Summers are high season for weddings. And Gemma Whitehall gets to officiate them in her work at the registrar’s office in Suffolk. Too bad she’s not generally feeling particularly romantic herself, as a still-young single mother to a 14-year-old boy whose father is a complete deadbeat. All she has time for is work, figuring out how to get Leo off the computer or phone and make some real friends, and fending off her ex’s grabs for money.

Sam Ranworth has sold his house in London and sunk all the money into an old castle, aiming to make it into a wedding destination. He’s not been looking for a relationship since some years before when he had to deal with a complex tragedy. He has plenty to stay busy, what with trying to tame the wild, overgrown gardens and lawns around the castle and make the building itself, along with a cottage on the estate, usable and livable.

Gemma ends up renting the cottage, and while Sam had told her it needed some work (which made the rent affordable for her), it’s even more than she had expected. But she moved, and that’s it.

Each has reasons to keep the other at arm’s length, but it is summer, and surprisingly good things come of the move for both of them — not to mention that there is an undeniable spark between the two.

The Summer of Wishful Thinking is a fun romance that’s just the thing for beach reading (or virtual beach reading … or virtual travel to the countryside of Surrey, castle and profusely flowering gardens included). It was just the ticket for a little getaway.

Gemma needs to move to get away from her sponging ex, who is the father of her son Leo. She finds a cottage on the grounds of a castle, and moves in swiftly. Sam the owner is grumpy and doesn’t do the work he promised, but Gemma soon discovers that he has a lot on his plate and some of it she can help with...

I really loved this book. Gemma was a great character, a lovely mum and an independent woman. Her son Leo was just heartwarming, and the writing about the characters just made me want to know them all. The book didn’t really pick up too much until just over halfway through, but somehow I still didn’t find the first half boring or anything - I was really invested in Gemma’s story.

The ending was great, although I did think it was a tad rushed (this might be because I was enjoying the story so much that I wanted more)! A lot of things seemed to happen at once and then also get solved very quickly. But they were very good story lines so I can’t complain too much 😂

Overall, a great read and very enjoyable!

Happiness, smiles, pure joy. That’s what I felt leaving the pages of this book. It’s just a heartwarming and adorable read, absolutely lovely characters that you root for straight from the first time you meet them , you will them on as you read. The supporting characters are perfect and funny, I really hope Eve writes more and makes a series of these characters. Truly enjoyable and a great distraction

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Thank you netgalley for letting me read this lovely story.
From start to finish I couldn’t put it down.
I was hoping for good things to happen between Gemma and Sam from early on in the story. I was swept along with the will they won’t they.
Will look out for more books by this author.

A sweet story that made me smile, root for the characters and kept me hooked.
I liked the well thought characters, the setting and the plot that flows.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

The Summer of Wishful Thinking, Eve Edwards
⭐️⭐️⭐️
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If you are in need of a nice summery romance story to read in the garden I’d definitely recommend this book! It will be released 08/05 and you can preorder it now! (The kindle version is only 99p at the moment!)
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Synopsis:

Gemma is a local registrar, but watching couples exchanging vows is highlights what is missing from her life. Sam recently left the police in London to buy and renovate a castle as a new wedding venue after he dealt with a personal tragedy.

Gemma has just rented the cottage on Sams neglected country estate but can they overcome their pasts to take a chance on happiness?

This book is a quick summer read exploring love and loss, the descriptions of the gardens and plants were really well written and helped me to visualise the story. The supporting characters were also all interesting additions to the story.

I did think the beginning of the book heavily laid on different stereotypes but as the book and characters developed the story became more interesting whilst still having those good romantic cliches!

Thank you to Eve Edwards, @harpercollins and @netgalley for this gifted ARC to review!

🏰 Lovely summer 💞romance with a super cast of characters🌼

I loved this story, its characters and the plot. Gemma, the beleaguered, financially-strapped heroine, is a single mother trying her best to raise a techno-absorbed teen son. Her dwindling resources force their move to an economical rental cottage and put her in the orbit of Sam, a former London policeman who's decided to restore a castle but keeps getting sidetracked by caring for his ailing father. in addition to the romance, unusual friendships are struck, problems with exes and surprise visitors ensue and there's even a spot of criminal mayhem. Like the cover, the story has a light, sunny, hopeful feeling despite Gamma and Sam's almost daily trials and tribulations. 😊

Judging by how much I enjoyed The Summer of Wishful Thinking, Eve Edwards is an author whose works I would gladly read again.👍👍

Thanks to publishers One More Chapter/HarperCollins and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review and opinions expressed are completely my own.

This was a sweet book. Gemma Whitehall is a single mum, trying her best to raise her 14 yr old son Leo the best she can but her job isn’t the highest paid and now her ex, Leo’s dad, has stolen her laptop. She needs to move and finds a dilapidated cottage on grounds of a castle for a discounted rent.

