A Vintage Summer
Cathy Bramley
Rating: 5 stars
A sparkling summer story that's FULL of surprises!
London has not been kind to Lottie Allbright. Realising it's time to cut and run, she packs up and moves back home - but finds her family in disarray. In need of a new place to stay, Lottie takes up the offer of a live-in job managing a local vineyard. There's a lot to learn - she didn't even know grapes could grow so far north!
Butterworth Wines in the rolling Derbyshire hills has always been run on love and passion but a tragic death has left everyone at a loss. Widowed Betsy is trying to keep the place afloat but is harbouring a debilitating secret. Meanwhile her handsome but interfering grandson, Jensen, is trying to convince her to sell up and move into a home.
Lottie's determined to save Butterworth Wines, but with all this and an unpredictable English summer to deal with, it'll be a challenge.
And that's before she discovers something that will turn her summer - and her world - upside down. .
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It feels so, so good reading a novel by Cathy Bramley again! I don't think there's been a book of hers that I'm yet to dislike. Every novel draws you in from the very first page and then lets you go right at the end, where you're feeling all warm and fuzzy at a lovely, happy ending! I've had this on my TBR pile for quite a while, but with book reviews and blog tours I've found it hard to find a time to read it - much to my annoyance and lack of patience!
The cover is simply stunning, much like Cathy's other covers, the colours draw you in and make you want to pick them up - time and time again. I love the bright blue sky, the many rows of vines, the grapes surrounding the cover and of course the bottle of wine right at the front! It doesn't give too much away, especially as there are no characters dominating the front but it does give you a clear indication as to what to expect.
Once I started reading it, I knew I was going to love it. It just had a great vibe to it, a fantastic, dramatic in some places, storyline and some lovely (and some not-so-lovely) characters. The novel starts in London with Lottie realising that she doesn't want to stick to a permanent job anytime soon, and when her relationship with Harvey crumbles, Lottie makes a quick escape and heads back home to her family - where she finds her sister in tears and her dad leaving on a once-in-a-lifetime trip! However, when Harvey arrives at Lottie's sisters house and starts being quite aggressive, Lottie and Evie (her sister) decide that Lottie needs to move away for a bit, and gets a job at a not too far away vineyard.
At first, everything is going so well, but then Lottie has an accident whilst on site and ends up in hospital, where she learns some shocking news. This of course turns Lottie's world upside down and she's unsure as to what to do next. At first I wasn't sure how to take Jensen, the blurb indicated that he was interfering, so I wasn't sure if he was going to be one of those men that was trying to get their hands on their grandmothers money! However, as the story went on, I needn't have worried as he turned out to be quite the lovely gentleman. And I found myself really warming to all the Butterworth clan.
Overall, I really really enjoyed this novel. It was summery, feel-good and unputdownable. It's Cathy Bramley at her finest and I loved every page. I would recommend you give this a read, as it's the perfect pool-side read! Thank you to the publisher for a chance to read this novel via Netgalley, which I have reviewed honestly.
Overall, I really really enjoyed this novel. It was summery, feel-good and unputdownable. It's Cathy Bramley at her finest and I loved every page. I would recommend you give this a read, as it's the perfect pool-side read! Thank you to the publisher for a chance to read this novel via Netgalley, which I have reviewed honestly.
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