This is Book 2 in the Little Cornish Isles series from Phillips Ashley. The first book in the series introduced us to the Little Cornish Isles at Christmas time, and to the Driftwood Inn, a hotel on one of the islands in particular. I very much enjoyed that story and was looking forward to this one as well. The islands, people and businesses mentioned in these stories are in the main fictional, but very much based on the real Isles of Scilly, a place obviously dear to Phillipa's heart.

As the title of this book suggests, the story centres on a flower farm on one of the neighbouring islands (St Saviour's) to the setting for the Driftwood Inn. The flower farm is run by twins Jess and Will Godrevy, who were forced to take over when their father left their mother to live with another woman. They have built up a successful business, but have had to give up other dreams to do so. At the beginning of the story, we meet Gaby Carter, who is the newest addition to the group of seasonal workers harvesting and packing flowers for shipment to the mainland and onward to wherever required. As well as these more central characters, many of the people who were included in Book 1 of the series crop up again, including Maisie and Patrick from the Driftwood Inn, Jess's postman boyfriend, Adam, and Hugo, who runs a high-class resort on the neighbouring island of Petroc. Another new character is suave Italian businessman, Luca, who has come to advise Hugo on operations at the Petroc resort.

This is a wonderful tale describing the hard work required to produce the beautiful blooms we all love to see in the spring and the dedication of the people involved in this industry. The author must have put in such a lot of research to enable the detailed descriptions of the processes involved. Through her skilful writing you can really feel the struggle that the Godrevy twins experience choosing between duty to their farm and the direction their heart would like to lead them. In addition to this, through her wonderful descriptions, Phillips Ashley has once again made me eager to visit this area of the country where everything revolves around the state of the tide and ferry timetables.

I think that this story would make good holiday reading, but is equally suitable for lending a bit of escapism at any other time. It was one of those books that grabbed me right from the start and wouldn't let go, so eager was I to learn what was going to happen to the characters and relationships building within its pages.

Here we are with the second book of Phillipa Ashley’s second series to be set around Cornwall, in this case, we are based on the Scilly Isles, the Cornish Isles of the title. For this title, we focus on Jess and Will who run the Flower Farm of the title. Twins whom we met in Book 1, both were obligated to give up growing up dreams when their father ran off and so have made the best of the situation to run a very successful business. Despite the normal sibling arguments, both are devoted to the farm and each other.

Basic rundown – Jess is dumped by Adam, the man she hoped to marry whilst Will’s world is turned upside down by the arrival from the mainland of a whirling dervish of a lady, Gaby, who is hiding demons in her own life she’s trying to work through, that he fights so hard to resist. The path of true love can never run smooth in stories (or they’d be very short), such is the case here as we follow the twins fencing with their prospective partners, with Jess being wooed by a visiting businessman. Characters from the first book in the series, especially Jess’ best friend Maisie crop up through this story, nicely linking the series.

You can read this as a standalone, but personally, I would advise to have read, Spring on the Little Cornish Isles: The Driftwood Inn first. You won’t lose anything if you don’t, but you’d miss the little snippets the author drops through this book that refer back. If you want to know more of the story, please buy the book, as I don’t want to give away any surprises – you’ll thank me for it.

Ms Ashley is a true queen of writing that makes you fall in love with a location that you’ve never been to. Together with her Cornish Café series (source this series!), she should be employed by the region for promotional services. Flowers, beautiful locations, gig races and wonderfully written characters, I count this author as one I should like to aspire to be near the same quality, a simply wonderful addition to her body of work.

This was such a wonderful read. Set on the Isles of Scilly- we get a real sense of community and living on a flower farm. I loved the characters. Will and Jess took over running the farm when their father left and feel a big responsibility for making it a success. Gaby is taking a temporary job there whilst getting over a family tragedy. She doesn't plan to stay long but the islands weave their magic over her. We wonder whether she will moving on or listening to the whisper of Cupid's Arrow.
I loved the thought of everyone planning nights out and going by boat- it really made me want to go back to the Isles of Scilly as we had a magical day there once. I remember the landrover meeting the helicopter flight and whizzing round the tiny lanes at amazing speed and trying to breathe in to make sure we got through the tight spaces!

