EXCERPT: 'St Mede's is in danger of being closed down.'
'It's always had a stay of execution over its head, has that place. It was on the point of either falling down, or being closed down, when we were kids at Beddingfield Comp. You know, when the St Mede's lot would ambush us on the school bus?'
I nodded, remembering. We'd always been up for a tussle with the rival school in the next village.
'And, anyway, why's that of concern to you?' Jess asked, giving me one of her looks. 'You hated the place when you started there in September. I thought you'd be out of there as soon as you could? Heading back to London with Fabian?'
I was beginning to realise that she'd now met Fabian and said she approved of him, Jess seemed unable to talk about him without some little derogatory dig, without an air of slight disparagement. I knew it was probably only Jess in full-on protestive mode, but also knew it had been a major coup when Jess had beaten him into third place just before Christmas, when they'd both got into the finals of the Yorkshire Top Chef competition.
'Possibly.' I nodded. 'You're right. If Fabian heads back south, I'll be going with him.'
'So, you're thinking of packing it up and leaving us all again, are you?' Despite Jess's apparent flippant comments re my returning to London, I knew she'd hate me leaving Beddingfield again. Especially as Sorrel would possibly be on the point of leaving too.
'I hate only seeing Fabian for snatched weekends,' I said. I was already missing him, felt depressed at the thought of my lonely single bed next door at Mum's place. On the couple of occasions he'd stayed over with me at Mum's cottage, we'd had to bunk down together in the single bed. We'd both been uneasy, embarrassed even, at finding ourselves having to revert to the status of teenagers, knowing Mum was in her room across the landing and Sorrel able to hear any cries of passion through the thin wall separating her bedroom from the tiny box room we were in. To be fair, Mum had offered up her bed, but I'd no intention of turfing her out. As a result, as soon as Christmas was over (both Fabian and his sister, Jemima, had dutifully returned to the bosom of the Carrington family for the festive season) I'd gone to stay with Fabian in Harrogate but, with a new term about to start, that was no longer possible.
It really was time to move on.

ABOUT 'LESSONS IN LIFE': The Yorkshire village of Beddingfield is home to the wonderful women of the Allen family: teacher Robyn, wannabe chef Jess, teenage tearaway Sorrel and matriarch Lisa, who holds the whole family together. But underneath her warmth and brilliance, Lisa has a secret – she longs to know who she really is.

In Hudson House, the grand manor on the edge of Beddingfield which is now a care home, lives seventy-something Eloise Howard. With film star beauty but memories fading fast, Eloise is slowly taking one foot at a time back into her past. Born into a prestigious family, her father the owner of the local Hudson’s Mill, Eloise’s life was destined to be one of finishing schools and balls. But when her path crossed Junayd Sattar’s, the most striking and kindest man she had ever met, nothing would ever be the same again.

When Lisa begins to spend time at Hudson House and befriends Eloise, the two women form an unbreakable bond. But unbeknownst to them both, they share secrets that, once uncovered, will change everything they believed about their own lives.

MY THOUGHTS: Although Lessons in Life by Julie Houston is #2 in the Beddingfield series, it can easily be read as a stand-alone.

I usually adore Julie Houston's writing, but Lessons in Life fell more than a little short for me. I loved her Westenbury and Heatherly Hall series, but the Beddingfield series just doesn't have the same appeal for me, although I did enjoy A Class Act (Beddingfield #1) more than Lessons in Life.

The link between Eloise and Lisa was easy to work out and, so nothing after that came as a surprise. As for the remainder of the book, it just seemed to be repeating itself. Lessons in Life didn't keep my interest, and I felt nothing for the characters. I won't be continuing with this particular series, although I will continue to read other books by Julie Houston.

I am very much an outlier in my opinions of Lessons in Life, so please check out some other more positive reviews. It may be a case of 'it's me, not the book.'

