Can family heal the wounds?

Synopsis

Sometimes facing your fears can be the start of something wonderful

Fiona Gilchrist has spent years running from her demons. But deciding to take back control, she packs up her life and makes the trip to Provence to be reunited with her sisters. And almost instantly, there is something about La Maisonette which is healing and Fi knows she’s ready for a chance to start again.

When an opportunity arises to work alongside vet Christophe Brabant, Fi, although hesitant cannot resist saying yes. Because immersing herself in what she loves is the ultimate distraction. And while Christophe may be utterly charming, he’s also committed to his job so Fi knows she’s in safe hands. Yet, what starts as a blossoming friendship quickly turns to something deeper. Because for the first time in her life, Fi begins to feel relaxed and completely at ease. Could it be that Christophe’s heart is more like hers than she realises? Or has she allowed him to penetrate the boundaries she always considered unbreachable?

Coming to France took a leap of faith, but in doing so it has allowed these two damaged souls a chance to find each other while Provence works its magic…

My review

Of all the Gilchrist sisters, Fiona is the one that keeps her distance the most. After what happened to her years ago, Fi is still trying to escape her demons, failing at it. So when something happens, Fi needs to escape. And for once, what she truly needs, is to be with her sisters. Because Fi needs to take back control of her life. And she hopes that her stay in La Maisonette in Provence will give her not only the peace she is seeking for, but also the warm embrace and love from her loved one. But Fi quickly realizes that opening up after so many years isn’t easy, even if she can rely on her sisters’ support through every step. And no matter what or who they are, Fi is always wary of men. Until she meets Christophe Brabant, best friend of the family. And when there are opportunities to work with Christophe, over a shared passion over animals, Fi cannot resist the chance to work with him, and obviously with the animals. When friendship starts to bloom between them, and the knowledge that they both never will open their hearts to anyone again, brings them closer than they could ever imagine. But will their friendship evolve to more, despite them both being so closed – up? And will Fi finally chase all her demons away?

The Gilchrist sisters are the kind of family that slowly grew on me. They haven’t had an easy time, and it saddened me to read how the family grew apart over the years. And in the first two books, I started to appreciate the siblings, even if I have to admit that Fiona, due to her clear absence, wasn’t my favourite sister.

But with this book, I have to admit I was very prejudiced. Because while in the previous books it may seem that Fi isn’t just a family person, in this book it becomes so very obvious that even family doesn’t even know which demons are haunting us…

The more I got to know Fiona, the more I could relate to her. Now, I have not been through what she has been through years ago. But her lack in self-confidence, was something I recognized easily. And while in my case, it grew on me, it saddened me to read how Fiona is still that insecure young woman, whose scars of the past didn’t help her at all.

It also broke my heart reading how what happened to her, tore her apart from her family. Instead of confiding in them, she made the choice to distance herself from them, making her feel even more alone and lonely…

But when needs must, Fi has no other option to return to her home. Her home, being her family, as La Maisonette isn’t her real home.

Throughout the book, I could feel Fi’s pain, doubts, insecurities and longing for a change. I admired her to finally find the courage of coming clean about what she has endured in the past. And it warmed my heart to see how the Gilchrists not only embrace her, surround her with love, but also know that there are times that Fi needs to be on her own. Because healing doesn’t just come overnight, it is a whole process to go through. A journey that Fi has started but hasn’t reached the finish yet…

Fi for sure is going through a lot, as there are several demons that are still haunting her. But I loved reading how she finds solace and comfort with animals, especially the donkeys. With them, Fi finds a peace that she cannot find with even the gentlest of people. We see not only how much Fi cares about the animals, but also how animals can sense people’s characters. Fi loves animals unconditionally and that love is reciprocated.

Of course I also need to talk about Christophe…

Because his presence and his character is also part of Fi’s healing process. But also because he also needs to go though some healing himself.

He has been hurt by love before, and that made him adamant on falling in that trap again. But despite his determination to not let love back in, you can see from everything he does or says, what a kind person he truly is. Not only the way he interacts with people, but the way he is with animals too, just swoon – worthy!

And then I am not talking about the way he talks! As a polyglot myself, I found the way he mixes up all the languages he speaks so endearing!

There are moments where Fi for sure looks like a deer in headlights, scared of just everything, even mundane things like picking up a baby. But that shows us the depth of how she feels and thinks about herself… And seeing how Christophe seems to grasp all that, that Fi needs to be treated gently, to allow her real character, her lovely character to emerge, was just so sweet. And seeing their friendship evolve, just wow…  

This third book of the series is perhaps the most touching one. Yes, the focus is on Fi, but there is also some family resolution in it, what I didn’t expect to be taking place here.

We see here how different siblings can be from each other, which makes sense as they are characters of their own. But we also see how events of the past can tear us away from the people we love the most. And how difficult it can be to open up about what happened to us. However, we also see the strength of a family, how when in time of need, you can rely on always having a support group.

This was a lovely, heart – warming but also heart – breaking story to read. But it shows us that even the people that has been broken the most, can start to see the rays of sun again, see that what happened to them isn’t their fault, and that with being surrounded by family and friends, believe that they are worthy of love and being loved, no matter how scary that may feel.