Only the new landlord of the castle, Sam Ranworth, is making too many promises he can’t keep. His list of things to do on the castle grounds grows as fast as it’s weeds: he also has to keep on eye on his aging dad with dementia and now a demanding new tenant. He left London for the easy country life - when was it supposed to start?

I really liked the story and Gemma and Sam’s interactions felt natural and authentic to their characters. I could see it play out in my mind like a movie, a tad predictable at some points although I got the villain wrong with the bit of intrigue in it.

I really liked the book and how it all came together and connected but I don’t see myself rereading it. If it’s part of a series, I would love to read the next as Claremont Magna seems really picturesque.

Gemma and Sam are complex characters with depth and things they needed to overcome and both were trying to run away from their problems. All secondary characters were perfect. Thank you to the publisher and net galley for this book. This is my own review.

I have to admit I wasn't too keen on the male protagonist in this book, he seemed a bit too mean and belittling and some of the other characters felt very much like stereotypes and not good ones. It was a shame because I think it had a lot of potential.

The plot of this book was interesting, but honestly, if I had realized that Gemma had not only a son but a son who would randomly get his own POV at some point, I probably wouldn't have picked it up. I wish the blurb had mentioned that she was a single mother with a deadbeat of an ex, so I would have known to expect that aspect. Also, I felt there were too many POVs happening and usually no indication as to a switch. It got pretty confusing for me. If each chapter alternated between Sam's POV and Gemma's POV (and completely excluded her son's), it would have been easier to connect the dots. On top of that, I struggled to connect with these characters. Something was off, and I couldn't really click with this book.

A lovely summer read...nice predictable romance that simmers between Gemma and Sam. Very enjoyable easy pick up put down tale...ideal for the beach. Likeable characters and not too complicated!!

It was predictable from the start where the book was going, but such a lovely easy read! I absolute adore all the characters and ate through this book in a day!

I thought this was a good, easy read. I enjoyed the setting and a few of the characters, but thought the character development was a little lacking and it took over half the book for me to really get into it. I didn't really feel the dynamic between Sam and Gemma was natural/organic but overall thought it was a pretty good mindless, easy summer read!

I have enjoyed immensely the plot and loved the characters. This is my first book that I have read written by this author and for sure it won't be the last. I recommend the book to anyone who likes to read and relax with a good book at the end of the day.

A heart warming easy read set in beautiful surroundings. This was a lovely way to spend a few hours.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

The Summer of Wishful Thinking was a hit and a miss for me!

I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the book, the characters were lovely, especially William and Leo and the eventual connection between Sam and Gemma.

I didn't love the pacing or the lack of conflict building. I had a hard time buying the animosity between the main characters as it seemed pretty one and done. People are going to call this an enemy to lovers book but it's a bad first impression to lovers if anything! The ending was also kind of... Rushed and wrapped up too perfectly! It's the ending I wanted of course, I just didn't love the journey.

I spent the entire book wondering if I liked it or not and I'm still kind of stuck on that question.
2.5-3*

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Well I have to start this review by saying this is in my top 3 books of the year so far and I've read over 30 so far!
I loved it from the start. There were 2 characters I didn't like because you weren't supposed to.. The first character being 14 year old Leo's father. He was a nasty piece of work and then Gemmas mum. Although she grew on me in the end.
I loved the cover of the book and every word from the first to the last.
The characters were delightful and very relatable to, Gemma having a hard time and the lovely Sam who owned the castle being in turmoil from his past.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I want to thank the author, the publishers and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this early release book for the chance to give my honest review. This is my own thoughts on this book and I highly recommend it

Unfortunately this just wasn’t for me, I really struggled to connect with most of the characters, especially the two main leads. It was clique and it felt at times slightly two-dimensional. However, due to the current situation I did finish it pretty quickly and it had a sweet ending.


Thank you Netgalley & One More Chapter.

I had a tough time getting into this book. The characters seemed poorly put together, from the gay wedding to the very stereotypical black friend. In addition, Sam got very aggressive and not so nice to Gemma, which was not appealing. I felt like it took a long time to get to the climax of the book, and then it was a quick ending.

With thanks to Net Gallery and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Gemma is a registrar who has had a bumpy start in life having fallen pregnant at 15 to a man who is a total waste if space. Despite no longer being with him he still find a ways to make her and her son's life miserable so she decides to move out of town. She finds herself renting the Gate House, a small cottage at the entrance to a castle. The castle owner Sam happens to be very dashing. Will Gamma be able to get her life in order and find the happy ending she so deserves?

I loved this book, if you like Carole Matthews, Holly Martin or Jenny Colgan then this is a book for you. A wonderful feel good read for these very testing times we find ourselves in.