⭐⭐.5

#LessonsinLife #NetGalley

MEET THE AUTHOR - JULIE HOUSTON is Yorkshire born and bred. She lives in Huddersfield where her novels are set and her only claims to fame are that she taught at ‘Bridget Jones’ author Helen Fielding’s old school, her neighbour is ‘Chocolat’ author Joanne Harris, and her friend is about to marry Tracy Emin’s cousin! Oh, and she was rescued by Frank Bough when, many years ago, she was ‘working as a waitress in a cocktail bar’ at the Kensington Hilton in London.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Boldwood Books via NetGalley for providing an e-ARC of Lessons in Life (Beddingfield #2) for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

A heartwarming, humorous and enjoyable read and my first foray into Julie Houston's work- this story was enjoyable and a quick and immersive story that I read in two sittings.
A huge thankyou to Net galley and Boldwood Books for the early ARC of this feel good book.

A Great read by Julie Houston, A contemporary womens fiction, with aspects of love. If you could put the sign "Live, laugh, love" Into a book I feel like this would be it wrapped with a beautiful bow. Such a heartfelt read. I started with this book, have not read the first but both are available on Kindle Unlimited and will go back and read them in order. Thanks to netgalley & the publisher Boldwood Books for this eARC!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a wonderful, heartwarming book. I enjoyed it a lot. This is part of a series, but I haven't read the first one and was able to enjoy it as a standalone.

Lessons in Life by Julie Houston is a warm and touching story about family, friendship, and discovering the past. The book follows Lisa Allen, a caring mother who begins to wonder about her own history. Her search for answers brings her to Hudson House, a memory care home in her small town. While she is there, Lisa meets Eloise, an elderly woman with a slipping memory and a life full of secrets. As Lisa and Eloise grow close, Lisa begins to uncover surprising truths that connect their lives in ways she never expected. The story moves between past and present and is full of lovable characters and emotional moments. And it’s a good reminder that it’s never too late to find out new things about ourselves!

This is the second in a series, I haven't read the first book (I've started it but not finished), but it can be read as a standalone. I also note that there is a third book (at least) in the offing.

Robyn Allen is a former West End dancer who tore her ACL and is now back at home in Beddingfield as a supply teacher. She had been seeing Fabien Carrington, an aristocratic high-flying defence criminal lawyer, but they split up and she had a brief affair with the head teacher at the school where she works.

Robyn's older sister Jess runs a care home at Hudson House, although her ambition has always been to be a chef, a teenage pregnancy put paid to those ambitions, although she has recently won a cooking competition.

Robyn's youngest sister Sorrel is still at school, Robyn's school in fact, and is seeing a young man from a troubled family who may be involved in County Lines.

Lisa, Robyn's mother, is adopted. She is of half-Indian and half-English heritage but doesn't know much more because her adoptive parents were secretive and also ashamed of Lisa's mixed heritage. Lisa has been a single mother since she was a teenager, although the girls' father is still in the picture and has supported Lisa financially. He's a semi-famous musician who prefers life on the road to domesticity. Lisa has suffered from Porphyria for most of her adult life, which has left her weak and subject to bouts of being bedridden, but recently a new treatment has given her a new lease of life.

Interspersed with the narrative about Lisa and her three daughters is an historical narrative involving Eloise Hudson, daughter of a wealthy manufacturer, who used to love at Hudson House as a child and is now a resident suffering from dementia.

If you've read any previous Julie Houston novels, particularly the Westenbury books, then this is very familiar. Multiple stories, multiple protagonists, several strands left unfinished for the next book, on-again, off-again relationships, County Lines, etc. For me, I wasn't really invested in any of the characters enough and every time I did start to be engaged we would abruptly switch to the 1960s and I would lose the thread again.

Overall, this felt very much like a middle book, it sort of ended abruptly with new beginnings in the offing for most of the Allen family, but how long that will last is anyone's guess.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Available on Kindle Unlimited.

An enjoyable read, well written novel and worked well as a stand alone. I enjoyed the flashbacks to Eloise's life in particular and the relationship between the three siblings was very convincing all in all an engaging read.

Meet Lisa and her daughters three,
Complete with a family mystery.
Lisa was adopted but knows nothing of her past
But secretly would love to uncover it at last.

Her daughters each have problems of their own
Especially when rumours of changes are sown.
Can they help uncover their Mum’s birth history
Especially when even her adoptive parents are, to them, a mystery?

A story about family and so much more,
As family dramas and relationships it explores.
A heartwarming read with surprises on the way
Along with romances to make your day!

For my copy of this book I say a big thank you
As I share with you this, my honest review.

Loved this! There is something about Julie's writing that just feels like you're catching up with old friends when you read her books!
Can't wait to see what else Julie has in store for us very soon :)

Once I read my first Julie Houston book, I knew I must read all subsequent books, of which this was no exception. If you want to get lost in a book that is heartwarming with realistic characters, who are not a lot of fluff and nonsense this is the author for you. The characters are relatable, sharing experiences you're now experiencing or already have. A real pick me upper that'll have you not wanting to put it down at bedtime, sleep, what's that. Warm, witty, and an author that you'll want to keep coming back to.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

Lessons in life is about a family who is very close and the matriarch, Lisa discovers she's adopted. It never bothered her before, but because a rare diagnosis comes up, she needs to know who her birth parents are. This is a heartwarming story of family and the challenges that they need to overcome to get some answers. I liked this story, the characters were likeable and a little quirky. I didn't realize this was a second book in a series. Not reading the first book didn't hinder my reading experience at all. The only thing is that I felt like it ended abruptly.

Enjoyed this read! “Lessons in Life” by Julie Houston is the 2nd in a series following Robyn and her family. I don’t feel like you have to read the first book to understand this book but I want to now read the first book. I adore these characters. The story follows Robyn’s mother’s journey to find her birth parents as well as the daily lives of Robyn’s siblings Jess & Sorrell. Set in the countryside of Beddington UK. The secondary characters are charming and fun too. I highly recommend this heartwarming story. Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this advance read. Go get your newly released copy today!

Really enjoyed this story from Julie Houston, full of love between a family.
The sister’s relationships are written about in a really realistic way - squabbles and laughter intertwined in their everyday dealings with each other, safe in the knowledge they’d be there for one another when needed.
The whole community felt a good place to live and I really enjoyed seeing Robyn in her teaching job.
The dual timeline parts with Eloise’s history uncovered are interesting and I’d have liked more of her story and her life at Hudson Hall. She sounded like a fascinating woman

The main focus of the first book in this lovely series was Robyn, her return to Beddingfield after having to leave the London stage and taking up a teaching job, and her on-off relationship with Fabien – and life’s still not running smoothly for them both, for reasons you’ll soon discover. But this latest book would be entirely readable, and equally enjoyable, as a standalone – I was delighted to find that the other members of her family took their turns in the spotlight, with compelling stories of their own.

Robyn’s sister Jess works as manager of a nursing home but with dreams of being a full-time chef; teenage sister Sorrel hopes for a stage career, with a talent nurtured by Robyn, but with real complications caused by her errant boyfriend. And then there’s mother Lisa – on the road to being well once more after a difficult time with an inherited condition, yearning to knowing more about her birth parents but knowing only, from the scant information reluctantly passed on by her adoptive parents, that her mother was Asian.

And it’s Lisa’s story that perhaps predominates – delighted to find a neglected garden she can tend as she regains her strength at the nursing home where Jess works, a former family-owned mansion, she strikes up a friendship with elderly and sometimes confused resident Eloise, the daughter of the family who used to own it. And, in tandem, Eloise’s history unfolds – seamlessly done, intriguing at every turn – and we slowly discover that there are unexpected links with Lisa’s own story. It’s all told with a perfect sense of time and place – her claustrophobic existence as the daughter of the local mill owner, her mother remote and intent on introducing her to society, while she finds considerably more joy in new friendships with the mill workers, all less socially acceptable in their different ways.

In the grounds of the nursing home there’s an extraordinary summer house, perhaps the property Fabien – no longer enamoured with the legal profession, sharing Lisa’s passion for cooking – could consider developing as a restaurant. But there are rumblings that a local developer has already bought the whole site, planning to knock everything down and build a factory – and the school where Robyn works, which the teaching team are finally managing to turn around, is also in their sights.

