This is a very charming and heartwarming book. I love the Willow Cottage stories and this is the complete story. This tells the story of Beth and her son over four seasons in a year. How they found the cottage building their new life, rebuilt it and how Beth fell in love again and learned to trust her heart.
I enjoy reading about the relatable characters, the charming cottage in the Cotswold's and the adventures Mothers and Son experience in their new town. It is always relaxing and fun to revisit the Willow Cottage series.

Thank you to the publisher with gratitude for this wonderful book. I highly recommend this book for everyone that enjoys stories of starting over, building a new life and living life to the fullest.

The Blurb :
Beth is running away. With her young son Leo to protect, Willow Cottage is the lifeline she so desperately needs. Overlooking the village green in a beautiful Cotswolds idyll, Beth sees a warm, caring and safe place for little Leo.
When she finally uncovers the cottage from underneath the boughs of a weeping willow tree, Beth realises this is far more of a project than she bargained for and the locals are more than a little eccentric! A chance encounter with gruff Jack, who appears to be the only male in the village under thirty, leaves the two of them at odds but it’s not long before Beth realises that Jack has hidden talents that could help her repair more than just Willow Cottage.
Over the course of four seasons, Beth realises that broken hearts can be mended, and sometimes love can be right under your nose…

My Thoughts :
This was orignally published as a four part series, one for each season. Now all four parts have come together to make one. I much prefer this and I held out on reading it until I had the full series all together. I enjoy all of Bella Osborne's books and this was just as enjoyable.
Willow Cottage, situated in the village of Dumbleford seems like a great place to escape to for Beth and her son Leo. As welcoming as ever the village including handsome Jack, take them under their wing and fill them with the community spirit. The cottage needs a lot of tiding up and decorating and Beth is determined to get it looking perfect again.
We learn more about Beth and her past as we read on and what brought her to Willow Cottage.
I really enjoyed reading about Carly and Fergus's relationship aswell. It fit perfectly with the story.
And how lovely we went through the different seasons especially Summer and Christmas.
Once again Bella delivers with her ease of writing and descriptions. I cant wait for her next book.

Love love loved this book, it was a wonderful delightful and heartwarming story from start to finish.

Totally new author for me, it was the book cover that lured me in, making me want to read this book and wow am I glad I did.

What I loved most about this book was how there was two stories being told, which moulded into one at different points throughout the book. You've got Beth's story in Dumbleford and also Carly's story in London, who are best friends living in separate City/Town. So there was always lots going on.

I thoroughly loved getting to know both Beth and Carly, as well as all the other characters that had an important role to play, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough for wanting to find out what happens next and the outcome of certain events.

There was lots of happy moments, as well as sad moments, but also moments that bought tears to your eyes and also a fair few giggles along the way too. It really did have a bit of everything.

And last but not least, I must include the adorable Doris, who very much had her own part to play within the story and it wouldn't have been the same without her. I might have fallen in love (just a little) with Doris.

I'm already looking forward to reading more books by this author in the future.

Oy, this is a super tricky one for me to review.

This book was previously written in four parts, one for each season within the year (which really appealed to me), and now it is being published as one complete story. And at almost 500 pages, I really had to push through for a book that was just ok for me.

The beginning book was by far my least favorite. The main characters of Beth and Jack are introduced to us in a such a way that makes them less than likeable. (And I generally don't mind unlikable characters, I feel they usually add some depth to books. But these two were just kinda not nice people at all😬).

As we get into the Christmas (winter) part of the story, things begin to look up. You get to know the characters a bit better, they seem to chill out a bit, and the description of snow at Christmas time is pretty lovely. I really liked Fergus, a deaf career Minecrafter (my boys are obsessed with Minecraft, so that was fun!), little Leo, Ernie and Doris the dog.

There are some deeper themes which are touched on, this is not all just light reading here. I think the author did a good job of showing the sense of dread and fear experienced by the main character.

Also, a pet peeve of mine, there were several issues in this book that were caused by assumptions and misunderstandings and could have been cleared up by a single conversation, but the character's communication skills were lacking a bit.

I'd rate this overall between 2.5 and 3 stars, however this book does have very high ratings so please take that into consideration - it could be just me! I would recommend picking up the first story to see if you'd like to invest your time and money into the other three parts.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"Escape to Willow Cottage" by Bella Osborne was originally published in four parts series and I've managed to read the two first one parts - the lack of time hasn't allowed me to read the other two ones, even though I really liked the story, and so when I spotted there is a whole book available on NetGalley I downloaded it to my kindle immediately. Some books read well in parts, some are better as a whole one package, and this one is the latest - you just don't want to leave the characters and their world in this heart - warming and feel - good story.

First of all, I truly like the idea of buying a cottage in the auction without even seeing it - not that I'd decide for such a great step myself, but as Beth did it was a great, promising start to the story. And well, the cottage looked so great in the auction catalogue, right, so what could go wrong? It turns out that a lot can go wrong but please read for yourself - it's hilarious. But our Beth is not a woman that quickly gives up. We know that she's running from an abusive relationship, that she has a son and that she had a great job. As Beth is very new to the village, together with her we are introduced to the people of Dumbleford and one seems to be more eccentric than the other.

The village of Dumbleford is a charming place, with all the villagers being so friendly, all of them jumping to help each other and supporting each other - you know how much I love those community feelings and here Bella Osborne captured it wonderfully.

The characters were very easy to like, though not all of them from the very beginning, as I had some problems with some of them. But altogether, they were warm, relatable and believable. They had flaws, they made mistakes but mostly they also learnt from those mistakes and you just couldn't help but like them and cheer them on their way. The plot is complex, with some twists and turns and some drama added, and the author also mixes some heavier issues into the story, but it blends really well with the whole story and I liked the outcome.
Bella Osborne's writing is great. It's easy to follow, it's light, with a right dose of humour - there are some really hilarious scenes in this book! - and seriousness. The characters were developing, and the cottage was taking shape, and I loved to read about all the ideas Beth had and how the villagers were willing to help her. The writing is really vivid and down to earth and I could easily imagine all the things really happening.

"Escape to Willow Cottage" was hooking, interesting story about abusive relationships, commitment problems, new beginnings. There is also the romance element introduced, which I liked very much, as it was not at all predictable. Over the course of four seasons our main character has learnt a lot, realised she can trust again and that it is worth to trust again. It was a lovely, quirky, summery read, great for one evening with a glass of wine. Recommended!

I was sent this book in e-book version for free in exchange for a review, and if I hadn't already read it, I would buy it, because I really enjoyed it. I liked the main character, Beth, even if she did start off as snobby. She had flaws, but you couldn't help but like her. I also liked Jack, and it was a neat twist that Beth and Jack had had similar experiences in past relationships. Well done to Bella for highlighting such issues. I enjoyed reading about the progress of Willow Cottage, and the village's eccentric inhabitants made me smile. Doris the dog was fab.

I thought that perhaps a little more time spent on Petra's story might have been a good idea, and as for Carly and Fergus, Beth's friends, well I wasn't so keen on their subplot. I never warmed to Carly at all - very spoilt.

I'm glad I read this in one collection (I believe it was previously released in four separate parts). This is a romance, but it's definitely not saccharine sweet; it has some added grit.

This book has four different instalments but I was glad to read the complete book as the story was easier to understand.

Beth needs to get away from London and when she sees Willow Cottage being sold at auction she decides to buy it without seeing it first. When she and her son Leo arrive in the village of Dumbleford, what she thought she was buying turns out to be completely different. The whole cottage needs to be gutted from top to bottom and with a strange man seeming to live in her willow tree she wonders what on earth she has let herself in for.

This is an excellent story, it has a lot of likeable and eccentric characters who all rally round to help Beth, a touch of romance and the perfect ending makes this a great read.

Looking for a place to escape for your summer holiday? Then look no further, Escape to Willow Cottage is the perfect book just for that! As stated above, this book was originally a four part serial but has now come together as one book. I've never really liked that books can come in four parts, I find waiting for the next one in the series absolute torture as I never like to wait! Very impatient.

So, as you can imagine, I was very pleased when I saw this up on Netgalley and a chance to read the story as a whole. This series was on my TBR pile before I even knew it was coming out as one (I always like to wish that they do), but let me tell you - I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did.

Now normally, I'm quite a slow reader - I like to read with my breakfast in the mornings and then of an evening (working everyday makes reading during the day near impossible), so I make up for lost time in the evenings. So normally I read one to two books a week (depending on how long they are). This book by Bella Osbourne adds up to over 400 pages and it seems so long but let me tell you - you will be flying through it!

This book was so enjoyable I can't even put it into words. I absolutely loved it! I loved all the characters and I found myself relating to every one of them. I also loved how Carly had her own kind of focus on her and Fergus (even though it doesn't mention them in the blurb) and they all blended so well into the story together. This book is so well written and I was totally hooked. There's a bit of a twist in there as well that I definitely wasn't expecting!

The story itself is so, so interesting. There's drama left, right and centre and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Nearer the end of the story I couldn't put the book down because so much was happening! Another thing I loved about this book is that it takes you through the seasons - I love reading about summer time but I also love reading about firework night, Christmas etc. And this book mentioned all the holidays.

Overall, I couldn't recommend this book enough. You'll find yourself longing to visit the Cotswolds and be dreaming of living in a house just like Willow Cottage (once Beth has decorated it of course!).

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for a chance to read this book. Which I have reviewed honestly.