Gosh I loved this beautiful book! It has so many relevant themes, including how taking care of your physical and mental health is so important and how becoming more mindful and exercising more can help you to feel better on more than one level. I adored Claire – and could completely relate to her situation, and am sure many people in this day and age will too. Loneliness is a human condition that affects us all at some point regardless of age or gender but there is always hope to be found, even in the most unexpected places.
Hilda is the wise and caring older woman I'd love to have around, Claire's nieces are sweet and challenging, as children can be, and as for Ash, I loved how the connection between him and Claire grew, the gentle sway of will they / won't they? Then, of course, there's the sweet, scruffy dog in need of a loving home, something that's guaranteed to make my heart squeeze.
When I find myself thinking about the characters of a story even after I've closed the book, I know that It will stay with me for a long time. A fabulous five stars from me!

“A house was to be lived in. Shared with other people.”

Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy of this book for review.

Excuse me whilst I start my review with a babble, but this book has a strange premise to explain loving...
In the same week as a high-flyer is given a month off work, she’s also given her two nieces to look after. To give herself something to do, in the hours she’d usually spend at work, she starts going for runs. Well, walks. On these run-walks, she meets an old lady - who may be an ex MI6 agent, the Queen’s friend and Mary Berry’s mentor, and who has had countless husbands - and is forced to recross paths with a hot, sexy, fellow high-flyer - who ghosted her after one date, who is now mysteriously also not at work, and who somehow ends up with the stray dog they find in the park. And then they decide to organise a park run.
I just. Really loved it. It made me happy and smile when I was reading it.
Each character was a force of nature and their own person. Claire: high-flyer turned domestic goddess/mother, she was driven, enthusiastic and thoughtful. Poppy and Ava, her two nieces, were easy to tell apart, with Poppy being the level-headed, sometimes emotional older sister, whilst Ava was the bubbly, slightly highly-strung younger sister. Hilda. Oh, I love Hilda. Hilda’s past (and kind of her present) are a mystery and that’s part of her charm. She’s positive, enthusiastic and full of so much go (or intimidation), but she’s also the perfect grandmother figure. And Ash was just as driven as Claire, could easily have been an asshole and standoffish because he was so beautiful and perfect, but was happy and kind and loving in his own way.
All characters had their own challenges and each brought their own strengths to the table, but you needed all of them to make a family.
Alice, on the other hand, was an immensely frustrating character. Poppy and Ava’s mum and Claire’s sister, yet she completely disappears off the planet. All I wanted was to give her a good talking to but, of course, she wouldn’t listen to that. Everything was all about her and I wanted to throttle her at times for Poppy and Ava’s sake - and so she was effectively written.
The story itself was really fun. It allowed the characters to grow and develop and fall into their own little habits. I loved that they loved each other as a family and as friends, so then the romance made me happy and just made sense when it did happen.
It’s also not the first time I’ve read about women working so hard they need time off; it’s almost as if women have to work harder to be appreciated at the same level.
And then the park run was a fun concept to base a book around. It’s made me want to go on a run again...I’m just waiting for the drive to get out of bed in the morning.

This is one of those books I will be looking to buy when it comes out. I’ve already told my nan she’d enjoy it.

I just love book reviewing sooo much! This book is exactly why! I love that it means I get to read so many different types of books, and that it takes you to so many different places! They make you feel so many different emotions… and well this one gave me something new… MOTIVATION! While reading this at like 5.30am one morning, one of the main characters was saying to another main character about running every day! Well I’m currently on a weight loss journey myself and what did this book motivate and inspire me to do? Go out for a run at my local, beautiful park at 5.45am that very morning and it was just AMAZING! How can a fictional story do that? Honestly how cool is that!

So let’s get down to the storyline! Claire is a work driven woman, she works all the hours under the sun and is pushing to become partner in her company! One day while commuting to work she has a little accident with a guy called Ash, who is also a high flying businessman in very expensive suits! Well their train journey had me in stitches, so unusual, but their chemistry was undeniable and they just had something special!

Claire thought it was going somewhere, but was so disappointed when she didn’t hear from Ash like she expected! Then suddenly a trip to the doctors for one thing turned her life upside down when her doctor signs her off for a full month with stress! Claire can’t think of anything worse and is so worried about her promotion now!

Things quickly change for Claire after this when her sister suddenly jets off abroad and leaves her to care for her 2 Neices Poppy (11) and Ava (5)!

