In the midst of chaos

Synopsis

Two very different worlds are about to collide.

Feisty country girl Annabeth Hope has sworn off men since her ex abandoned her. Juggling three resentful step-teens, a hyperactive toddler, a smallholding, and a herd of rescued llamas, she has her hands full.

With the roof about to collapse on her crumbling New Forest home, she is desperate to find a way to hold her patchwork family together. The last thing she needs is an attractive distraction moving in next door.

Burnt-out inner-city doctor Rick Mahon has left London and his medical career behind in a moment of professional crisis. A malpractice lawsuit is on the horizon, and the cancel culture mob are snapping at his heels. His plan to stay under the radar is thrown off course when he meets his new neighbour and sparks start to fly.

Annabeth and Rick couldn’t be more different, but maybe they hold the key to each other’s happiness…

“What more could we want from life? Family, friends, llamas, and hope…

An excellent read.” Jenny Kane, author of the bestselling Mill Grange Series.

My review

Annabeth Hope, Beth for her friends, had never expected to be looking for her three step – children and her own little girl on her own. But as her husband just abandoned her, she has no other option. She has her hands full with keeping the place running, with a leaking roof, rescued llamas, an energetic toddler and step – teens that just don’t like her.
Things are anything but easy for Beth, with absolutely no support from her (ex) husband and no friends. The last thing she needs is facing her new neighbour, Rick Mahon.
Rick himself is into hiding, after being sued for malpractice. He finds himself being the target of a real witch hunt and hopes that nobody will find him.
But when he meets his warrior queen neighbour, sparks start to fly around. However, both their lives are in such turmoil, and their differences couldn’t be any bigger. So is there time for love and romance in their lives?

I have to be honest, I had some struggles with this book. Not because it was badly written, or that the story itself didn’t drew me in. But my struggles were because we see bits of humankind that I find honestly despicable.

Not only there is Beth’s husband disappearing and let Beth and his own flesh and blood in the dark and with many problems, and even later on even more despicable behaviour. But there are also the vultures at the lookout for Rick.
We see perhaps one of the most ugly bits of people, and as I am anything like those characters, I found it difficult to understand how someone can just be like that…

But on the other hand, on the positive hand, we also see the resilience of people. Beth for sure isn’t having an easy time. But we see how she tries to make the best of each situation.
And I admired her in very different ways. Because not only is she struggling financially, also her farm is falling into pieces, and she has no respect from her stepchildren.

I felt that the last bit was the most struggling bit for Beth. She does her utterly best, she encourages the three siblings, and yet she is facing wall upon wall upon wall. Yet she never talks ill about their father, no matter how easy that would be. Despite the animosity, it’s clear that she cares and loves the stepchildren as they were her own, her own flesh and blood.

It was also sad to read how lonely Beth has been. She has no friends, and has nobody to rely on. She truly has the weight of the world on her shoulders, and nobody to help her carry that burden.

I could perfectly understand her wariness towards Rick. They for sure don’t start in the best of ways (even if their first encounter was exactly that 😊) as their encounters aren’t always the happy kind. Beth is protective of her (step)children and is adamant that she can do things on her own, that she doesn’t need help.
And Rick is wary of everything and everyone, afraid of his hiding place become general knowledge and being haunted again.

Rick’s situation really angered me. As a doctor, he does his best to help the people in need, but one event is risking to ruin everything he has been building for so long. And seeing how he literally has to escape and run away felt so unfair.

Despite the turmoil he is in, we see that Rick is genuinely concerned, not for himself, but also for those involved. He is the kind of person that wants to do the right thing, even if everyone advises him not to.

Even if things start off the wrong foot for Beth and Rick, slowly they find each other. They find someone that will help, someone that will listen, that will advise. Even if sometimes judgements are made too quickly even in their cases, it’s all understandable and the assumptions are made with the right set of mind.

Slowly we see that the main characters, not only between themselves, open up more, learn to understand that asking for help isn’t a sign of defeat and learn that opening up can help the troubled relationships.
I liked reading how perhaps difficult choices were made out of protection, as a sign of their love and care.

And so this book even became an inspiring one, as even how uncomfortable things may feel, the outcome of it can be bring the so much needed relief, and can make you a stronger person.