Tiny House on the Hill by Celia Bonaduce is A Tiny House Novel. Clarisse “Summer” Murray is twenty-eight years old and has decided to make some big changes. Summer has quit her job, sold her condo, and commissioned a tiny house in the shape of a caboose. After shrinking a cashmere sweater in the wash and discovering she cannot unshrink it, Summer explores felting. She is going to felt sweaters, make them into purses, and sell them at craft shows while traveling around the continental United States (let’s forget that she does not know how to sew). Then she receives a call from her grandmother, Queenie asking her to come home to Cat’s Paw, Washington to help with the family bakery, Dough Z Dough. Summer packs up Big Red (her new truck), leaves most of her belonging behind (her neighbor, Lynnie will dispose of them for her) and heads to Kentucky to pick up her new tiny home. Bale Barrett, of Bale’s Tiny Dreams, has her new home ready to go. After having dinner with Bale and making plans to meet in Seattle in a few weeks, Summer starts her new life as a tiny home owner with her dog, Shortie. Summer has not been home in ten years since her heart was broken by bakery manager, Keefe Devlin. She is hoping to fix whatever is wrong with the bakery, and quickly head off on her adventure. But her grandmother’s odd behavior puts a wrinkle in her plans (just the first of several). Summer must discover what is bothering Queenie and (finally) deal with her unresolved feelings toward Keefe.

Tiny House on the Hill is a light-hearted romance novel (which was not what I expected). The story is easy to read and has a steady pace. I liked Shortie (he was a cutie). I just felt the story was a little cheesy (silly too). Summer put more research into how Shortie should travel in the truck, then her journey (tiny homes are not accepted everywhere plus she should have done test drive’s before embarking out on the open road). Summer fantasizes romance with her tiny home builder (she met him once) and then gets jealous of Keefe being around his old girlfriend, Evie (really, after ten years). Summer ogles, flirts and thinks too much about Bale and Keefe (reminded me of a sixteen-year-old girls reminisces). My rating for Tiny House on the Hill is 3 out of 5 stars. The story had the expected ending (which was a little rushed). I did appreciate the attention brought to suffers of celiac disease (my own sister has this issue). Summer’s tiny house sounded adorable. I have (like many people) watched the shows on these portable, tiny homes (my books would not fit into 220 square feet). Lynnie provided some comic relief. If you are wanting a light, humorous romantic story to read, then check out Tiny House on the Hill.

I'm so torn on this one! This book reads super fast and is fun but at the same time several elements left me rolling my eyes. So that this doesn't become too convoluted I'm going with a list format for this one!

The Good:
The pacing is super fast and it's a really light read - this would be a good sick in bed read or a stress relief book.

The parts of Summer's journey where she's learning how to travel in her tiny house were pretty fun and I enjoyed seeing her confidence grow as she went along.

Summer's relationship with her grandmother, Queenie was interesting. We get hints that Queenie is not quite so serious and rigid as she seems and that's really fun.

Summer's dog, Shortie, was really cute and I loved his friendship with the much bigger Andre. That's a visual image that really gave me a lot of giggles.

The Not As Good:
I had a hard time believing that Summer was really 28. She seemed so very immature and unsure of herself. It got better in the middle of the book but towards the end flared up again. She makes assumptions based on things that happened 10 years ago and it never occurs to her that things could have changed since they were teenagers. As well I struggled to really get behind her new plan when she had yet to really successfully make a purse.

The romance isn't developed. For a good 3/4 of the book I would have considered this just really light contemporary fiction. Nothing is really resolved at all until the last few pages.

Celia Bonaduce was a new read for me. I had not ever read this author and I was pleasantly surprised. I loved the main character in Tiny House on the Hill. I thought her neighbor was funny especially when she was - well you will have to wait to read all about it.

Summer Murray is so done with her job and her living arrangements. None of her plans have anything to do with risk management which was the occupation she ended up with. She wants to move on and find adventures with her dog named Shortie and her tiny home with 220 feet. She has dreams of moving around finding ugly sweaters, felting them and making them into purses. Only before her plans gel, her grandmother calls her and demands Summer come out to Washington State to help save the bakery. Summer dutifully goes. Even though she does not want to face anyone from her past and certainly does not want to go to Cat’s Paw!