Then one day she decides to take a walk/run around her local park after the school run and this is when she meets the very extravagent, outgoing Hilda, an old lady who’s escaping her old people’s home and has a real zest for life!

From this day on Ash makes a shocking reappearance in to her life, Hilda has some big ideas, Alice (Claire’s sister) makes some shocking decisions, and somehow a dog becomes a main part of all their lives!

Claire’s world changes and a new version of a family is created through bringing a local community together!

Honestly I was going to give this book 4 stars until I reached the ending which just completely melted me and I just HAVE to give it 5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️! This was such a delightful read, with a good steady pace, mostly amazing characters that I loved the whole idea and storyline! It was so original based around a park run, and it brought so many people together!

The characters! Claire is SUCH an amazing woman! And I think she is so relatable! We may not all be quite in her position but we’ve all been in that stage of our lives where we consider what we want, a career, a family and how to manage a healthy work/life balance! She really struggled with the stigma of stress and what that meant for her career but it was so lovely to watch her flourish and find herself, and realise what makes her happy and what she wants! It was amazing to see how much difference running made to her, the community she found and built, the new friends and family she made and gained through the story and how she managed to evaluate her life and let go! I LOVED her!

Ash I felt so so sorry for! He definitely had a hard time! Dealing with events that changed his life, through to getting a hard time from Claire! He did make mistakes at times and sometimes chose the wrong thing to prioritise but again it was lovely to watch him also find himself, to take control of his life, to make changes and accept new roles and members to his family !

BUT most of all HILDA! How could Hilda not be my favourite character of ALL! Her craziness in shell suits, her honesty and outright opinions, her whole view on life! She saves so many of the characters in this book, she brings people together, motivates and inspires people and she definitely did that to me to! I loved her love and passion for life, her need for independence and I SOOO want to know how old she is ! I found her sooo inspiring that when all this COVID craziness is over I want to join a park run, and even get hubby involved as it will give me and him something to do for ourselves where our children can come and support us!

There was one questionable character in the book and that is Alice! Alice is Claire’s sister who quickly ups and flies abroad and leaves her 2 daughters in the care of Claire while Claire is supposed to be on sick leave and finding time for herself! Luckily the girls help Claire, but I just can’t help but find Alice so incredibly selfish and heartless! I do get it, parenting is SO hard, testing, tiring, full time and so so tough at times, but when you make that decision to be a parent you take on all the lows with the highs! I can’t forgive Alice for the decisions she made and I just found myself hoping that she would change … but you’ll have to read to find out what happens!

I could talk about this book all day but I suppose I should bring my review to a close! A completely insipring, motivational, feel good, uplifting novel full of coming together, community spirit, new friendships, family, love and adventure! A truely beautifully written book and I’d LOVE to read more from this author!

Oh my! This was my first Jules Wake book and it was such a refreshing change from all those thrillers. I adored this book and all the characters in it. It seemed so real and true to life. The book put a smile on my face and it is such a lovely story without being too saccharin. These characters have flaws and problems. BUT they also have each other and lots of love.

I felt so bad for the little girls in this book. (Poppy 10 and Ava 6) Their mother has abandoned them to their single, childless aunt so she can go on a yoga retreat with the new boyfriend. Sheesh! Selfish much!? But Auntie Claire rises to the occasion with the help of the lovely, spry yet elderly Hilda and the hunka hunka burning love, Ash.

Over the course of putting a park run together they each learn that being happy together is what makes a family and that community matters. I will be checking out the author's other books, the 350+ pages of this one just flew by!

I am a fan of running and have heard great things about park runs so I was instantly intrigued by this story.... and it didn't disappoint. It is such a clever concept for a story and is very well written. Jules Wake has a way of making you feel when you're reading it, I felt just as frustrated with Alice than Claire did!
It has reminders throughout that it is okay to burn out, and how important exercise is!
A really enjoyable read that takes you on Claire's journey....I loved it!
Hilda has to be one of my favourite characters ever! ...... would love to see a movie of this story!!

