Escape to the country!
Anna Compton thought that moving to the countryside, leaving London and her past firmly behind her was the perfect solution. Goodbye life of thirty-something, crazed single mum of two, hello country glamour queen, domestic goddess and yummy-mummy extraordinaire.
But her new life at Primrose Cottage isn’t quite what she expected! Very soon she’s chasing pork pies down hills, disguising her shop-bought cakes at the school bake sale – and trying to resist oh-so-handsome Horatio Spencerville, who just so happens to be the Lord of the Manor…
Could moving to the country be the biggest mistake she’s ever made?
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I'll hold my hands up and admit it was the beautiful bright cover that first attracted me to the début rom-com novel from Lottie Phillips, The Little Cottage in the Country. The title sounded like this book would be right up my street as I have enjoyed several books following along similar lines in the past few months. A woman gives up her city life to move to the country to escape the rat race and hopefully provide a better life for her children. Yes I may have read the same concept several times before but there is just something about these kind of novels that I enjoy, the fact they are light hearted and quick easy reads full of fun characters is probably what makes me want to read them. I was keen to see would Lottie Phillips offer anything different to this tried and tested storyline, and for the most part this was a good read. It wasn't all perfect but there was a sense that the author was only getting comfortable writing in this genre having written thriller novels under the name Louise Stone and with some refinement in small areas she will go on to write many good books in this new for her genre. For someone used to writing thrillers, I think the author did a good job with her début in the rom-com genre.
Anna Compton lives and works in London as a journalist for a newspaper. She is a single mum to twins Freddie and Antonia aged five who were so brilliantly written that I wanted them to feature even more throughout the story. Children of that age have such innocence saying everything that is on the tip of their tongue, or offering light relief with a comment amidst a serious situation, but at the same time they can also be very astute and sense things. Lottie Phillips captured the twins characters perfectly and they provided plenty of laugh out loud moments throughout the book at the most apt but also inappropriate times. The love Anna has for her children is abundant for all to see and I loved the relationship she had with them, but Anna wants something better for her kids. A cramped flat in London is not the best place for them and when she inherits her Aunt Flo's cottage in the Wiltshire countryside she attempts to hand in her notice and escape to the little cottage in the country. I say attempts because Anna's editor Barry doesn't want to let her go. He needs her, the newspaper is in danger of going under and a new feature may revitalise its fortunes. So before she knows it Anna finds herself landed with her own weekly column 'Anna's Cottage in the Country'. The question remains will Anna's idea of becoming a country glamour queen/domestic goddess/ yummy mummy become a reality?
Anna was a likeable character who had do things for herself because if it wasn't her doing them nothing would be achieved. She has not seen hide nor hare of the twins father since her pregnancy announcement and to her mind she is doing just fine. On arrival in Trumpsey Blazey, Anna encounters Horatio Spencerville from Ridley Manor and things don't get off to a great start. He comes across as rude and obnoxious, basically a country toff with lots of money who feels he rules the village. Well that's what Anna's first impressions are anyway. Anna soon discovers the cottage is not the picturesque place she envisaged and questions whether she has done the wrong thing by her children? Is she a hopeless mother? I felt Anna, at various junctures throughout the remainder of the novel, was very down on herself. It's not her fault if the car handbrake happens to be let off more than once or the various mishaps and calamities that follow just keep on occurring. She should have believed more in herself and her capabilities. I thought she was always trying her best and it was good to see as the story unfolded that she began to gain more confidence and stood up for what she believed in. It was lovely to see that always at the centre of her heart and mind in everything she did were her children.
Of course no book of this nature would be complete without a sidekick to offer support and plenty of laughter. In this case Anna had two who were always there to egg her on when it came to farmer Richard and Horatio. They came in the form of her mother Linda, whose own developing relationship was pure comedy, and best friend Diane. a make up artist specialising in heavy metal. Diane was pure crazy and almost like a child herself yet behind it all was a heart of gold and she valued her friendship with Anna. Once she turned up on the doorstep of the cottage I think she was there for the duration and just as much engaged in a new life in the country as Anna was. The story then unfolded at a very quick pace and as the overall book is quite short at 289 pages I felt the author was trying to fit too much in.
All the usual elements of a rom-com were present and to me it was just a bit too much and the book wouldn't have suffered if some things had been left out. Anna provides plenty of laughter for her readers and fodder for her newspaper column engaging in a giant pork pie rolling competition, a school talent show involving all members of the family and not to mention the dreaded school cake sale where shop bought cakes are the ultimate no no. Anna feels she is becoming a laughing stock and trying to fit in with the yummy mummy's and head mummy Lucinda is not easy, and life becomes that little bit more difficult and challenging for Anna not to mention the confusing romantic element of things. But it was enjoyable to read how Anna was going to sort things out.
I have to admit I didn't like the name of the village at all nor the name for our main male character. It seemed too over the top and it needed something more quaint to enable me to picture what a nice village it could be but I supposed Horatio's name matched the character the author was trying to initially portray. I think elements of the book in general were a bit OTT and far fetched and that's where it fell down in places for me. A subtle scaling back of some incidents/antics would have made me loved this book even more and allowed the readers to get to know the characters better instead of the flitting between events that I felt became too dominant. A scene was over and the issue dealt with before rapidly moving on to something else, there was a bit too much skirting around the sensitive issues. I felt it was like a race to get as much in a possible without giving the reader a chance to absorb things and form their own opinions on the developing relationships and issues facing the cast of characters. The diary left to Anna by her Aunt Flo got the briefest of mentions and it would have been brilliant to have read more of this or even a few chapters from Aunt Flo's time would have connected that past event with the over-riding issue towards the end that needed definite resolving.
The Little Cottage in the Country was a good read but not the best I have read so far this year. It started off really promising but then became a bit too slapstick comedy for me before I found the ending and last few chapters to be much better. All that said I am really glad I gave this book a go and will await with interest to see what direction Lottie Phillips second book will take.
Many thanks to HQ Digital via NetGalley for my copy of The Little Cottage in the Country to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
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