Summer at Lavender Bay – Sarah Bennett

It is always great to not just find an author but an author who writes series of books featured in one pace. You can go back and visit the characters that become friends and see how they are all getting on.

We first met Eliza in the first of the Lavender Bay series when she was about to go away and not be back to visit her friends Libby and Beth for a while.

Faced with her future at the airport – Eliza makes a life changing decision and heads back to Lavender Bay to stay with her parents in the local pub.

Wanting to find something for herself and establish her self-worth she decides to pursue her dream of making organic soaps and wonders whether the local lavender farm will be able to help.

However her first meeting with Jack, the farmer is not exactly friendly but there is something about him that sparks her interest. And surprisingly Jack starts to think about something other than collecting the lavender crop and being responsible for Noah, his nephew.

The course of true love never does run smooth and there are a few bumps along the way, especially when Noah gets injured and Eliza’s husband turns up.

Yet again Sarah Bennett delivers a story which has you falling in love not just with the gorgeous Jack but the setting as well. I wanted to walk along the promenade at the bay as well as delight in the smell of the lavender that I am convinced was seeping off the pages.

Whilst of course this is a romance, there were some reality moments to keep you in check. The behaviour of Eliza’s husband made me wanted to scream – a mere minor character can get under your skin, that’s how good the writing was for me. Then the subject of death and the ripple effect it has on everyone left behind, made my heart-break as time inevitably moves on.

I look forward to the third book in this trilogy when I can of course catch up with Eliza and Jack, Beth and Sam but also get to the bottom of Libby and the supposed irritation of Owen which was scattered through this book in a real taster of things to come. I hope I have guessed right.

A great read whether it is Summer or Winter.

Thank you the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Summer at Lavender Bay is out now.