Moving in with a new partner’s parents can rarely be easy – but when you’re a bit arty and creative and maybe a teeny bit ditsy, it’s considerably more difficult when you find they run a farm along particularly traditional lines and have very fixed ideas about appropriate roles for farmers and farmers’ wives. And they raise cattle, and enjoy a fatty fry-up in the mornings – and you’re a vegetarian. And there’s an ever-present meddling neighbour who seems to enjoy making you feel inadequate and unwelcome – and you’re sure there’s some big secret people aren’t sharing with you.

Flora and Ned have barely got started with their relationship, but it really does look doomed to fail, however much they might love each other. When something rather unexpected and dramatic happens, it’s the start of a considerable emotional journey for everyone – but one that’s ultimately joyful and uplifting and really warms the cockles of your heart.

The characters in this book are excellent – Ned himself struggling to help Flora settle and fit in, his mother rarely putting down the bleach bottle (unless she’s kneading a loaf or starting the next batch of marmalade), his taciturn and stoical father. And then there’s that neighbour – a total horror, but a great creation. And Grace at the village shop – a lovely character, with an interesting twist on that theme of “a woman’s place” – but you’ll have to see for yourself where she fits in. But it’s Flora herself who constantly draws your eye, while winning your heart with an inner strength you’d never have expected.

I’ll admit I might have been expecting a bit more of a love story – but this book is more about what happens afterwards, when real life kicks in, with a few big misunderstandings and rocky moments along the way, and that was just fine with me. There’s quite a lot of sadness, past and present, in this book alongside the sunny presence of Flora – and it’s all particularly well-handled as things reach resolution, entirely uplifting and satisfying, with an ending that really does bring a tear to the eye along with the widest of smiles.

The writing is excellent – an ease of readability, a vividly described setting, excellent character development, and a story with an uncertain outcome, along with the surest of touches with the emotional content. The tour poster mentions “feel-good”, and so it is – this book has all the warmth of the fluffiest blanket, and I enjoyed it very much. I understand we’ll be returning to Hope Corner for another visit in the summer… I’ll be looking forward to it immensely.

(Copied to Amazon UK - link not yet available)

I struggled with this, couldn’t find any empathy for most of the characters, story wasn’t very interesting and it couldn’t hold my attention. It sounded so good, but sadly not for me.


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

Romance in a rural setting is always a pleasure to read, and The House at Hope Corner’ is unashamedly poignant and romantic. It has a sentimental, old fashioned quality to it, that I love. A new beginning on a farm in beautiful Shropshire is just what Flora needs.

It turns out that it’s not quite the rural idyll it appears, and Flora has to learn to fit in but fight to retain her individuality. Her whirlwind romance with Ned didn’t prepare her for the battle ahead, but she is independent, optimistic and tenacious and determined her new life will succeed.

The setting is authentic and full of farming facts that give the story depth and interest. The romance between Ned and Flora is full of good intentions and conflicts. Secrets and lies threaten Flora’s new start but you want her to succeed and find her happily ever after with Ned.

Great characters that you believe in, numerous seemingly insurmountable conflicts, a villainous antagonist in designer clothes, all in a rural setting to die for, what’s not to love?

I received a copy of this book from Bookouture via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I loved this book and the way it was written and shall certainly be looking out for other books from this author.

With all the trademark warmth and humour I've come to expect from Emma Davies, this is a novel which surpassed all my expectations!

Flora Dunbar runs her own flower shop; a successful business until recently and she is weighing up her options when she meets and falls in love with Ned, a farmer. When his proposal follows very quickly, her decision is made and she moves to the country with him. Ned lives with his hard-working parents; his mother is a lovely woman but rather set in her ways and Flora struggles to settle in. Then disaster strikes and, to make things worse, there are secrets being hidden from her. But Flora loves Ned and adores her new surroundings; she has no intention of abandoning her life for a second time.

This is a exceptionally well-woven tale of country life, family and acceptance. Sinking into an Emma Davies book is like lying on a super-fluffed up bed and just allowing yourself to drift. The story is stunning; beautifully crafted with extremely realistic characters in the most wonderfully described setting. Anyone with the faintest notion of having green fingers will be itching to get out into the garden and begin creating! I've loved this author's writing from the very first and I truly believe she has excelled with this novel - the warmth just pours out of it and it is a tremendously enjoyable read! I cannot recommend this one highly enough; if you love a good story then this is one you most definitely won't want to miss. A full five dancing, glowing stars!

