Prabhjot Kaur's Reviews > Sunshine and Sweet Peas in Nightingale Square

First things first, that is one gorgeous book cover. I know I shouldn't judge a book by it's cover but sometimes, I can't help it. Also, being in isolation and lockdown for the most part this year, I can only dream of going to the countryside and escape but alas I am here reading these books with picturesque settings and beautiful covers.

Kate has separated from her husband of eight years, David and is moving away from London where they lived together to a place which she doesn't share with David. Her brother, Tom helps her with the move and then she starts to get settled in a gorgeous but dilapidated mansion, Nightingale square. She is welcomed by her neighbor, Lisa and they soon become good friends.

The town, Norwich has a tight knit community and everyone welcomes Kate with open arms and open hearts. Then they find out that Prosperous Place, another mansion with rich history is being torn down by the developers and rumor has it that there are going to be units built up there. Kate and the town folk don't like it as they don't want to lose the original mansion.

Then a handsome stranger rocks up and first the town folk think that he is one of the developers but they find out that he is actually a descendant of Charles Wentworth whom the original Prosperous Place belonged to and the handsome stranger is here to restore his legacy. And of course, that handsome stranger is also interested in a little more than the place itself (Kate).

Kate was harboring a secret and when it is revealed what it was, I couldn't believe how stupid it was because there was a lot of buildup about that secret in the story. I also could not bring myself to care about Kate. There was nothing remarkable about her character. Then there was Lisa, Kate's neighbor and friend who was so annoying that I wanted to slap her more than once and I am not even a violent person. This is my second read from Heidi Swain and I get that she writes this tight knit community, building together and staying together kinda stuff but Lisa was way too nosy and she got on my last nerve. She kept on saying these things about how Kate should find someone as there is more than 'the one' person for everyone and all. I understand her message because I am not getting into the whole, 'why do you need someone to be happy? thing' but there were other ways to go about that than the way Lisa went about. I really really hated her character. Heather was no better.

That handsome stranger, Luke wasn't there all that much for me to form an opinion of him. The only character that I actually liked was John who was married to Lisa. He was such a sweetheart. Everyone else was just okay or I didn't really care about them at all.

Romance wasn't all that much in the book and I didn't even mind that but I was wondering throughout that how did Kate get by all these months without a regular income. Sure she got money in the divorce but she bought this place in cash with some of that money and yes, she has some money in the bank but renovations, bills, groceries and other daily expenses are going to pile up. Aren't they?

When I read Coming Home to Cuckoo Cottage by this author, I didn't like the MC in that but other than that I actually enjoyed that book but this felt dull in comparison. Nothing other than the nosy neighbors happens for the most part and things only moved in the last 100 pages or so. I didn't mind the writing and I like when people get their HEA but in this I honestly couldn't care less. I already have the next book in the series but one good thing about this series is or at least that's what I think is that Heidi Swain's series are all about different characters and their stories so I will be reading the next.

2 stars