When a dream becomes a reality very different than imagined.

Synopsis

Every end has a new beginning…
All NEW from bestselling author Jennifer Bohnet.

When Pixie Sampson’s husband tragically dies, she inherits the beautiful Château Quiltu in Brittany, Northern France.

But unbeknown to her, she also inherits a mysterious lodger, Justine Martin and her 4-year-old son Ferdie.

Heartbroken and with her adventurous Mum, Gwen in tow, they travel to France to put the Château on the market but are soon drawn into a quest to seek the Château’s secrets.

Who is Justine? Why is she living at the Château? How did she know her husband?

Over the Summer months, the Château fills with family and laughter and secrets are discovered and old wounds begin to heal.

My review

A couple of years ago, Pixie Sampson and her husband have bought the beautiful Château Quiltu in Brittany. Their plan was to move to Brittany and use the Château as a retreat.
But now that Frank suddenly and also tragically died, Pixie is left with inheriting the Château.
Pixie is heartbroken and having no longer the dream of spending her time at the Château, she goes together with her mother to France to sell the Château.
However things are getting more complicated when it appears that there is a lodger, Justine Martin and her 4 – year – old son Ferdie.
Who is she? And why is she staying at the Château? And what is her connection with Frank? Secrets that Pixie is determined to uncover. But will she like the outcome and how will they affect her decision to sell the place?

Whenever I start reading a book of this author, I know I’ll be in for a treat!
Of course this isn’t a simple story about a holiday in France, but there are many secrets and mysteries.

In first instance, I felt so sorry for Pixie. Not only has she lost her husband, but apparently he was keeping secrets from her too! Being the love of her life, Pixie finds it hard to grasp that the man she trusted blindly would be not the man she thought.
So somehow I understood her determination to just sell the place she saw herself and Frank living in. But I was also a bit sorry, because let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to live in a Château???

Yet the surprises for Pixie are not over, because there seems to be living a mother and her son at the Château. And of course, not having her own children, Pixie start to think the worse of Justine.
Even if Pixie had her own suspicions, I had my own, and they didn’t match Pixie’s. And when the truth came out, I was glad I was right, even if there was some wrong – doing in the past.

But this story grabbed my attention not only because of the secret, but mainly because I found myself surrounded by love.
The love between Pixie and Frank was a great one, that is obvious whenever Pixie thinks back.
But also the way Pixie cares about her own mother. Pixie herself is not one of the youngest anymore, meaning that her mother is even older. But Pixie genuinely cares about her mother, having Gwen’s best interest at heart and does not want to abandon her mother.

And the way Pixie starts to care about Justine and Ferdie… no matter what the secret is, she starts to truly care about these two people appearing out of the blue in her live.

I found this a lovely, emotional story about grieve, lost loves, new loves and family. I was truly happy to see the return of some characters in this new book and see how they also found their place in this story.
But I had a feeling of contentment because Pixie managed to change a terrible event into a brand new adventure, and changed the bad things into good ones, by just purely opening her heart and forgive made mistakes.