introduction to Connor (her Ex Fiancé) but her relationship with her poorly father Greg.
This is the second book about Little Bramble but this book is standalone with it’s story.
Lake has a lovely writing style. It took me abit of time to get into but a really good read.
Thanks Net Galley and Bonnier Books UK.

A story of regret and hope, Emma living in London discovers her elderly widow father has been found wandering. She rushes back to the life she left 30 years ago when she walked out on her engagement party. What follows is a enchanting story of lost love, new beginnings and village life. A little slow in parts but overall enjoyable and left you hoping that more stories about the villagers could follow.

Loved this latest instalment from Little Bamble and hope there will be further titles in this series. It was great to see old characters back and some new ones to be introduced to.
Makes me want to live in the quaint village. This is a great relaxing read.
Highly recommended

A lovely read, so sweet and simple. A small village and a past love rekindled.
It was so nice to read about characters who are older and still trying to find their way, and love. Emma and Connor were always meant to be but the timing was just wrong. Seeing them have to finally put the past behind them and move forward with love was really nice to read about.
Watching Emma reconnect with her dad and care for him whilst wrapping herself up in memories of her mum was quite moving at times. The whole community pulling together and supporting each other was lovely, I haven’t read the previous book set in Little Bramble but it really didn’t matter as all the characters were introduced again.

A lovely, easy read. Chick lit at its best.

Didn't enjoy this as much as the first book set in the same village. The first half just had so much repetitiveness it became irritating.

Not my usual type of read but I thoroughly enjoyed it, a very good feel easy book, well written with good characters and the storyline kept me interested throughout.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bonnier Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book which I can most definitely recommend.