Reviewed by Emma Crowley
When Ellie and her family move to a tiny village in rural Wales to run her husband’s family inn, it’s meant to be a new beginning for all of them. Having left their troubles behind in America, Ellie has high hopes for a fresh start, and a chance for her family to forget the stress of the last year.
But when they arrive, Ellie realizes everything is in a far worse state than she’d imagined. And as her husband, Matthew, begins to tackle the renovations before the guests arrive, stripping flowered wallpaper and sanding floorboards, he becomes even more distant. Ellie had hoped being back in Wales would help him recover, but if anything he seems more haunted than ever. Is there something he’s not telling her? As Ellie tries and fails to reconnect to him, dodging pots of paint and ladders, she finds herself feeling lonelier.
As things go from bad to worse with the renovations, Ellie’s reality feels a million miles away from the rural bliss she had imagined for her family. Why did she think a run-down inn would be the place to reignite her marriage?
But as she stares out at the rolling fields beyond the windows, she can’t let go of the feeling that the Inn on Bluebell Lane needs her family to restore its fortunes, and that this magical place might bring the husband she remembers back to her once more…
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Inn on Bluebell Lane to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Inn on Bluebell Lane by Kate Hewitt was the perfect rainy day read, although I would have much rather have been able to sit reading outside in the garden in sunshine. But the sun seems to have left us, so the next best thing was to be curled up on the couch and enjoying the story of Ellie and her family. This is a quick read which I expected to be about a family transforming a Bed & Breakfast and trying to make a go of things. Instead, this was a really character driven story with lots going happening on individual and personal levels for all the characters. Renovating the B&B took a back seat although it was there in the background. Instead the focus is on how Ellie and her husband Matthew and their four children Jess, Josh, Ben and Ava struggle to adapt to a huge move across the ocean back to Matthew’s family home in the tiny Welsh village of Llandrigg. Not to mention how Matthew’s mother Gwen feels about having her life turned upside down with her house going from silence to being filled with the hustle and bustle of a young family.
Matthew has spent the last twenty years in America and having been made redundant he feels he wants and needs to move back to the family home in Wales where his mother Gwen still resides. Ellie is a born and bred American and is definitely not so sure about making such a radical move. She is not happy about having to upend her whole life and that of the children too but she loves her husband and knows he is unsettled and that coming back to renovate and turn the fortunes of the family guesthouse could be just what he needs. Ellie tries to remain optimistic for the sake of the children who really aren’t that over enthused about the move especially Jess aged 13 who feels she was finding her stride at school and had a good friend and now all that she knows and is comfortable with is being taken away from her. Ellie decides to view the relocation as an adventure where they can experience new things. But right from the moment they land at the door of Gwen’s home the tension between Ellie and Gwen is clear to see whereas Matthew goes off in his own world eager to rip rooms apart and get going.
Despite Ellie trying to put a brave face on things deep down she is filled with doubt and she would much rather be back in America surrounded by her home comforts and with everything she needs close to her doorstep. Rural Wales couldn’t be more different from what she and the kids are used to and they feel like a fish without water way out of their depth. It’s hard to move into a house which someone else has called their home for so many years and although there were never any troubling or harsh words spoken between herself and Gwen there is this distinct uneasiness between the pair. They tiptoe around each other and Gwen herself is always fearful of doing or saying the wrong thing. I admired Ellie in that she could see Matthew needed a complete change and that he was lost since the redundancy but I thought she should have been more vocal in how she felt. That’s actually what’s wrong with a lot of characters in the book. They never say how they feel and therefore they all think that everyone is happy and getting on great whereas inside they are racked with turmoil and in some cases even secrets.
When Matthew gets a bit too excited and adventurous in his renovation plans leading to a broken arm it means Ellie has to step up and take over and given she is struggling to adapt to the new lifestyle she finds this very challenging. Matthew was such a frustrating character and for the majority of the book I felt we needed a chapter or two from his perspective. He did get to say how he was feeling but I felt it came just that little bit too late in the overall plot because by that time I had made my mind up about him. To me he came across as selfish and he just had his own agenda which he wasn’t going to deviate from at all. He was the driving force in the move and it was as if Ellie and the children and in some ways Gwen too were just along for the ride without any proper consultation. He just seemed to wallow in self-pity once he broke his arm and the relationships within the house seemed to grow ever more fraught with the tension and struggles increasing. Poor Ellie felt like she was holding everything together by a bare thread which was in danger of snapping at any time. The raw homesickness experienced by Ellie and the children was in plain sight for all to see but Matthew was so consumed with his own self he failed to see this.
Jess, in particular, found things extremely hard and being so young and at such a crucial and impressionable age the anxiety, stress and loneliness she feels just radiates from the pages. She would give anything to be back at home with her best friend. She feels so out of place and abandoned in her new school. Similar to Ellie, she was fragile and flailing and as the grown ups were so caught up in their own issues and problems Jess was overlooked which could result in disastrous consequences. I enjoyed how such a well-balanced point of view was presented in terms of how this huge life change affected everyone involved. Gwen could have easily been forgotten and not being given a voice but thankfully she was. I will say though regarding her storyline for me it hit too close to home and it did make for uncomfortable reading. The selfish part of me wanted to gloss over those pages. Perhaps if it wasn’t too close to the bone I would have read through it fine but instead it affected me deeply. To Ellie, Gwen came across as brusque and that the family were a burden rather than a pleasure to have. But scratch that little bit deeper beneath the surface and Gwen is warm and just needs some affection and she will do anything to help her family. Each character has so many struggles and you root for them all (well in my case maybe with the exception of Matthew).With time and effort will things work out for all involved?
The Inn on Bluebell Lane was an enjoyable read but I did find the ending very abrupt. I was reading this on my Kindle and it ended at the 85% mark which I found disconcerting because in my head I thought there was 15% to go so lots more could happen. The epilogue felt rushed and I would have loved more detail about all the renovations and the ideas they had come up with to try and make the B&B a success. Yes, we did get a round up of what had gone on but I wanted another chapter or two. But at the end I was glad to discover that there will be a follow up book, Christmas at the Inn on Bluebell Lane which will be published in October. I’ve become invested in the life of this family and all the individual stories and I am keen to see what Kate Hewitt has in store for them in the future. But in the meantime, if you are looking for a read that has a good atmosphere about it along with some serious issues handled in a delicate and thought provoking manner than this is the book for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment