World Book Night Review & Giveaway: The Queen of Wishful Thinking by Millie Johnson

Tonight is world book night and although I'm not reviewing or doing a giveaway for one of their featured books, you can read about them here, it seemed only fitting to do a review and giveaway for one of the books I have read recently that I have a duplicate copy of The Queen of Wishful Thinking by Milly Johnson.

When Lewis Harley has a health scare in his early forties, he takes it as a wake-up call. So he and his  wife Charlotte leave behind life in the fast lane and Lewis opens the antique shop he has dreamed of. Bonnie Brookland was brought up in the antiques trade and now works for the man who bought out her father’s business, but she isn’t happy there. So when she walks into Lew’s shop, she knows this is the place for her.

As Bonnie and Lew start to work together, they soon realise that there is more to their relationship than either thought. But Bonnie is trapped in an unhappy marriage, and Lew and Charlotte have more problems than they care to admit. Each has secrets in their past which are about to be uncovered. Can they find the happiness they both deserve?

Over the last couple of years I have read a few of Milly Johnson's books, although I do still have some of her older books still to read, so I knew her to be a fantastic writer who brings us readers a mixture of heart and humour.   If you'd asked me previously which was her best book I would have said The Teashop on the Corner but that is no longer my favourite, The Queen of Wishful Thinking has surpassed that one and some.

The Queen of Wishful Thinking is a story of new beginnings; for Lewis a near-death experience opens his eyes to finally take the plunge and do something he's always wanted to do even if his wife Charlotte doesn't approve, whereas Bonnie soon finds herself looking for a new job and new home after deciding she can no longer put up with a crooked boss and a controlling husband.

As soon as their paths cross Lew and Bonnie soon find a kindred spirit in one another, both are desperately unhappy in their personal relationships and both have a shared love of all things antiques, and fortunately for Lew what Bonnie doesn't know about antiques and who's who in the local antiques world could be written on a postage stamp.  With Bonnie as his right hand woman The Pot of Gold might finally be the gold mine, and retirement plan, that Lew had always hoped it would be.  And with the support of her friends, new and old, Bonnie might find the love and happiness she deserves.

It didn't take long for me to realise that Lew's antique shop The Pot of Gold was set in the same square as The Teashop on the Corner which was a lovely surprise seeing as I loved that story so much.  And as I've come to expect from her books Milly Johnson has created a whole cast of wonderful, colourful characters such as Pied Piper, Uncle Funky and Stickalampinit Stuart to name just a few, who all play a part to bring the story to life.

Interspersed throughout this heartwarming story were some hilarious misquotes and apologies from articles in the local paper, the Daily Trumpet, which certainly brought some light relief and humour at some points when some of the more serious storylines were playing out.

Although I loved both the main characters I have to confess that it was the transformation of Bonnie throughout this book that I enjoyed reading the most.  She really blossomed before our eyes from the character we first meet who is timid and unhappy to the happy, contended woman we see at the end. I hope this is not the last that we see of both Lew and Bonnie even if they only make a reappearance in a short story sometime... here's hoping Milly Johnson 😉

I'd like to thank Simon & Schuster for my copy of  The Queen of Wishful Thinking to review.  As I mentioned above I received 2 copies of the book so I have decided to give away the hardback copy so if you'd like to read it for yourself then enter via the Rafflecopter form below.  As with all giveaways on the blog, this one is open to existing followers of the blog as a thank you for your support... sorry I will have to restrict this giveaway to UK only due to cost of International postage but I do have a few more International giveaways coming up next month.  The winner will be selected at random when giveaway ends and contacted for their postal address to enable me to post the book to them. NB. Please do not add details of this giveaway to other sites without my permission.    

a Rafflecopter giveaway