A Good Year for the Roses

Published by Hachette
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Gil McNeil is the author of The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club, Needles and Pearls, and Knit One Pearl One. She lives in Kent, England, with her son.
Life hasn’t been a bed of roses for Londoner Molly Taylor lately. Newly divorced and struggling to find a new home and a way to support her three boys, she’s stunned when her beloved Aunt Helena dies and leaves her Harrington Hall, a three-hundred-year-old manor house on the Devon coast, where Molly grew up. But does Molly really want to run a bed-and-breakfast in an old house where the only thing that doesn’t need urgent attention is Aunt Helena’s beautiful rose garden? Or care for Uncle Bertie, an eccentric former navy officer with a cliff-top cannon? Or Betty, his rude parrot that bites whomever annoys it? Yet Molly’s best friend Lola is all for the plan. “My heart bleeds. Your very own beach, the beautiful house, and Helena’s garden. All you have to do is grill a bit of bacon.”
But with Molly’s conniving brother running the family hotel nearby, the return of a high school flame with ulterior motives, and three sons whose idea of a new country life seems to involve vast quantities of mud, this is not going to be easy. And then Harrington Hall begins to work its magic, and the roses start to bloom…
Warm, witty, and chock-full of quintessential British charm, A Good Year for the Roses is a story for anyone who has ever dreamed of starting over…with or without bacon.

 
My views:
This book is full of interesting characters that include a retired British Admiral that needs no excuse to shoot off his cannon, a parrot that uses the most foul language and bites when riled, plenty of farm animals. Newly-divorced Molly Taylor who has inherited them all and has to make a home for herself and her three boys, while attempting to make a living from keeping house guests. And then there are the roses, details of them cleverly interspersed with the story telling a tale of Aunt Helena’s love affair with them. I loved the quirky characters, the very real struggles of Molly to make sure everyone is happy and how she finds love unexpectedly!
A lovely light-hearted read with that wonderful British humour! Just what I wanted to read on a rainy day! 🙂
[rating=4]
I received a copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
 
I’m looking forward to a month of reviews here – enjoyed doing this for the A to Z Challenge earlier this year.