When home is to be found, or a hiding place…

Synopsis

Could one chance meeting change your life forever?

Zara is at a crossroads in life. While she adores her job as a producer’s assistant working on hit TV shows, travelling around the country means she doesn’t truly feel that she has a home. With a fractured relationship with her family and unrequited love weighing heavily on her heart, she is torn about what her next step in life should be…

Snowy is hiding from the world. He’s devoted his life to home schooling his young son and caring for sick owls at his home, Owl’s Lodge, deep in the Yorkshire Wolds countryside. While he’s passionate about both, it’s a lonely existence and he’s starting to question his decisions. But how do you step back into a world you’ve pushed away for years…?

When Zara brings an injured owl to Owl’s Lodge, its frosty, reclusive owner is far from welcoming. Despite hostilities, there’s a connection that neither could ever have prepared themselves for. As they discover a shared passion, a new friendship blossoms, but both Zara and Snowy are used to shutting people out.

Can they both find the courage to open up and the strength to move on from their pasts? And what could this mean for their future happiness?

Escape to the world of Bumblebee Barn and Hedgehog Hollow with MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER Jessica Redland for this brand new feel-good romance of family, friendship and hope.

My review

Zara’s relationship with her family isn’t an easy one, and that is an understatement. Each time she sees them, it will end in a battle she will lose, as her mother will always prefer her brother Rowan above Zara. And while Zara absolutely has the best kind of friends, like Amber, who will support her no matter what, Zara’s job as a producer’s assistant for TV shows also makes her feel that she has no place to call home. When for her job she is visiting Hedgehog Hollow, and an injured own is in need of help, Zara is ready to bring the poor creature to Owl’s Lodge, where the necessary help can be offered. But the owner is far from welcoming, and cannot wait to see Zara leave again. Because Snowy wants to hide from everything and everyone, because his past mistakes has caused a lot of hurt. Yet while he is doing his best for his son Harrison, he also feels that perhaps his decisions may not have been those of the best kind. And despite the initial hostility towards Zara, Snowy start to feel a connection with her. A connection that makes them discover shared passions and makes them find someone to rely on. But with so much that has happened in the past, on both sides, can they be courageous enough for move on?

*Start of review*

Just amazing, as expected and beyond, a real must – read!!

*End of review*

Of course a one – sentence review will never be enough for this amazing author that Jessica Redland is! She deserves to read how much I loved this new book of hers, and she truly has to understand that there aren’t many authors worthy of my lack of sleep, and she definitely is!

Now, I have to start with one admission, something perhaps Jessica won’t like.. but I have do not like owls at all. Well, to be totally honest, I don’t like any kind of bird! Even chickens terrify me! 😊

So while the Hedgehog Hollow made me fall in love with hedgehogs, I honestly couldn’t see this happening with owls. And while I absolutely loved this book, I can only say that my hate for birds hasn’t disappeared, but just change my view a little about owls. But that only applies for owls, all other kind of birds: STAY AWAY FROM ME! 😊

But I’m digressing, back to the book!

I know that whenever I start reading one of Jessica’s books, it won’t be a walk in the park, as her characters for sure have a lot of baggage when their journey starts.

And with Zara, for sure my heart broke. Obviously, it was great to see how much she enjoys her job, and how she has found her crowd with the people she works with or the people she has encountered thanks to her job. That kind of friendship for sure is unique and something to treasure. Because best friends don’t always offer a place to stay for indefinite times, especially when that same friend has just found love herself.

But my heartbreak was because of the situation with her family, has she always has to fight for attention and love from her own mother, trying to keep the peace with an obnoxious brother. The only person that genuinely cares for her and understands her, is her stepfather (and with this: a big shout out and applause for all the stepparents that love their stepchildren as their own! It only shows that blood is not all that matters!).

It truly made my blood boil to see how differently she was treated by her mother, how Zara couldn’t so anything right, she was always to blame and even as a child, she never had the support to chase her own dreams. It even goes that far that the place that has been her home for so long, doesn’t feel like her home at all…

In fact, Zara doesn’t feel at home nowhere… because even staying with her best friend Amber is an awkward situation, as there are some unrequited feelings for a person she cannot ever avoid while staying at Bumblebee Barn…

It only broke my heart even more to see how much Zara is suffering on so many different levels.

But I also admired her, as she for sure tries to keep positive, and is trying to find her way in the big scary world…

And I have to say, even if she knows she will regret it, she tries to the right thing with her family, even if they absolutely don’t deserve it!

And her kindness isn’t only for the humans, as she also has a fascination and love for animals, owls in particular.

A love and care that brings her to Owl’s Lodge, and brings Snowy in her life.

Snowy… Jessica, did you really had to write so much tragedy for this character? Wasn’t one bad things, or even two just enough? Nooooo, he had to have just everything going bad!

If Zara’s story was a heartbreaking one, Snowy’s story had my heart going through a blender, a wrecking ball going over it, birds picking pieces at the mess etc. (not being melodramatic here 😊).

Initially I couldn’t understand why Snowy was being so reclusive, but along the way so much started to make sense and I could completely comprehend why Snowy (a nickname by the way😊) wanted to keep as far away as possible from people.

Snowy for sure has his share of demons to chase away, not an easy task at all! But despite the demons and his problems, fears and doubts, we can see the kindness and love he has in his heart. His son Harrison is *everything* to Snowy and Snowy would even walk on water for Harrison.

Snowy as a father, but as a person in general too, made me swoon, as he is just perfectly unperfect. He makes mistakes, just like any parent/person, but he is also very supporting, understanding and encouraging.

As a reader, of course I was cheering for these two main characters getting together. But I also knew that it wouldn’t be easy, as there is so much to take in account. It would be a long building up in hopefully the end I wanted them to have.

Things obviously don’t start that greatly, but rather quickly there is just a connection between Zara and Snowy. A connection that goes quickly very deep, making it clear that sometimes it can go very quickly.

Seeing Zara and Snowy bond over so many things they have in common was amazing. But not only that, also seeing how there is trust, understanding, patience and care between them, just wow.

Love isn’t about the physical aspect, although that first kiss took a rather long time to be happening, but it’s about building all the previous mentioned emotions. And then it can evolve into the more physical aspect.

Now, beside Zara and Snowy, this book is filled with (mostly) wonderful characters. There are some old friends I just *LOVED* to see back, there are new lovely additions, and a Harrison that stole my heart! There are also characters that I initially disliked but somehow are making amends, and some characters that acted terribly, but with no final resolution in the end, make me have my fingers crossed for their own redemption.

Jessica Redland has done it once again, and I cannot emphasise how touching this book is. Even if I didn’t shed a tear while reading (although I was almost there!), I felt this story in my bones. There is so much heartbreak in it, but also so much love in it. Love in all different forms and shapes, and love that encourages to face those dark demons and step out and dare to take a chance. Your past and your past mistake don’t define the person you are now. That past and those mistakes made you grow, and turned you in the person you are now. And if you have learned from the past, you shouldn’t keep a hold on that (even ugly and nasty) past, stopping you to move on. Because the person you are now, is worthy of love…