Synopsis
Surely everyone deserves a second chance?
Ex-fireman and edible flower farmer Shay McGillen has plenty of reasons not to give Sarah Pickering even one chance when she turns up in his small Yorkshire village. After all, she is only there to try to convince him and his fellow villagers to sell up so her company can build a bypass. If Sarah thinks she can make Shay give up his farmhouse and his business, she has another thing coming!
But when an unexpected blizzard leaves Sarah stranded in Shay’s home, he soon realises that they are far more alike than he could have ever imagined – and perhaps both of them deserve a second chance …
Gina Hollands
Originally from Yorkshire, Gina now lives by the sea in West Sussex with her husband and son. When she’s not working in her job in marketing and PR, or writing her latest book, Gina can be found dancing everything from lindy hop to salsa, shopping (she loves clothes far too much for her own good), eating out (she hates cooking far too much for her own good), or relaxing, which generally involves reading a book someone else has written or indulging in her new hobby of learning to play the piano. She has a sneaky suspicion she may be a musical genius in the making, but isn’t about to give up the day job just yet.
Gina writes for both Choc Lit & Ruby Fiction. See Gina’s Ruby Fiction book here …
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A lovely book that you just lose yourself in. A real heartwarming story set in a lovely village. Haven’t read a book in a long time where I literally couldn’t put it down
I loved this book great easy read with a nice ending, will read more in this series
I really enjoyed the whole book, bril story and well written. A pleasure to read.
I enjoyed this very much indeed, so much so that I started and finished it in the same day! The characters are captured brilliantly by Gina’s words that you empathise with them immediately. Shay is the best hero I have had the privilege to read so far tasting manuscripts, he is perfect; grumpy but not brooding and physically a perfect specimen of manliness.
The villager’s characters are well written too, with enough detail to help the story along but not too much that you get caught up in them unnecessarily. This is a well-rounded story weaving the historic events through the story and with enough intrigue for you to wonder what happened but without the annoyance of dragging it out to much.
Perfectly timed, believable, freshly delivered and just a joy to read!
Sarah moves to the village of Wetherstone-on-Ouse to talk the locals into selling up their properties so that the company she works for can build a bypass. What she hadn’t considered is that she may actually like the residents and find that they are lovely and helpful.
Sarah also meets Shay, a farmer who stands to lose his farm if the bypass goes ahead, and despite his tough rough exterior she realises there is much more to this man, who has had tragic past, than meets the eye.
Sarah herself has had some tough times and find that it is easy to share these with Shay, secrets that she hasn’t been able to talk to others about previously.
I loved the fact that the village life sounded great and made me wish I was living in a village where people look out for each other and support small businesses.
Although there is romance there is also some serious issued explored like preservation and how companies find it easy to evict people when they are faceless. There is also the aspect of how 2 individuals deal with things that have happened to them in the past.
An easy read which I wanted to finish quickly to see how it ended.
A lovely story which explores how traumatic pasts affect present relationships. There were also some intriguing mysteries and a lovable dog – what’s not to like? I was genuinely surprised by some of the twists, particularly the ending.
The hero has had a surprising career change, which adds another layer of interest to the plot. Sympathetically written characters and story lines made the twists and turns believable, and kept the pages turning to find out would they, or wouldn’t they?
Although I enjoyed the story, was sympathetic to the characters and wanted them to work things out, I did find all their past trauma very heavy going.
I love a read set in Yorkshire and this one was no exception. Two broken souls have run away from grief and tragedy and collide in a lovely village but with two different purposes, one to live there forever and the other, to destroy it!
But when a freak snow storm appears, the thawing process begins.
It is a story of will they/wont they of Shay and Sarah and some quirky characters along the way within the village, a great setting for more stories!
This is a lovely romance. The story follows the two main protagonists, Shay and Sarah who seem totally against each other from the first time they met. Sarah’s honest and caring personality both works for and against her. To do her job she must be aggressive and dishonest. This and a growing love for Shay form the story. A gentle but well paced story with characters that are believable and you will grow fond of them as I did.
Shay is a troubled recluse due to a tragedy in his life. He has moved to a lovely friendly Yorkshire village to make a new life. Sarah is also trying to escape her past but has very different reasons for coming to the village. Can they overcome their differences to save the village they have both grown to love. A lovely story set in a village I want to move to!!
I thought the opening section of this book was a cracker – a real hook with which to get going. However, the impetus then slowed a little and I was wondering if I was going to enjoy it after all, but I eventually read the whole thing in one sitting as I didn’t want to put it down. Shay makes a wonderfully damaged hero …. The ending is something of a tearjerker, how can it all end well? At one point I really didn’t see how it could! A very good debut novel – I look forward to the next. It gets a good 4 stars from me.
Sarah and Shay’s first meeting is not the welcome to her new home Sarah might have hoped for, but then her reasons for being there in the first place might be not what the locals are hoping for. It seems Shay is one of the biggest opponents to the new plans her company has for the village, and it is her job to persuade him otherwise, but when she starts to fall for him and realises how much the place means to him, she starts to question her reasons for being there in the first place. Great characters, great story. Gina Holland is a refreshing new author and Little Village of Second Chances, a joy to read. Gina’s beautiful descriptions of Wetherstone-on-Ouse made me realise early on, this place didn’t need a bypass. Sarah was a great character and I empathised with her, but I really hoped she wouldn’t succeed and I couldn’t put the book down until I’d discovered what happened.