When you want to save a home that isn’t yours…

Synopsis

His house. Her rules. But who’s in charge?

Pippa Munro had everything planned for her perfect wedding. What she did not have planned, was for her boyfriend to break up with her. Or sell her beloved farm. So instead of being blissfully engaged, Pippa finds herself jobless, homeless and loveless. Things couldn’t be going better…

Wolfie Squires needs someone to look after his family’s ancient house. He’s too busy with his hot shot city job to deal with a country manor several hundred miles away.

The perfect solution? Find someone to house sit.
The less-than-perfect candidate? Pippa Munro.

Pippa is more comfortable working on a farm than dusting a chandelier, and definitely not the ideal choice for the job.

As tempers fray, ideas clash, and secrets are spilled, Pippa and Wolfie might realise they have the same ambitions for the house, if only they could stop arguing long enough to find out…

My review

While Pippa Munro was expecting a proposal, the last thing she thought was that in fact she would end up jobless, homeless and single. All thanks to her (ex) boyfriend Alex that sold her home and the farm, without even consulting her.
Her search for a new job bring her to the Squires family mansion, where Wolfie Squires needs someone to look after the place while he is working in the city.
But Pippa is shocked seeing the state of the once splendorous mansion, and learns about all the tasks that need to be done. Only to leave her flabbergasted when she hears that Wolfie is trying to sell the place, while it has been of importance to just everyone.
So while Pippa tries to save the place and return it to its original splendour, she finds herself clashing with Wolfie over everything. But slowly they both realize that perhaps they do share the same visions…

I am an absolute lover of the trope enemies – to – lovers. So obviously I just *had* to read this book.

I was aware that Pippa at the start of the book would be in a relationship, yet it left me shocked the kind of relationship it actually was. Because for sure it felt more like Pippa was working for Alex, not only as a farmer, but as a maid, as a taxi driver, just everything except being a real girlfriend.
And then I am not talking about the decisions Alex made without even talking about it to Pippa, whose future also depends on it.

But I liked Pippa’s ethos. Because even if she isn’t the actual owner of the land she is working on, she loves the work. She has a vision for it. But not only for the farm, also when she starts working for Wolfie, she sees the potential of the mansion. She sees the work but she also knows how all the efforts would pay off.
Her passion for whatever she does, sparks of the pages. Even if that means that clashing with the lord of the manor (figure of speech).

Because let it be clear, Wolfie is not an easy character…
When we meet him, he is rathe standoffish, even cold in a way. And while he knows the place needs to be looked after, he couldn’t care less. The quicker the mansion is sold, the better.
And the way he just appears and disappears, well no brownie – points for him!

But slowly, very slowly, we see a complete other side of Wolfie, a side that perhaps is even haunted by his upbringing. Because while it seems heaven to grow up in a mansion, for Wolfie it was anything but.
And there is also this soft side in Wolfie, a side that cares, that is worried, that doesn’t hesitate to go on a search in the rain and carry someone back home.

Pippa also starts to see this side of Wolfie, and starts to understand him better, and sees that despite the many differences between them, there are so many similarities.
Yet their relationship, from platonic to friends to … is a work in progress, as there are several occasions of miscommunications, misunderstandings and even not coming clean about some matters.

I have to admit, the name of ‘Wolfie’, irked me a tiny bit. Because in my mind, Wolfie was more a ‘Wolf’, giving more importance to his character than his actual name. And there were moments that he for sure showed us that he can carry around his weight (or Pippa’s 😊).

I liked reading how these two characters seemed to be fighting against each other, only to realize that when their forces are joined, they are practically invincible. And that what haunted them in the past, dark memories, can be replaced by creating new and happy memories. But most important of all, communication is key to everything.