I love the whole concept of Park Runs and did a few myself before mobility issues kicked in. It instantly grabbed my attention when I saw that this was a book based around this popular and enjoyable activity. Filled with the most wonderful characters, i.e. Claire who lived for her high powered job but suffered stress as a result, Ash the high flying and extremely handsome young man who she meets on her journey to work and the most amazing elderly lady, Hilda, whose colourful track suits and effervescent personality are an absolute joy. With unexpected time on their hands due to work issues and sick leave, Claire and Ash, together with the loveable Hilda, set about organising a regular weekly Park Run in their local area. Although I’ve done park runs myself, I never fully understood the amount of work and commitment that goes into setting up and running these weekly events and after reading this book my respect for the people who do this has rocketed. Claire’s two young nieces, Poppy and Ava, play a large part in the story and their less than perfect relationship with their Mum, (Claire’ sister), is heartbreakingly sad but the joy they bring to, (and receive from), Claire, Ash and Hilda is very special. I love books that have multi-generational characters and this is such a book. From the very elderly Hilda, (who I absolutely adored), through the 30 something Claire and Ash right down to the children aged ten and six, this features a whole range of personalities and traits and makes for a very enjoyable read for people of all ages. As the main characters steadily adapted to their different lifestyles and began to appreciate things that they had neglected to take notice of in their previous crazy world of work, deadlines and desire for promotion, they become much more likeable individuals and the warmth of feeling for them grew with each chapter. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Absolutely loved this gem of a book!A great read detailing the benefits of family life, work life balance , friendship, love and intergenerational benefits!
Such brilliant characters, I particularly loved the elderly Hilda and all her eccentric traits, cunning plans and grandmotherly ways! Poppy and Ava sounded so realistic, loveable and vulnerable you just want to hug them Ali g with Bill the dog!
Ash and Clare met in unfortunate circumstances but an unbridled passion simmered away despite their changed circumstances! Stress and mental health are discussed, described and referred to in a sensitive manner and highlight how common these problems are today in society as well as loneliness in the elderly, but through a bit of meddling on Hildas behalf, friendship,a joint challenge and ups and downs all their lives improve and are benefited by their unusual family group!
A real heartwarming read with a lovely ending.
Thank you net galley for this early read.

A big thank you is owed to NetGallery, One More Chapter, and author Jules Wake for giving me a free e-book of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This book was such a wonderful read! This was my first Jules Wake book, but this will not be my last. This book is about the family you get to make and it is not always the one you are born in. Clare is a career driven woman, who has made work her entire life. Then enters Ash, a man who is also career driven. From their first meeting sparks flew between Clare and Ash. After a one night hook-up, Clare is convinced she will never see him again. After having to see the doctor to treat a scratch, she is told by her boss to take a month off due to her overwork stress levels. With Clare given an unexpected leave from work, her sister decided to take a trip to India and leave her girls with Clare. Now with her Saturdays free from work, Clare finds herself spending time in the community park and that is where she meets an old lady named Hilda, who also reintroduces Clare to Ash. As her relationship develops between Hilda, her nieces, and Ash, Clare begins to question her reasons for the career she has chosen. Is life all about work or is it the family, community, and love that can be found in a park on a Saturday?
I completely fell in love with all of the characters, but especially Hilda. She was so fun and loving towards everyone she came in contact with. She had such great stories from her life experiences. Ava and Poppy were such sweet girls. My heart really went out to them due to their mother's life choices. I really appreciated how much Clare had the community support behind her in order to create a home for her nieces. The main focus of this book was the family and community with a touch of romance sprinkled throughout the story. The book's pacing was well done. I felt the author did a great job moving events along without ending the conflicts too soon, I was happy with the ending! Overall, I did not want this book to end! I look forward to more books by this author! I would recommend this book to those who love a self journey heartfelt story!

The Saturday Morning Park Run by Jules Wake

Claire and Ash meet one morning on the way to work in inauspicious circumstances! They are clearly very attracted to each other but both are extremely committed to their careers with little work-life balance. When things go wrong for both of them in their jobs, this novel follows the aftermath, involving an elderly lady Hilda, two nieces Poppy and Ava, the setting up of a park run and a shaggy carpet dog called Bill.

What a lovely story - I'm so sorry to have finished this book! I loved the characters - the author is very skilled at creating characters young and old. I particularly loved Hilda - I hope I'm like her at that age! There were some very serious issues tackled in the book - work burnout, loneliness, community, social connection - but all done in such a lovely way. This was my first Jules Wake book and I'm delighted to see that she has written lots of others. Very highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

The Saturday Morning Park Run by Jules Wake has great characterization. Makes the reader want to join Claire, Ash, Hilda, and the girls in their quest.