My thanks to publisher Bookouture for my copy via NetGalley. All opinions stated here are entirely my own, as always.

What a wonderful book! I’ve loved this author’s previous books so I knew that I was going to enjoy this one, I just didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did! Flora Dunbar is a fabulous character! She’s kooky and quirky, but so loveable! From the author’s writing, I have such vivid images in my mind of what Flora looks like, completely uncoordinated with her stripy tights and brightly coloured dresses! Take away all that though and you’re left with the loveliest character that I think I’ve met in a long time! She obviously has something in her past, and we don’t get to find out about that until much later in the book, but she’s such a caring and loving person that you can’t help but fall in love with her from the very first page!

Having had to sell up her florists in Birmingham, Flora moves to Hope Corner to be with her ‘love at first sight’ farmer, Ned. Ned is a dairy farmer and lives with his parents on the farm. Flora, being the free-spirit that she is initially has a difficult time settling into life on the farm and if it wasn’t for the love of Ned I would imagine she would have hot-footed it back to Birmingham the next day! As I was reading about life on the farm, I was trying to recall whether I’ve ever read a book about a dairy farm, and I think it’s safe to say I haven’t! So whilst the plot of the story was a first for me it didn’t really matter as by the end of the first couple of chapters I was hooked!

Now, the difference with this book compared to others written by this author was that it wasn’t a traditional romance. The romance between Flora and Ned was there but what was forefront in the story was Flora’s personality, feelings and emotions. This, for me, was such a refreshing change! Don’t get me wrong, I love a good romance but sometimes the stories can all be the same – they fall in love, they have an argument, they fall out of love and then they fall back in love again! This book was different to that, it had all that but it was much more emotional, warming and endearing! The characters were all lovely, with the exception of Caroline of course, and my personal favourite was Fraser, who by the end I absolutely loved (and I just knew the beans on toast had nothing to do with it!)!

I really loved this book. Once I started it, I couldn’t stop until I’d finished and this took me just less than a day! It was full of emotion with plenty of smiles and a few tears thrown in for good measure. I could smell the flowers coming from between the pages, although was very thankful that the smell of the cowshed kept itself firmly in the book! The location was perfect and the writing created wonderful images of the beautiful countryside. Taking all that into account I think, for me, this was my favourite book written by this author!! Fab, fab, fab!! Would definitely recommend!

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy....

Omg! I absolutely loved that book and now, it’s my favourite! Such a beautiful cover...

Looking forward to read more book from this author soon...

Flora is a free-spirited florist who can see the world in the colour of flowers, plants and the landscape around her. Not only can she create wonderful blooms she can create beautiful drawings and prints.

She can see all of this at Hope Corner in the house she has moved into after a whirlwind romance with Ned, the farmer there. Trouble is the house and the farm is very much Ned's parents domain, Fraser and Hannah and it is not just Ned, Flora is learning about it is them as well.

Fraser and Hannah are traditional people, almost set in their ways and they are rather taken aback by Flora's approach to life - not living by a timetable, carved out from years of practice and one that is there for a reason.

Flora has trouble adjusting but they start to find a happy balance until tragedy strikes one day.

The whole equilibrium of Hope Corner, the house, the farm and all their relationships are thrown up in the air.

Emma Davies has captured something between the pages of this book. Whilst there is romance it is almost certainly not the predominant theme. The emotionally charged relationships between them all and the secrets that they are keeping from each other certainly made for sometimes difficult reading.

The characters all had their flaws, some more obvious than others and I was equally enamoured by Flora as I was exasperated by Hannah and wanting to slap Caroline. Ned was perhaps a bit weak, but living in the shadow of his father but more his mother, he needed to break the apron strings and look at the life that Flora was giving him.

Sometimes it needs an outsider to make you see what is wrong with the right way you have been living - that outsider is Flora and she brought a lot of hope to the house, to the farm and to the future.

This is a joyful heartwarming novel which kept my interest all the way through. So much so that I wanted to know more once I had finished and will now have to wait for the next novel.

It is tough enough falling in love within a short span of time and knowing all you need to know about your beloved. Imagine if you will, you are engaged to a farmer but you are a vegetarian. His livelihood is raising cows but you abhor the sight of meat sizzling on the Aga. Now add to this characterization, you are a free spirit and artist but you will be living with your in-laws and your kinswoman thrives on organization. You dream of exploring your creativity. The question is, can your relationship work?