Summer made me chuckle. I loved how she found her confidence and she seemed to grow into her adventure. I thought the book was a fun read with lots of quirky characters and a decent storyline. I found the idea of going home to find yourself a nice plotline.

Tiny House on the Hill by Celia Bonaduce was a fun read.

Tiny Houses and baked goods

This story was okay - not great, not terrible but just okay. It had a lot of information on Tiny moveable Houses but that's not what I'm looking for in a romance. I'm looking for characters I can like and relate to. The female protagonist of the story is the only one that was truly developed - and I wasn't too fond of her. Oh, I did like her Chihuahua/Dachshund mixed dog, Shortie, though.

The rest of the characters, including romantic interests, were rather shadowy and indistinct. I couldn't visualize them fully at all.

Clarisse "Summer" Murray left Cat's Paw, Washington ten years ago, traveled, went to college, and has been working in risk management for an insurance company in Hartford, Connecticut. She decides she wants a life change and decides to buy a traveling Tiny House and travel all over with her dog. Then she's contacted by her grandmother requesting her help back at the family bakery in Cat's Paw and her life takes a detour.

If you're looking for an interesting story on details of Tiny Houses, this might be for you. Just don't expect a fully fleshed out romance.

I received this book from Lyrical Press through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

Summer plans on a grand adventure. She begins downsizing before move.
Grandma calls and tells her she must return to Cat's Paw (where she spent all her summers growing up).
As she goes back into her past, she finds her future.

1st in a new series - A Tiny House Series
I have been fascinated with tiny houses since I saw them.

Tiny House on the Hill (A Tiny House Novel #1) by Celia Bonaduce

Summer leaves her job in Connecticut, buys a tiny house (shaped like a caboose) and plans on traveling the country. She and her tiny dog Shortie are ready for adventure. Then her grandmother calls asking her to come to Washington (State) and help her with her bakery. Reluctantly she decides to go and help. Summer now must face come to terms with her past, if she wants to move on in the future.

A fast paced exciting read. I liked Summer, she is complicated, with inner turmoil. She has to confront situations, her feelings and her present situation, which at times is not an easy task. Add her quirky, strong willed grandmother, makes this an unpredictable fun read. Overall I enjoyed Tiny House on the Hill and feel others will as well. A perfect "beach read".


*I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this cute book. I found the book to be well written with a good storyline and likeable characters.

An interesting and quick read for summer. Overall, I did like the story, and it held my attention through to the end. However, at times there are a lot of unanswered questions, for example why Summer didn't come home sooner is left in the air, and why the grandmother acts the way she does, and the ex-boyfriend why he doesn't do more to attract her. It does plod along and gets to the HEA, but I was left with a vague sense on some of my questions at the end. Still, I would recommend this book, and it does make a fun read. Especially with the concept of tiny homes.

Summer or Clarisse as she prefers is a bit childish and selfish in her attitude, she dithers too much and seems to be afraid of commitments. Ten long years had gone and still she can’t let go, she is rash and her plans are not well thought out, I think she needs to grow up real fast because a guy ain't gonna wait around forever. It took awhile but I think the message got through, that you need to think of others for a change and not just about yourself, for a while there I thought she was going to remain clueless. This book gave mention of celiac disease and gluten intolerance, it also has some cool gluten free recipes and tips, I also gain tips and ideas for making bags, this has been an interesting gentle romance, the storyline is good and the characters are interesting, a lovely story although I’m no fan of Summer.
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It’s time to downsize. Summer Murray wants out of the city and a high anxiety job so she hits the road with a little house, just over 200 sq feet and shaped like a caboose and her dog Shortie. She travels to the Pacific Northwest to help save the family’s bakery, but she intends to make this a quick stop. Fix the problem and then be on her way. Unfortunately, things won’t be that simple; it’s clear Summer’s grandmother needs help and Summer soon realizes she can’t run from her past. She’s going to have to face it, once and for all before she can move on. I wanted to read this book because of the tiny house idea. Who doesn’t love the idea of pitching it all away and taking off for parts unknown with their house in tow? A fun (and tempting) read