As a fan of parkrun I was really intrigued by this book. 2 of my favourite things combined could have been fantastic or a disaster. I’m so very glad to say the end result was fantastic.
A fabulous storyline that left me feeling warm and fuzzy with being too sweet and sickly. I really wanted the two main characters to get together and I think everyone would like a Hilda in their lives. Relatable characters and a great plot. My first Jules Wake book but not my last hopefully

A lovely read! I’m a big fan of parkrun (as is the author) - a free timed run that happens every Saturday morning all over the world. Obviously it’s on hold at the moment, but when it starts again, I’ll be there, either volunteering or walking round my local route.

Claire is a high-flying young executive, working all the hours in the week to progress up the career ladder. She has practically no social life and few friends. Her younger sister is a single mum and incredibly irritating! Claire overdoes things and ends up off work with stress. She decides to exercise to help with managing her condition and that leads to - yes you guessed it - Saturday morning parkrun. With a difference though - she ends up setting one up in her home town.

The story moves along at a good pace, the characters are very appealing (apart from her sister, who is suitably annoying). We have the handsome (and charming) hero, a great older woman in Hilda and a cute rescue dog. As someone who does parkrun it was interesting reading how one is set up but most of all, it is a book about people finding each other, working together and recognising how they need each other. It's also about family, and how that comes in different forms. There are fabulous descriptions of cake too. A charming and inspiring read.

I have mixed thoughts on this book but on the whole, I enjoyed it.

I absolutely loved the beginning, you could really feel the sexual tension between Ash and Claire as you read, but then I felt that disappeared so quickly I wasn't sure what happened with that storyline. It becomes apparent later, so it was good to have a bit of wonder as you read, but initially, it felt a bit disjointed.

I thought it had good characters and especially loved Hilda. I enjoyed the setting too. The book seemed to pick up the pace again about halfway through and from then on was an easy enjoyable read and I would buy more books from this author.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the arc, which I have enjoyed reading.
The Saturday Morning Park Run by Jules Wake is very entertaining and enjoyable to read. The storyline was excellent and the information about Park Run was very informative. The characters were well written and life like and funny, sad and entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.
Highly recommended.

A fab read, the story of Claire and Ash.
The first time they meet they are both high-flying professionals with little time for a social life, yet a few days later they meet again in the local park when life has changed for both of them. If it was not for Hilda pushing them together would they have even spoken again?
Loved the characters of Bill the dog and Hilda

Another great book by Jules Wake. It brings together an eclectic mix of characters from young Ava and her slightly older sister Poppy, Claire, Ash, the lovable Hilda and the dog Bill.... If we believe what we read, Hilda has led a very colourful life. Claire is landed with her two nieces when her sister Alice goes off to India on a yoga retreat for a week. At the same time, she is signed off from work for a month with depression and is befriended in the park by Hilda who ends up talking Claire into organising a Saturday Morning Parkrun, along with her new friend Ash, who she had bumped into on the way to catching her train to work. They started the on off of a relationship but were pushed together by Hilda. Lots of twists with this story, it has two storylines running in tandem, the parkrun and the wellbeing of the girls. It is well written and a lovely story.

This is a fun story of how sometimes disparate events can culminate in something so worthwhile and inspirational when you least expect it!

Claire is so focussed on her career, she's forgotten there's anything else to life until a coffee incident proves a huge distraction in the form of Ash! Not long after that, she's diagnosed with stress and instructed not to go to work for a month by her doctor. She has no idea what she'll do - but her younger sister, Alice, does. Alice decides to go off to India for a week, leaving her two daughters to stay with Claire. Whilst the girls are at school, Claire goes for a walk in the park to get some exercise. That's where she meets the colourful septuagenarian, Hilda, a straight talking escapee from the local care home who runs in the park every day. As the relationships  between Claire, Ash and Hilda, the two youngsters and a stray dog develop, so do the challenges Hilda throws at them . . . . including organising a Park Run event in their local park. They never dreamed of how much paperwork, rules, regulations and time it would take but it gives them an added purpose and brings them closer together. However, just where is Alice and what will happen to her daughters?

This is a story of developing a supportive community and definitely shows that sometimes it isn't what you know but who you know that can help you succeed. It is also about developing connections, making the most of opportunities and striving hard to succeed but keeping a balance between work and life, with life, family and friendships always being more important than your job. It is a fun read filled with love, learning to work together and overcoming obstacles, a delightful story to escape into with a lovely romance or three, too!

