A Panto is all you need…

Synopsis

Can a little Cornish village panto convince a troubled Hollywood heart throb to act again?

Oh no it won’t! At least that’s what Zach Broussard initially thinks when the eccentric Anna Teague tries to railroad him into helping out with her community pantomime production in the run-up to Christmas. Zach has his reasons for leaving Hollywood behind, and his retreat to the remote village of Polcarne in Cornwall signals the start of a new acting free life for him.

But when Zach meets Anna’s daughter, Rosey – an ex concert pianist who has swapped Mozart for panto tunes – he starts to wonder whether he could change his mind, and not just about acting.

If nothing else, will the residents of Polcarne ensure Zach has a Christmas he never forgets?

Oh yes they will!

My review

When Zach Broussard needs an escape from Hollywood, and the remote village of Polcarne in Cornwall gives him all the peace and quiet he needs. He cannot imagine to take back his acting, and in Polcarne he can finally think of what direction his life should take.
Gently pushed by Anna Teague, he finds himself helping out with the community pantomime production, where he meets Anna’s daughter Rosey. Rosey, who is a talented musician who has returned home after a failed marriage and has changed her tunes from Mozart into panto…
While neither of them are looking for something serious, just being together makes them both wonder if they have found something they weren’t even looking for… 

Angela Britnell has written another wonderful story, filled with Christmassy feelings and also letting me enjoy a British tradition I know about, but not enough and that all in a wonderful setting in Cornwall! Could my expectations be any higher? Nope… Did I get disappointed a little bit? Not at all! 

Zach and Rosey are at a different stage in their lives, both coping somehow with their grief.
Zach’s grief is still raw and painful, and his guilt is almost tearing him apart. So I completely understood why he needed to get away from those spotlights and needed to be at a place where no one would bother him.
While I understood his pain, it’s only further along in the story that his pain has a deeper cause. And it made me only want to jump in the book to give him all my love in the biggest hug possible.
However, there were also moments I wanted to jump into the book for total different reasons… and that is to blame to his behaving very stupidly!
But that is all part of his growth and trying to move on from a past that hurt him beyond… 

And meeting Rosey is the perfect medicine for him. Because Rosey knows how it feels to have a broken heart, although for a different reason and a different outcome. But while she is still not feeling the need to dive into another relationship, she is clearly already in a next phase.
However, being further along, doesn’t mean she is there yet… And that vulnerability and fragility was so palpable, no matter how hard she tries to keep up the façade… 

Seeing how these two people meet each other at the right time, even if it doesn’t seem so, truly warmed my heart.
There is obviously the physical attraction, but slowly the emotional attraction overshadows the physical one.  

Of course, reading this beautiful story caused me to laugh several times, how could it not with a character like Anna in it.
But there were also the sweetest moments, about a second chance at love. And maybe even as important as the romance between Rosey and Zach, the bond of a whole community.
Because there are moments that some characters behave despicable, and the community react in the right way. 

I absolutely devoured this heart – warming Christmas story about two lovely people who have both endured a terrible heart – break, but found each other and were able to put the pain behind them and look forward to a bright future together, perhaps not how they envisioned it once, but nevertheless magnificent!