But I really mustn’t tell the story – it follows a number of equally engaging threads, laced with moments of drama and poignancy, as the family and other relationships bring plenty of complications. Much of the joy in the book is through seeing Lisa finally getting some answers and achieving a sense of belonging, showing real determination and bravery, finally living her life to the full. But I enjoyed the other intertwined storylines every bit as much – the book attempts a lot, and succeeds in every possible way.

While it does tackle a number of serious issues – particularly sensitively, and extremely well – those moments of humour that always feature in the author’s books are very much present, with situations that had me in stitches alongside the many others that couldn’t fail to move me to tears. And every single individual, however minor their role, is so superbly drawn – these were all people I really cared about, every setback giving a real stab to the heart, every little victory making me want to cheer. I honestly don’t think the author has ever written better – I’m very much looking forward to the continuation of the story, and discovering what life might have in store for everyone. Very much recommended – I loved every moment.

This is a great book, telling the story of a family in a beautiful Yorkshire village. The characters are very empathetic, with real personalities and problems. There are many threads to the book, it doesn’t just follow one storyline. I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. Although this is the second in a series it could be read as a stand alone book.

Lessons in Life by Julie Houston

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to Rachel's Random Resources and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

The Yorkshire village of Beddingfield is home to the wonderful women of the Allen family: teacher Robyn, wannabe chef Jess, teenage tearaway Sorrel and matriarch Lisa, who holds the whole family together. But underneath her warmth and brilliance, Lisa has a secret – she longs to know who she really is.

In Hudson House, the grand manor on the edge of Beddingfield which is now a care home, lives seventy-something Eloise Howard. With film star beauty but memories fading fast, Eloise is slowly taking one foot at a time back into her past. Born into a prestigious family, her father the owner of the local Hudson’s Mill, Eloise’s life was destined to be one of finishing schools and balls. But when her path crossed Junayd Sattar’s, the most striking and kindest man she had ever met, nothing would ever be the same again.

When Lisa begins to spend time at Hudson House and befriends Eloise, the two women form an unbreakable bond. But unbeknownst to them both, they share secrets that, once uncovered, will change everything they believed about their own lives.

My Opinion

Lessons in Life is the second book in The Beddingfield Series but it can be read as a standalone. Lessons in Life was an enjoyable read with some great characters. I have read a few books by Julie Houston but with a lovely writing style I will be reading more in the future. A relatable story.

Rating 4/5

Another terrific novel from the pen (keys?) of Julie Houston!

This time round, Robyn is still teaching at the local school and invested in the lives of her pupils which include her younger sister Sorrell. Her sister, despite her cooking prowess, is manager of a local care home set in a former mansion in the village and now that her mother's health is improving she is beginning to get out and about more. When talk of the care home being sold surfaces, it seems life is about to change - and not for the better . . .

I'm a great fan of Julie Houston's; she has her finger on the pulse of what makes readers laugh and giggle but her novels are always set in reality. This series has some great characters and the storylines are all very realistic. I'm delighted to see her bring her knowledge from her own life into her books. There is a passion behind all of her characters, and they give each other belief of success. Along with the laughter, another very readable and thoroughly enjoyable novel and one I highly recommend. No doubt about it, five sparkling stars and my very highest recommendation.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley.

The women portrayed in the second book in the Beddingfield series are complex, flawed and recognisable. I like the realistic familial relationships created and the focus on contemporary and historical issues, many of which endure over time. The village setting is relatable, and the problems facing a threatened school add authenticity and drama. There are many situational humorous moments to contrast with the poignant ones. I like the character development that makes you invest in the story and its cast of characters.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Lessons in Life is a bit different from her usual books in terms of a mix of characters. Here she's portrayed an aspect of the UK in the 60s, with incoming immigrants from former colonies of the Empire.

I still enjoyed the drama and little tiifs, tussels of the sister in the story topped with their mum's unravelling past.

This is a delightful read by Julie, with delightful characters and intertwined relationships that only become apparent towards the end of the book. Julie always writes such heart warming books and never fails to disappoint.