Whereas I thought The House at Hope Corner would read like a romance, it leaned heavily on theme of ‘women’s fiction’. Flora was thirty-five years old and had owned a floral business for more than ten years when Ned Jamieson walked into her shop. Within a very short span of time, the business was sold and they were engaged. She was moving in with her soon-to-be in-laws because Ned still lived with his parents.

There were plenty of flaws and warts in this story. Tension mixed with varying levels of honesty, a very nosy neighbor with airs of snobbishness but pretending to be friendly and a business venture that was complicated. I liked Flora and I liked Ned but the romance itself took a back seat. The writing was accessible but I wasn’t expecting a woman’s emotional journey. I wanted more.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3

*Thank you to Bookouture, Emma Davies and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.*

I rate this book as just ok. The story line is about families and their financial and emotional struggles. The main character changes her life by getting engaged to a diary farmer. The changes are significant since she is a city person and an entrepreneur, owning a flower shop. I did not like the way the main character was written. She had no appeal to me no matter how the author tried to make her out to be the heroine of the story. One point that I found strange was how she felt the fiancé's parents were old fashioned in their ways. Yet, she lived in their house and slept in her fiancé's bed. So much for old fashion!!

You have different kinds of feel good books. You have the really funny and lighthearted ones and you have the ones with a deeper meaning. This book belongs to the latter category and in my opinion the cover already reflects that. That is certainly not a bad thing. It prepares you more or less for what is to come, but they both have the lovely happy ending everybody is waiting for.It's good to have a certain system, a certain ritual even, but sometimes you have to try and take a look from the outside in and realize it's time for a change. I admit that is not very easy to do and it might take a third party to show you the ropes.Even when things are bad there is a way out. You just have to keep looking at the problem from every angle and even make a u-turn.Where there's a will, there's a way is a lesson I learned here. Never give up!This is a story about turning your life upside down and undoing some of the (wrong) decisions you took in the past. When you love something or someone enough, you will pull through.Thank you, Emma Davies, Bookouture and Netgalley.

I'm a fan of Emma Davies, so I was pleased to have the opportunity to read her new book as an ARC from Netgalley.
Flora is struggling with her job as a florist, when she meets Ned, a farmer and they have a whirlwind romance. This seems like fate, when he takes her to live with his family at their farm. Flora is thrown in at the deep end when she realises that the family have traditions which they refuse to change. As she struggles to fit in, she gets suspicious that they are hiding something from her. She wonders if she has made a big mistake.
Emma Davies writes wonderful feel-good stories which also have a good sprinkling of romance.This is book is no exception, I enjoyed reading it. I can't wait to read the linked book which is due out in the summer.

The House at Hope Corner follows Flora as she sells her flower shop to move to a farm after a whirlwind romance with farmer Ned. It's about her finding her feet in these new, foreign surroundings. In the beginning I was unsure where the book was heading and whether I was going to like the characters. But it didn't take me long to start liking Flora and hoping she eventually gets her happy ending. The storyline will keep you interested throughout and I liked that there weren't too many characters to keep up with. All in all, The House at Hope Corner is the perfect beach read to devour this summer.

Wow!!! Five stars is not enough for this book! Absolutely nothing more than delightful and purely heartwarming! I did not put this book down!! I fell in love with Flora and her character not stopping to give up hope when she could have. This book has touched my heart in so many levels, that I feel my words are not enough! A first read for me from this author and I just found a rainbow in her writing. As I read this books with its unexpected twists and turns I felt like I had a warm blanket wrapped in happiness and excitement around me!!! I loved the surprises this book held and the name of it! How fitting that The House on Hope Corner filled my own heart with hope as well. I'll be sharing this review on Twitter and will copy Emma and Net Galley ! I will also be sharing with all my BOOK groups and pages on Facebook! I highly recommended this book and can't wait to get my hands on all of her books!!!!!!!

A lovely novel! Flora, kind of impulsively, marries Ned and moves to his house at Hope Corner. Little did she realize what it would mean for her- to be a farmer's wife, to join a highly "traditional" family, to live with your in-laws, to have a horrid neighbor. Hannah and Fraser ran the farm for years and now that Ned's an adult, he's dog paddling to keep it all afloat. Flora, having just gone through a tough time with her own business, has some nifty ideas but people discount her because she is "different"- as hard as she tries, she's still just a bit different. Caroline, the rotten neighbor, well, enough said about her! Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This one expands as you read along and you'll be rooting for Flora all the way.

