Reviewed by Emma Crowley
New friendship is just a stay away . . .
Pippa has long felt like the odd one out in her family. Taking a job driving a mobile bakery van around Shetland's villages gives her a sense of freedom and purpose, but also makes her realise how much she wants to belong.
Natalia has recently returned to Lerwick hoping to reconnect with an old flame. But she's engulfed by loss and rejection when she hears that he's moved on, and Natalia's world is turned upside down.
Autumn is dedicated to her job in hospitality and relishes her role as general manager of Lerwick Manor's new hotel. No guest request is too big or too small, but her own unrelentingly high standards could push Autumn to her limits.
Will the beauty of Shetland help these three women find the friendship, support and healing that they all need?
Sunny Stays at the Shetland Hotel is the third in the From Shetland, With Love series by Erin Green and it’s just the most fabulous summery read that I devoured in very short order. It’s a book that reminds me why I love women’s fiction so much and when you find a series that you are really deeply invested in and just can’t get enough about then you want to shout about it from the rooftops and that’s what I do whenever I can with this wonderful series. This new story can easily be read as a standalone but I would suggest you read the previous books to familiarise yourself with some of the characters and in doing so I can guarantee you will become as deeply engrossed in this setting, the brilliant plots and the varied cast of characters as much as I am. I felt this time around I really got the same excitement and feel good vibes as I had from book one as familiar characters made a reappearance as well as the focus turning to three new characters. Each of which were perfectly crafted with one you love to hate, one you completely identify with yourself and the other you reserve judgement on for quite some time considering her actions in book one as she has an awful lot to prove.
Lerwick Manor is unveiling its latest venture after the success of the Stables arts and crafts gallery and the artisan coffee shop. The Campell family home has been refurbished and is now a hotel run by Ned and Jemima. It was great to see both of these characters back with more of a role in this book as I adored their storyline in book one and it’s always great to see a continuation of characters you became enthralled by. Pippa, Jemima’s cousin, has swapped roles, giving up her job as a waitress in the café in order to run Ned’s latest great idea - The Artisan Bread Basket. She will drive a converted ambulance around Shetland’s rural communities selling breads and baked goods from the café. Pippa isn’t one bit happy about this and she remains that way for quite a bit of the story until slowly the wonder of Shetland and the people she meets really start to get under her skin. For quite some time it was niggling away at me how did the name Pippa ring such a bell with me but it’s only as little titbits were dropped in every now and again that it came to me and then my opinion of her changed based on what I recalled of her. But can a leopard change its spots? She truly has an awful lot to prove to Jemima and those that word at Lerwick Manor.
The first thing I felt she needed to do was get that big chip of judgement and resentment off her shoulder. She was so woe is me. I’m always second best and I have to grin and bear it. Well her prior actions left a lot to be desired so no wonder people didn’t always give her the benefit of the doubt or view her in the best light. She has a habit of letting people down but Ned was willing to give her a chance but would she take it with open arms or complain every step of the way? She is renowned for holding grudges and being seen as the proverbial black sheep of the family and really wants to change people’s opinions of her. ‘I need to be my own person and not the Pippa who simply puts up and shuts up, goes with the flow and accepts the casts off of live. Trouble is, I’ve done it for so long, I appear blasé about most things, but deep down it matters, it truly matters to me that others start seeing my worth’. But the more I got to know Pippa the more I felt some empathy towards her and I felt she just needed a chance to turn preconceived ideas about her around and try and get past her childhood issues and insecurities and let her guard down a bit. After all there could be someone perfect for her out there if she opened her eyes and looked a little harder?
Natalia is the character I loved to hate but again she does undergo quite a journey and transformation and comes back down to earth in a way she had never dreamt possible. She arrives to stay at the manor and is all secretive. She wants to keep her arrival under wraps until she can meet Ned again and pick up where they left off. You sense from the off that with her introduction that she was out to cause trouble and put the cat amongst the pigeons. I desperately didn’t want her to upset the utopia and harmony that Ned and Jemima had established. Natalia had her own agenda and she believed that the stay would mark the beginning of the rest of her life but little did she realise that this would happen but in the most unexpected of ways. The manner of which the author managed in a very apt way and it made me feel sympathy for Natalia but also admiration for the way she left aside her guilt, disgust and self-loathing and instead she became dignified and graceful and accepting of the new situation she found herself in.
Without doubt, my favourite character was Autumn. We can all identify with some little bit of her personality and she was just written so well that I felt every emotion she was battling with trying to be 100% perfect in her job and with regard to all aspects of her life. But she couldn’t possibly maintain the level of perfectionism that she strives for in her every waking hour as the new general manager of the hotel. Autumn has deep hidden issues. Well they are hidden to those that surround her but they become pretty evident to the reader fairly early on and it’s heart-breaking to see her going through such stress and anxiety and the length she goes to make sure everything is in tip top shape and impeccable. She put herself under so much unnecessary pressure but there was a reason for it and it wasn’t something to be scoffed at or by someone saying ah just get over it. This need for perfection is part of her identify but has the time come when she will have to address these issues and let the urges not overtake her anymore? I was rooting for Autumn that she would find an outcome that would work for her and that she would take time to concentrate on herself as she was always there for both Pippa and Natalia. Maybe they could return the favour and allow Pippa to alleviate some of the burdens she shoulders herself with?
From beginning to end, I adored every moment of the time I spent whisked away to the Shetland Islands and in this case specifically Lerwick Manor and its surrounding areas. Erin Green has created a vibrant community that you wish to return to on a regular basis. In fact, if she could just write a little bit more quickly about this special setting and the incredible characters that would make me very happy indeed. You can tell how much the author loves writing these books because her excitement and enthusiasm just radiates from the pages. So much love and attention has gone into creating an unique and warm community where every little detail is thought of which all combines to make such a feel good and engrossing read that you wish would never end. There are three strands to the story given there are three characters but you never feel as if they are disjointed instead all the individual threads weave together into one warm hug of a read that is impossible to put down once you start reading. Book number four, A Shetland Christmas Carol publishes in September and knowing how good these books are I certainly won’t be waiting until the Christmas season to read it.
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