Clara catches her boyfriend and best friend having an affair, so leaves London for small town life. Buying a dump off the internet was not her best choice, but when Henry shows up to help fix it up things improve. Meeting Rachel, who is being abused by her mother begins another friendship, and meeting elderly Tassie is another. Guess moving to the small village works out after all. Good story, good characters and good writing kept my interest throughout. Highly recommend this book.

I love any book which has a cottage in it, this one is no diffferent. I really felt for Clara during the story having two people she trusted go behind her back is awful though I liked that she decided to get away from it and buy the cottage. Seeing the front cover you can then picture the type of cottage it is along with the descriptions throughout the book as well. I really like Henry and his little girl, I found them both to be just what Clara needed having left the issues with her boyfriend and best friend. I also liked the wide range of characters who makes this lovely book what it is - even the crazy tea lady!

A lovely warm book that has you hooked from the first pages. A real cosy feel with great characters and a lovely setting,... the story of village i would love to move to. Perfect light summer read

I very much enjoyed this book. It has a good story and excellent main characters. I would definately recommend this book.

Sorry - forgot to post this review, now going through reviews had written and saved, yet not posted:

I don't know whether it was luck or not, but this cosy read came along at just the right time. It's quite rare that I don't put a book down before finishing it - as near as truth that's what happened here! More to come from this author for me!!

Starting Over at Acorn Cottage by Kate Forster is about a woman named Clara who runs away from her broken heart in London to a run down cottage in the country. When the new contractor turns out to be a handsome father of a little girl named Pansy, Clara vows to protect her heart. I enjoyed this well-written cozy story about abuse and starting over. The characters were charming and likable. The cottage the the setting was described very pleasantly. Worth the read. Thank you to Net Galley for an advanced reader’s copy.

I enjoyed reading this book. I was hooked from the beginning. I just love books like this. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for asking me to read and review.
Starting Over at Acorn Cottage was a wonderful read. It is well written with some characters that you can relate to and feel the emotions that they are going through. The plot draws you in, keeping you wanting more and turning those pages.
A brilliant, addictive read.

Really really liked this book, easy quick read. Liked that I could easily fall into the story after reading a few heavier books

Once is started if found is very hard to place this book down. All the wonderful characters had we totally engaged in their world as the story progressed. This book is more about new beginnings and finding your true happiness than what I expected. Can you fall in love with all four of the female characters in the same book, I say yes as each one had something that enhanced the other and gave this story a magical happy feel-good story.

Clara - broken-hearted Clara buys a country cottage called "Acorn Cottage" in a drunken payback to her cheating ex and best friend. Of to a little village call Merryknowe she goes but what she finds is worse than she thought. But can Clara find the strength to start a new life in a new place?

Tassie - is a local resident of this dying town, she was an ex-teacher of Maerryknowe and is now in her nineties. Tessie brings so much joy and mystical magic with her tea leaf reading to the book. She was a wealth of knowledge to both Rachel and Clara as they shared their lives and personal growth with her during this story.

Rachel - Is not happy she under the control of her mother in every aspect of her day to day life. She has not life no reason to get up out of bed each day. She meets the new girl in town how shows her friendship and possible understanding.

Pansy -a six-year-old this will warm your heart with her innocence, energy and youthful truth.

And there always has to be one handsome man to give us strength, trust, sexiness and the possibility of love. Henry is a widower with a young daughter Pansy, he is a thatcher and all-round handyman.

Each of the adults has some issues with there past they have not faced the true yet but with the ability to help each other this little community might just find themselves all in a much better and happier place by the end.

One person will start the domino effect to change many lives in this book I am happy to give my honest review of a new author to me.

An excellent story that kept me hooked till the last page.
The cast of characters is well thought and likeable, the setting is lovely and the plot flows and is well crafted.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Amazing storyline, had me captured from first chapter! Absolutely loved it! Can I move to Merryknowe?

Starting Over at Acorn Cottage by Kate Forster is an emotional heart tugging story. I fell in love at first page. These characters are funny, quirky, and charming. I enjoyed how the community got together and were always helping each other. So many issues such as abuse within a family were discussed. The loss of a loved one and the loss of a dear friend are tough to survive through and yet it brought the cast of characters closer. Clara, the main character is my favorite. She had a cheating boyfriend, a bad best friend, and an abusive father. She still came out shinning like a star. I wanted to hug her fiercely. Then, my next favorite character was the older lady Clara befriends. She was magical. Tons of humor and action to enjoy in this amazing read!

We have all been guilty of making an accidental drunken online purchase, but Clara has us all beat. After breaking up with her boyfriend she purchases a cottage, sight unseen, to mend her broken heart and start over.