I requested and was gifted a copy of this book and this is my honest review after choosing to read it and thoroughly enjoying reading it.

This book had everything I was looking for right now - warmth, wit, loveable and unique three-dimensional characters, a sense of community, purpose, heart and important life lessons.

I think many of us have been where main character Claire is at the beginning of this story; burnt out, stressed, overwhelmed and longing to get off the career treadmill (though she doesn’t realise it at first). I really enjoyed how Jules Wake unfurled this story, bringing Ash and Claire together at the beginning, pulling them apart, giving them their own challenges and then introducing the brilliant Hilda into the equation. I loved Hilda! What a character; she was one of the best things about this book (along with Bill the dog), and I just wish she was my next door neighbour.

The background of the park run was a really interesting part of the story, and I thought Ash was hot (even when grumpy and out of sorts) but it was seeing Claire’s journey - especially with regards to taking on responsibility for her nieces and finally making her house a home - that really struck me. I won’t pretend I didn’t shed a few tears in the last chapter. I was sad when the book was over because I didn’t want to say goodbye to such an amazing cast of characters.

This was an easy five stars from me and I really hope Jules writes a sequel.

Oh I absolutely loved this book! I don’t know how I’ve never read any of this author’s books before. I intend to rectify that as soon as I can.

What can I say to make you read this book? Everything about it is perfect.

Right from the start it had me hooked. Our three main characters are all there on those first few pages, Claire, Ash and Hilda. At this stage, they’ve no idea how they will change each other’s lives.

Claire is a lovely and relatable character, totally caught up in the treadmill of her busy career, but her life changes quite suddenly.

Ash has a heart of gold under his slightly prickly exterior.

Hilda is such a character. She’s full of tall tales that we can’t tell if they’re true or not, and she’s both wise and funny.

When the three lives intersect, we get a wonderful story, full of warmth, humour and love.

This book is funny, heart-warming and so entertaining. It’s an absolute pleasure to read. A real treat that will bring a smile to your face and joy to your heart.

I am a huge fan of Jules Wake/Julie Caplin, so was overjoyed that there was another book for me to read and enjoy, and I really was not disappointed.

This story begins with Claire, a workaholic who had no time for anything else other than work and her desire to make partner at the firm she worked at. Busy with work 24/7 and with no time for family, friends, or to even take a breath, she is completely and utterly focused on her desire to succeed at the expense of, well, life really. When she meets Ash, the sparks fly between them from their initial meet cute, but the path of love never runs completely smoothly. When Claire has a breakdown whilst visiting her GP, and is signed off work to give her time to breathe, she could never have expected how her life was going to work out. During her time off work, she has her adorable nieces thrust upon her by her sister, who goes to a retreat in India for a week. Suddenly caring for two young children starts a chain of events that leads Claire in a completely new direction.

Out in her local park, Claire meets the mysterious and very feisty pensioner Hilda who is a complete breath of fresh air. Everyone needs a Hilda in their life, she was an absolute joy! Whilst getting to grips with the highs and lows of having to raise two young girls, Claire finds the rest of her life organised somehow with a lot of direction from Hilda, who pushes Claire and Ash back together, and gets them to organise a Park Run in their park. I loved Hilda’s mysterious and extraordinary background, and her sheer love of life.

There are many parts to this wonderful book, and although the steamy connection between Claire and Ash is off the scale, this is a book about community, friendship, and family. Family in this context is not just the family you are born with, but the many forms that a family can take.

As a non-runner, I actually found the detail about the Park Run, and how Park Runs are community runs taking place across the country every Saturday (although not during the present pandemic) really fascinating. It was interesting to see that there are many people who would not be considered to be runners who join in. There are health reasons as to why I am unable to go, but I have many friends who attend Park Runs in various places and I must confess to spending much of the book wishing I could take part too.

Once I immersed myself in the world of Claire, Ash and Hilda I could not put the book down, it was completely wonderful, even with a few ups and downs. This book made me want to be a part of it all. The side characters were lovely, plus there was a gorgeous ‘hairy carpet dog’ in amongst it all, and who doesn’t love a dog in a story? There were some lovely and very relatable characters in the story, and some not so lovable, but the sense of community and family shone from the pages like a beacon of light. This book is a definite five star book for me, it made me laugh and cry, and gave me the desire to locate my own sense of community.