Isla and Drew Allaway appear to have the perfect life – a strong marriage, two beautiful children and their picture-perfect home, Foxglove Farm.
But, new mum Isla is struggling. She loves her little family but with Drew working all hours on the farm, Isla’s lonely.
When she discovers that Drew has been keeping secrets from her, Isla has to face losing the home they all love.
Can the Love Heart Lane community pull together once more to help save Foxglove Farm? And can Isla save her home…and her marriage?
Many thanks to Harper Impulse via NetGalley for my copy of Foxglove Farm to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
My second visit to the village of Heartcross in the Scottish Highands was just as memorable and brilliant as my first. Christie Barlow really is on to a winner with this series and long may we have many books to come which are set in this special village where community, friendship, family and support mean absolutely everything. Foxglove Farm was one of my most anticipated reads for this summer every since I finished the brilliant Love Heart Lane back in January. I had such high expectations for this new story and thankfully every one of them has been fulfilled. This time the story centres on Isla and Drew Allaway who run Foxglove Farm and within the first few pages we delve straight into the main focus of the story. There is no messing around introducing the setting or characters as this has all been covered in book one and for those that are new to the series background information is slipped in over the course of the story so they needn't feel like they are missing out.
I loved how Drew and Isla, who both did feature in lesser roles in book one, are now stepping into the spotlight and it is time to share their story, their difficulties, their ups and downs and their hardships. The characters I had come to love previously do feature again but to a slightly lesser extent. That's not to say the feel good feelings that oozed from Love Heart Lane are not apparent here, of course they are and in spades. The vibe and atmosphere that Christie Barlow has created in these books is just fantastic and that's what makes you sit down and read the stories in less than a day because once you start you literally can't stop and then believe me you are gutted to have reached the end and have to leave Heartcross behind once again.
Isla and Drew have always had a solid and happy relationship. They love running the farm which has been in Drew's family for generations and the setting is absolutely stunning with the Scottish Highlands surrounding them and the wonderful village of Heartcross at their doorstep. But within the first few pages it's evident that all is not as it seems and discord and upset are to be the main features of Drew and Isla's relationship in this story. There are rocky roads ahead for them but it's whether they can weather the storms that are coming their way and make it through some troublesome situations that will test their marriage to the max is the question?
Drew has gone from being this kind, considerate, hard-working and loving family man to someone Isla is starting to think she barely even knows. He has become irrational, moody, argumentative and he believes he is the one who keeps the farm running with some help from Fergus whilst Isla flits about with the children and spends time drinking tea with her friends in Bonnie's teashop. Isla is so hurt at these institutions which are simply not true as she too is juggling an awful lot, to keep the house up and running and to take care of Finn and baby Angus. I thought the opening scene was powerful and very well written as it really did set the tone for themes of the book and it conveyed Drew's stance although the reasons behind this wouldn't become clear until much later.
I found myself taking an instant dislike to Drew and I wouldn’t have felt this way if I was judging him on the few times he appears in book one. But I think I felt like this because I didn't want to see Isla hurt because at the end of the day she was like anyone else in life just trying to do her best with what the cards have dealt her and to make her family life a positive and happy one. But with Drew being so argumentative, cold and stand offish and with him distancing himself and erecting barriers around him Isla begins to feel like she is threading on eggshells around him. That she needs to be careful with every word she utters for fear of setting him off. Animosity, tension and anger are all emotions bubbling away at the surface when it comes to Drew and they could erupt at any moment given one false move or if something went disastrously wrong.
Isla feels desperately lonely as she doesn't have any hands on extra support and that maybe she is losing perspective of who she is. But that shouldn't be the case as she is surrounded by wonderful friends and family. Felicity and Allie would be there for Isla if she could only open as to how she is feeling but then she thinks people won't believe her if she tells them what has been going on with Drew given he is always so nice to everyone else and has such a good reputation within the village.
To some it may seem as if Isla is complaining unnecessarily. That everyone experiences challenging times in a marriage and after all you do make a commitment to each other to love one another for better for worse, in sickness and in health. But here I felt Isla's worries were genuine. That she loved Drew, her family and the farm so much and that in no way was she reading into things that weren't there. She knows him so well that she just couldn't brush under the carpet what she was seeing and that action needed to be taken in order to save her marriage and not let her family unit go down the drain because no one had bothered to communicate to each other. But circumstances take a very dramatic turn.
I love how Christie uses the weather as a catalyst in her books for bringing about a total u-turn in the way a book may be progressing. Things get turned on their head and there is a sense of urgency to pull together to make things work. That's another reason why I love these books, they are not all light-hearted and dare I use the terms featuring fluffy and easy romances. No there is so much more depth to the story and the exploration of relationships with community spirit a huge part also. The reader is really allowed to get inside the heads of the characters and they do have serious issues and the boy meets girl, will they won't they get together storyline is not present here. Thank god I said to myself more than once. It's the purchase of a herd of alpacas by Isla with the best of intentions that sets the cat among the pigeons and really gets Drew riled up and subsequently a brilliant storyline unfolds.
I really enjoyed how the overall storyline developed as I felt the emotional side of things was balanced with some moments of humour as things could have descended into doom and gloom with no glimmer of hope. The catalyst of the weather that inspired change, grit and determination was brilliantly woven into the story and once again it showed how the village of Heartcross may be small but at its centre there is a big heart where the residents all pull together in times of need to hep those whom they would not wish to see misfortune befall upon. Maybe things happen for a reason and difficult times may be sent to try us but it is how we deal with these situations that demonstrate what true character we have inside us that maybe we didn't realise we had.
Isla once discovering some shocking secrets really stepped up to the plate and her love for both Drew and her family was evident. She deserved nothing but admiration and with the help of her grandmother Martha, whose arrival back to the village was unexpected and maybe initially not welcome, they devised a plan to get things back on track. Martha wasn't a major character but she was there to give Isla the backup she needed when she doubted herself. Isla could have crumbled and just locked herself away but when push came to shove she showed that she was a fighter and that both the farm and her family meant everything to her. But would she be able to dig deeper and discover what was making Drew carry on in the manner in which he was? Will the arrival of a new person Nate to the village be her saving grace in her hour of need? Can she soldier on when it seems as if everything is crumbling around her?
Foxglove Farm, I am very much pleased to say, was another triumph for Christie Barlow. She has written about a very serious subject and sadly all too common problem with sensitivity and tact but she never shied away from writing exactly how people feel when this happens to them. Showing how the family unit are also affected was very important and I thought there was such a well rounded balanced point of view presented throughout the entire story. Heartcross is such a warm and inviting place that you never want to leave, packed full of varied and interesting characters but at its centre are the bonds of community and of pulling together. This book deserves to be consumed in one go if at all possible as it is just to engrossing and absorbing with memorable characters you root for all the way. Imagine my delight to click to the last page to discover there will be more to come in this series before the year is out. Clover Cottage has my interest piqued as to who the story could focus on but in the meantime if you haven't done so already read and enjoy as much as I did both Love Heart Lane and Foxglove Farm. You'll be glad you did.
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