However upon arriving at Acorn Cottage, the fixer-upper described is more decayed that she thought. And when her new contracted turns up, with his little girl things start looking up.

The little village of Merryknowe captures Clara’s heart and as she discovers secrets and tells her own, she finds peace at last in a home made for her.

I devoured this book in one sitting. I loved every word of it. The cover doesn’t do it justice. I assumed it was going to be a bit of mindless fun, however I was very wrong. It deals with deeper issues of loss and family violence and the repercussions of loneliness. However at the heart of it you are left feeling hopeful and uplifted.

The cosy village setting was definitely a welcome one and for me added an extra element to enjoy. The story was full of emotion - from warmth and love to sadness. I really liked the mysterious element too.

This was a really lovely book. It was a beautiful escape from life in quarantine, to an English village complete with tearooms, a white witch, and cottages complete with thatched roof and handsome handyman. In other times I might have found this book too sweet for my tastes, but right now it hit the spot just right.

I should mention that there are themes of domestic abuse in this book in case that is a trigger for you. I thought that the treatment of these topics was very sensitive. I usually prefer that characters who have undergone trauma receive treatment to help them move on but there was a really interesting stand-in for a therapist in this book.

I received an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review. The copy I read had a larger than usual number of typos. I'm hoping that these were largely corrected in the final version.

I recommend "Starting Over at Acorn Cottage" to help get you through these challenging times.

This book was so incredibly magical, and I didn’t want the story to come to an end, because it was just so lovely. This is the perfect antidote to the world outside right now, and the characters all add their own little magical touches which made me love them even more. From the outset Clara is just so innately good, and she drops everything to help anyone who needs her help, which is a quality that is in short supply in reality right now, and is a quality that most of us probably aspire to.

The absolute star of the show in this story is Tassie McIver, who brings a lot of the magic to the story, and is a little old lady that I simply adored. I really think everyone needs a Tassie in their lives! As wonderfully feel-good as this book is, it has a darker side to it too, dealing with abusive control in a sensitive way, and addressing carefully the aftermath to the abuse, with recovery aided by true friendships, and community spirit as the friends all rallied round.

The value of community is a theme that runs through this story, and I found it so heartwarming that I wanted to move immediately to live in a pretty thatched cottage in a village where everyone comes together to help one another, together with a magical bakery/cafe filled with delicious baked goods.

Kate Forster was a new author to me, but I will definitely be reading more of her work. ‘Starting Over at Acorn Cottage’ was an absolute joy to read.

Favorite Quotes:

Clara had found the evidence in Judy’s kitchen while looking for a bowl for nuts, and she had wanted to put Giles nuts in the container there and then.

‘I knew the woman who lived there. Sheila Batt. Like name, like person. She was an old bat. Died in her bed upstairs. I am surprised they didn’t find her hanging from the eves by her toes.’ Clara made a face of horror but Tassie shrugged. ‘We all have to go sometime. Better to be in your bed than on the toilet like Elvis.’

‘I did think something was in the air today, as I had a very itchy left eyebrow.’ Clara peered at Tassie’s eyebrows, which were drawn on with an eye pencil. ‘What if the right one was itchy?’ she asked. ‘Left is a lady visitor, right is a gentleman visitor. I don’t think the right one is even functioning anymore.’

You don’t get to choose if you have a baby or not really. The baby chooses you. Some women aren’t ready to have them and that’s fine and some yearn for them so much they scare them away. I yearned. Still do sometimes, even though my insides are now pickled and George has been dead for thirty years.


My Review:

How have I not read this talented scribe’s work before? I adore her! Goodreads reports twenty-six different books to her credit, where have I been? I am kicking myself for not noticing her stand-out skills sooner as I was an instant fan and an ardent devotee of her clever humor shortly after sinking into page one, and will also confess to savoring every perfectly chosen word and wittily written storyline ALL the way through. I giggle-snorted and gleefully wiggled in my chair with uncontainable delight at the unexpected nuances, captivating characters, and thoughtful little touches and perceptive insights that made this fabulous little tale a sublime and magical read. It was divine.

A sweet, endearing story to enjoy and visualize. A lovely cottage, interesting characters and a village you would want to stop in. Although some of the language(words) used was specific to the setting, it did not take away from the story of companionship, friendship and the importance of connection.
The descriptions were vivid and conjured up the scents of good food or the memories we need to leave behind with equal skill.
Would love to see this book made into a film.

I loved this book.
Glad it had a happy ending.
I can see acorn cottage in my mind as I read this story from when Clara first saw it to when it was finish and set up as a home.
I'm happy that Rachel got away from her stepmother I would have like to see moira face charges but the way Rachel dealt with her was good.
It's so good about Clara and Henry having their own happy ending.
I can't wait to buy this book just so I can 're read it all the time.