A nice book, gentle, light hearted, and a great beach or fun read. Nothing scary, nasty or whatever, unless you worry about whether the plants will survive.
Interesting characters, and an ending that I didn't expect to be quite so well rounded out. I won't say more...

A simple and nice 3 star read. Characters likeable, storyline nice and easy to read, 3 stars for me as I do like my books with a bit more bite!

Lorna and her younger friend, Philly, work together in the gardens of a major house. Soon romance finds its way to both ladies in the shape of Jack and Lucien. Will it run smoothly? Quick fun dead which I enjoyed.

Lorna is a talented gardener and Philly is a plant grower. Together they work in the grounds of a beautiful manor house in the Cotswolds. They enjoy their jobs and are surrounded by family and friends.
But for them both the door to true love remains resolutely closed."

A beautiful summer romance with all the usual flair of Katie Fforde. An Ideal holiday read and the descriptions of the Cotswolds and gardens are a lovely touch.

A Secret Garden was my first Katie Fforde book, and my feelings toward it are a bit conflicted. On the one hand, it was an easy read that I happily devoured in no time. On the other hand, it was a bit too twee for me and I expected more.

I think my issue with this one is that I expect a bit more to happen in my romance books. This one had an interesting premise, there were some nice details, but things were a bit too easy for me. There was not as much conflict as I would have liked, and things were resolved a bit too easily for my liking, Add in the fact that the secret garden did not appear until nearly the end of the book, and this wasn’t quite what I expected.

Although I’d expected more from this one, it was an easy read. If nothing else, it made for a nice break between heavier reads.

I loved this book a lot. It was beautifully written and a wonderful story. The characters were great and the book kept my interest and was read really quickly. I would recommend to my book friends.

Unfortunately, I read this book back in 2017 but completely forgot to upload a review on here, so can't remember exactly what I was going to say about it!

Lovely story which was a nice and easy read in between all the crime novels I normally read. Lovely characters and I would recommend it to others.

I don't often read romance of any sort. I'm much more a crime, mystery and thriller sort of reader. But occasionally we all need to mix things up and this book made itself known just at the point where I needed a break from murder and mayhem and wanted something gentle and comforting.

For me, A Secret Garden was exactly the gentle and comforting read I needed. I liked the way the relations between different generations were explored, grandfather and granddaughter, parent and adult child, May/December romance. All handled sensitively and honestly.

I wanted a happy outcome for everybody, even if they had to work hard and overcome obstacles to get there and I felt the book delivered without becoming cliched.

This is the first Katie Fforde book I have read but I'm sure it won't be the last

As always Kate Fforde books are a pleasure to read.
A bit slow to start with , but soon pick up .
Enjoyed this book . Not sure why I didn’t send my review sooner 😔
Many thanks to all for letting me review this book .

Provided by NetGalley for an honest review.

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. I thought the story line was ok. The characters were relatable. But overall I thought the actual story telling was weak. There were too many jumps within the dialogues, too many places where everything was rushed. I found the writing style really hard to get along with. It was like it was written by a very inexperienced writer. I feel like parts of the story could’ve really done with fleshing out more.

A joyous, uplifting and enjoyable romantic treat from the undisputed queen of the genre, A Secret Garden is a spellbinding tale full of warmth, joy and heart from Katie Fforde’s immensely talented pen.

Philly had caused her mother no end of worry and grief when she had left her life in Ireland behind to go and live with her grandfather in the Cotswolds where she has set up a fledgling plant business. When she isn’t up to her eyes in mud and tending to her plants in a poly-tunnel, Philly helps her grandfather out by selling his cakes at a stall at the local farmer’s market. Philly just wants to concentrate on her business and has neither the time nor the inclination for a relationship. Besides, with her mother constantly setting her up with a string of what she deems to be suitable men back home, Philly is more than happy to give dating a rest for the time being. But all that changes when she meets handsome and charismatic chef Lucien…

After years spent loving a man who has only ever had platonic feelings for her, talented gardener Lorna has come to the conclusion that romance might not be for her. Still, when he asks her to renovate the gardens of his beautiful Cotswolds manor house, Lorna is not about to let her broken heart get in the way of this very lucrative commission – even if she has to see him every day flirting with his pretty new girlfriend! Lorna is looking forward to getting stuck into her new job, however, she hadn’t counted on meeting gorgeous younger man Jack at a dinner party. Jack makes it clear from the start that he wants to get to know her better. Lorna knows that a relationship with somebody like Jack would not last, but what’s to stop her from having a little fun in the meantime?

As Philly and Lorna find themselves working together on the biggest job of their career, they find themselves juggling compost heaps, impossible deadlines and their very complicated love lives. But with so many obstacles standing in their way, will true love triumph or are they destined to spending the rest of their lives wondering what might have been?