What a wonderful book I loved it so much that I hope that there will be a sequel. I would love to read more of Emma Davies .books

A good read, but for me it didn't go deep enough in parts, presumably because a sequel is due. I liked Flora's character. We were teased with bits about her intuition, visions etc. I'd like to have read more about that, and about her art.
I wouldn't describe this book as a romance, and perhaps it's not billed as one. It's more of a family saga, because Ned's parents appear in it more than he does! I could only just believe in Flora and Ned's relationship - a quick prologue to describe their whirlwind romance and then not long afterwards it's all about Flora trying to find a place on Ned's farm. I would have liked more interaction between Flora and Ned. The epilogue was odd, more focused on the new business than on the ......... (I won't say because it's a spoiler).
I couldn't believe the old-fashioned views, a woman's role being to support her husband. Admittedly, these views changed as the book went on, but it made me feel uncomfortable.
Flora seemed too nice at times, never really letting rip when she every right to; instead she seemed to blame herself.
Flora's art seemed to get lost, firstly with everything going on at the farm, and then with setting up her new family business. I hope she gets back to it in the sequel.

Another fantastic book from Emma! I loved the characters and setting, glad to see it looks like we will be revisiting in the Summer.

I had to request this book when I read the synopsis and it involved a farm! I am ever so slightly obsessed with farming, I'm in awe of those that work literally all hours on all days of the year.

Flora and Ned have had a whirlwind romance, she has sold up her flower shop and flat and moved to Ned's family farm. Finding it difficult to set into farm life due to some archaic beliefs of where the women fit into home life until a life-changing event occurs which draws the family closer together with Flora being the leading force in this.

Flora learns the farm is in trouble and tries to persuade the family to start a new venture instead and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the battles she had with some family members with a surprise member being the one leading the supporter club! I also particularly enjoyed a dressing down that Flora gave to the odious and bullying Caroline, it's nice to see bullies not get their way in life.

I'd love to re-visit Hope Corner and so was delighted to find there will be another novel in the same setting coming this summer!

My many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for providing me with this advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

It took me about eight chapters before my brain kicked in and informed me that the reason I was loving the book to that point was the author has penned one of my favorite series. And, they are surprisingly similar in feel: with huge changes coming to everyone. But, this book was uniquely lovely as we follow the story of Flora and Ned, her soon-to-be in laws Hannah and Fraser, and just how she’s going to fit into this remote, yet wholly gorgeous dairy farm and little community. Flora is a bit of an eccentric – her flower shop has been struggling for the past few years, and she’d finally decided to sell up and start something new, possibly with her artwork and printmaking when a man walked through the door. Utterly stunned, Ned and Flora found a connection between them, one that can’t be ignored, and soon he’s asked her to marry him and come to Hope Corner and start their life together.

A gorgeous series of fields now hosting a rather chill wind only seems to match the ‘reserve’ shown Flora by Ned’s parents, along with a long list of “how things are done” and the obvious fact that while she and Ned care for one another, they also don’t know much about each other. We all know that you never really ‘know’ a person until you are always together, and their whirlwind romance, while none really doubt their feelings are authentic, has shaken the foundations a bit. Then you add in Flora’s bright clothing, her artistic bent, and her ability to drift off with the faeries when her imagination is let loose in the wild and things are tough. Add in the neighbor Caroline who isn’t quite the “friendly person” she is making out to be, and the savior of all Flora’s insecure moments in Grace, and she’s finding a way to exist, even though she has a secret.

But, it’s apparent that Ned has secrets too, and that the farm isn’t pushing forward but more tottering along: money is tight, Hannah is allergic to change, and Flora is just trying to fit in. Yet it is a horrible thing when change is forced upon you, as Fraser’s heart attack and bypass do, and we see Flora doing all she can to keep things moving forward while Ned works all hours and Hannah is motoring through on autopilot. The uncovering of items hidden in a rarely-used room, the unmasking of Caroline as a selfish and self-serving person, and Flora’s determination and unique ideas to ‘save’ them from themselves brings the story around to new starts and hope for all, with plenty of heart, understanding, friendship and smiles to go round. Again, Davies has created a story that drags you into the setting, with characters you want to befriend, descriptions that create imagery, and, best of all, the uncovering of hope and happy times to come.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-ap7/” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>