I couldn't wait to read this second book in the series and didn't let me down at all full of romance and such a warm read while has you laughing in places and beautiful place to escape to. Characters are great with some new ones and some from the first book and great story lines. Perfect summer read to curl up and enjoy highly recommend this book to read. Has twists and turns and has you wanting to read more.
Gabby is new in this series and she's escaping and running away from painful memories is this island and working on the flower farm the perfect place for her and will she be able to move on or not and can she find romance. Then there is Jess who lives on the flower farm and her boyfriend Adam has left without an explanation does she hear from him and does he have reasons for going can he come back and be happy and move on. She is lonely and misses Adam so much. Will also owns the flower farm and he's finally met someone he can't stop thinking about and can he be happy or not no is she happy to except him and can they be happy also does a fire at the farm make them realise what is best for them and be happy.
A perfect read to curl up and enjoy highly recommend this book.

This book was quite messy. The story did not flow at all. We start off in the spring then jump around for months with gaps in-between and holes in the story and missing areas of character development.

I just never connected with any of these characters because their stories were all jumbled and incomplete. In the beginning Jess seemed logical and smart but then we jump ahead by months and her boyfriend has left town and now she's just a wreck and she has no idea why he has left. Gaby seemed interesting at first and then her story just got worse and worse as it went on. There is no way for the reader to connect Gaby and Will or Jess and Luca or Jess and Adam even. Adam leaves for months then pops back up and not much explanation given for the in-between time.

Personally I think this could benefit from a rewrite or better editing. Maybe those missing parts were edited out. My copy was an ARC provided by NetGalley for review but my opinions are my own.

Review shall be up on my blog 24/02 - thecosiestcorner.blogspot.com

I really, really enjoyed this book. If possible even more so than the first of the series! The cover itself is absolutely beautiful and the pink sky, sandy beach and flowers in the foreground make it really stand out and draws you in. I love the style of writing that the title is in too!

The story itself was really lovely and easy to read - I personally found Jess' story the most interesting as I just really wanted to get to the bottom of why Jess' boyfriend Adam left the island. It was so gripping! The other stories around Gaby and Will were equally as enjoyable and I really hoped that there was a happy ever after with them. Will seemed to be like such a closed book, it was nice that when Gaby started working that they had banter and you could see Will starting to gently come out of his shell.

I also felt awful for Gaby and what she had been through that had made her want to flee to the quiet island. I had a few tears at some points! Just a warning that you may need to get your tissues out! Having said this, I found that the book had a really lovely heartwarming feel to it and I felt happy whilst reading about what was going on at the Flower Farm. I just really loved the story! It was nice as well that even though the story wasn't directly about Maisie, it was still nice to read about Maisie (from the 1st book) and find out how she and Patrick were getting on.

The location of the story sounded beautiful and it's now made me want to visit these islands! They sound really charming and the community side of it sounded more like family than just neighbours! Overall, I would really recommend you picking up this novel (and the first) and giving it a go. You won't regret it! It's a happy and heartwarming story that I throughly enjoyed.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for a chance to read this novel, which I have reviewed honestly.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for a copy of this delightful book. I did wonder at first if it was going to be some sort of travel guide but quickly realised the author was setting the scene for the book, in an area of the country she obviously loves and knows well. The story develops in a gentle way, with the tales of several characters intertwining through the book which has romance of course, but running through it, some unusual storylines. Definitely one for the bookshelf - and I think a visit to Scilly might be in order.

While I tend to prefer books that have one central character, I couldn’t help be charmed by this story of a group of friends on the Isle of Scilly. The story centers around a flower farm that Jess has devoted her life to, but when her boyfriend Adam ups sticks without any reason, she begins to wonder if the farm is all she’ll ever have to love. Gaby arrives to help on the farm, leaving behind a painful past, and Will finds himself in love for the first time in his life. The colorful characters and the beautiful scenery lifted me out of my January doldrums and put a smile on my face

Really enjoyed this book - the characters and the setting draw you in. The story is told from the point of view of several of the main characters, but it is easy to keep track of what is going on.