I had a big smile on my face while reading this enchanting and engrossing romantic comedy. A Secret Garden is a captivating tale that sparkles with plenty of wit, flair and humour. As always, Katie Fforde’s heroines are resourceful, resilient and intelligent and readers are going to love creative and ingenious Philly, sensitive and sensible Lorna and the gorgeous men who sweep them off their feet. My absolute favourite character though was the unconventional and eccentric Lady Anthea, who might be the mistress of the put-down, but who had a heart of pure gold.

Katie Fforde writes the kind of books you simply cannot stop reading and A Secret Garden is another sensational romantic tale readers everywhere are going to lap up!

A nice enough Katie Fforde. Not her best, but not awful either. I did enjoy the portrayal of romance at different ages

I started this book twice. The first time around I found it too slow so put it down and moved on to something else which was quite scary and fast paced so was happy to pick this one back up again afterwards.
The first few chapters were slow and I found my attention wavering. I am glad I kept with it though as it turned out to be a lovely book- full of light-hearted fun.
Very English and polite story to read.

Another review courtesy of mum, she's read pretty much all of Katie Fforde's books and loves them!

A Secret Garden is set in the grounds of Burthen House, a beautiful Cotswold Manor owner by Peter and his formidable mother Anthea. The gardens are being restored by head gardener Lorna, who is middle-aged, divorced and a childhood friend of Peter. Needing assistance, Lorna enlists the help of Philly, a girl who has moved to the area from Ireland with her beloved grandfather Seamus and who now runs a small holding growing plants, which she sells on her market stall.

Lorna and Philly, together with Anthea, discover a secret garden within the grounds of the manor, which they set about restoring in time for Anthea’s birthday, hence the book’s title (although, strangely, this doesn’t happen until halfway through the book). All three women, despite being generations apart in age, form a strong friendship and the plot centres around, not only the restoration of the garden, but the path each of them takes to finding love. All three are strong, capable women and the characters are likeable, even if you do want to shake them from time to time!

Lorna, who initially thinks she’s in love with Peter but has to watch whilst he falls for someone else, meets Jack, attractive but younger than her. Philly meets Lucien, a chef who dreams of becoming an artisan baker. Both couples encounter obstacles along the way in order to be together. All three women have to overcome age or class barriers to find love.

The plot is warm, comfortable and interesting, if a little too predictable. The descriptions of the garden are lovely and the relationships between the characters sweet and gentle (particularly that of Philly and her grandfather).

To be honest, A Secret Garden lacks as much depth and excitement as some of Katie Fforde’s other novels but nonetheless is still a good story, full of gentle humour, romantic escapism and the required happy-ever-after ending. It is effortless to read, pleasantly entertaining and there is enough going on to keep you turning the pages.

Not a standout novel by Katie Fforde but still enjoyable.

Unfortunately this book was not for me.

I loved the idea of the story, I was excited to read but the book but then the writing style was not something I could get on board with.. There were sentences that felt stuck somewhere between being pompous and just downright old fashioned. It also did not feel like they would be used in everyday conversation so the book had an unrealistic feel to it.

I did not finish this book

Thank you once again for approving my request- much appreciated.

Full review coming soon to my blog and ofcourse will be added to other social media platforms

Rating: 3.5/5

This is a light, heartwarming, cosy read and contains a several romances achieving their HEA thanks, in part, to the secret garden which is hidden away in part of the grounds of a Cotswold manor house. Actually, the garden is so secret that it isn’t discovered until quite a lot of the story has been read, so don’t panic if you haven’t found it whilst you’re reading, there’s lots of restoration work needing completing before it is revealed.

Having a crush on the person you work for, when he sees you as his friend, confidante and gardener is heartbreaking for the young lady concerned. This is made worse when he finds the love of his life. She is so focussed on her unrequited romance she oblivious to other possibilities - including that of the man who so obviously adores her! Then there’s Philly, who is attracted to the man who runs the cheese stall in the market but is initially too shy to even buy cheese from him! As well as these three, there’s a fourth romance in the making between an unlikely couple. With all this love in the air, beautiful gardens and plants all around and a brilliant cast of great characters, this is a real page turner, a delightful romance to escape into whatever the weather or season.

I requested and received a copy of this novel, via NetGalley, with no obligation. This is my honest review after choosing to read it.

I'm a huge Katie Fforde fan and as always she didn't disappoint.

A delightful, enjoyable, lighthearted tale from the pen of the talented Katie Fforde, set in the glorious Cotswold countryside. The story centres around Lorna, a gardener, who is restoring the grounds of a local Manor house - a tale of friendship and love which, of course, never runs quite as smoothly as it should. Whilst I felt that 'A Secret Garden' didn't reach the level of previous novels from Katie Fforde, this is still a very enjoyable, 'feel good' read.