|:: The Sanctuary Keepers
By Alexandra Barber
Chapter Three Page 23
5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

{ She took her cup of tea on to the deck and sat on one of the front seats, watching small sailing boats scudding past on the stiff Solent wind. It was uncanny how travelling across such a small stretch of water could really make you feel as if you were getting away from it all. It seemed strange, too, to be going away entirely on her own but it was too short notice to ask anyone to join her. Besides, Jules had said that the place would be good and she was definitely right about that. Her mind was a complete jumble.
‘You need to be by yourself,’ she'd said, as Carrie fretted about what to take, ‘and try to just be for a change. You're always doing. It's not healthy. It leads to burnout. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. I've got new mums who are burnt out before they even have a baby because they work up until the very last minute or they take time off but won't give themselves permission to stop for a moment. Sometimes I think the whole world needs to unwind.’ }

Carrie Adams is a PR's dream. She is young, has ideas, creativity, inspires people, loves her job with a burning passion and everyone likes her and now all her hard work is paid off. She is going to be made a Partner. Finally!!
But what started off as a good day, went downhill rather fast, if she had been open to seeing the signs she would have known to keep her head and heart guarded. Because nothing hurt more than watching the lifts open to the scene before her. 

Thanks to Jules, her best friend, she found a retreat away from her wreck of a life, in Manchester, to get some clarity on situations, relationships and more importantly herself. Being with someone since you were 18 might seem like a sweet sentiment. But were you the same person you were at 18.. now? Things change.

People change. But some people stick because it's comforting and it's better than change which brings risk, reward, heartbreak, closure and/or pain. Anything can happen. Although frightened at what she would find once she was alone with her feelings, in a place she didn't know, surrounded by strangers she has never met, in a remote location with no phone signal, things that go bump in the night and the endless suppressing silence which could only mean one thing. More time to worry about what she hasn't got in her life and more time to plan on how to get it back.

Atleast.. that is what she wants.. isn't it?

I loved this story. It's going to stay with me for a very long time. And now I have just been left with so many questions.

What happens to Rita, will she be okay? Will the Major stick to his new approach to life? Will Jo ever be reunited with her loves? Why has Isaac left? Why did Eliza stay? Does Jack really love his wife? Will Sebastian ever come back? What will Carrie's parents do? And why did Irene only have a small part of the book?? Did Jules really meet 'the one'?

I need more. More Hideaway House please 😭

I started reading this book and the first thing I thought was.. It's too predictable. The beginning, the way Carrie was pushed into the storyline, everything was going for her and then it quickly turned into a nightmare. I honestly thought.. This is another of them.. ‘finding yourself’ books. But omg was I wrong! 

This is one of my favourite reads of 2025. It was so beautifully delicate that even though I had the very strong (I'm so very very sorry!) first impression, I was so rooting for Carrie to slosh the wine in her ex's face or worse, at the seductive ‘other’ woman. But she had Beth and although I wished I had a friend who would do something like that for me, plus the hurricane that was Jules blowing in and pushing resulting in Carrie deciding to go.. had me hooked.

Confession time. All I know about the Isle of Wight is.. it holds a festival every year? So reading this book was almost like a slap to the face. But a good one! Guy and Wilbur, Rita and Cassie I loved straight away. Watching Carrie knock down the Major's walls though was just beautiful. I feel the older generation is somehow muted in today's society. They fought for us and look how the world has turned out? Ungrateful.

But this story, really did make my heart spike. It was so beautifully written and I just cannot sing the authors praises enough! 

This was the first book in a very long time that actually made me cry. I am a deeply emotional person and I can get caught up in feelings, emotions and sensations. For some strange reason, this book made me very tearful. Yes, it was beautiful to see how it ended, to watch Carrie bloom in front of my eyes but I think I felt more sad for myself. As I witnessed Guy and Carrie, it made me realise that maybe this is what I have been doing with my life. Just going through the motions. 

Recently I have found my reading bug again. I don't feel myself if I don't have a book (or some sort of device I use to read online) within touching distance of a book. Unfortunately for me. I use my phone to read and review but now.. maybe I should put my phone down. Put my reviews and reading on another device. A device that has nothing on it but the one thing I love. Books.

Maybe this book really did open something up inside me that I hadn't dealt with yet. I can't tell you what it is, but something has loosened in order for me to tear. I just believe it was beautiful, simple but so expertly intricate that it has the power to move you, even if only a little nudge forward. I wish I could visit this cottage. It sounds like such a beautiful place. Especially when your social battery is low and you feel out of sorts with today's world. 

What you need is a comfy chair, a cup of tea, hot chocolate or coffee and a copy of Secret Keepers.

A huge thank you to Alexandra Barber, Storm Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and relay my honest feedback. ::|

Carrie isn’t selected for the promotion she’s been working so hard for, instead it goes to her ex and then she finds out he’s engaged. Ripe for a break from everything, she travels to the cozy, beautiful Isle of Wight. Welcomed by the warmest Queen of Hospitality, Rita, she settles right in. Right away she starts meeting the nicest locals to include Guy, who the owners of Carrie’s cottage are anxious for them to fall in love. Carrie also finds comfort sharing what’s on her heart while also connecting with her newfound friends of the Isle. The rest of the tale is ready for you to discover. Also, don’t miss the author’s letter…it’s a good one devoted to a special book. Looking forward to her next one!

Thank you Alexandra Barber, Storm Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC opportunity!

This was a lovely story. It’s full of hope, romance and new beginnings. I liked the characters and especially the ghostly couple that watches over the cottage.
Looking forward to more by this author

2⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for an advanced copy of The Sanctuary Keepers.

Carrie needs a fresh start so she heads to a little secluded island. She meets new friends and starts to unlock the secrets of her new home.

This one was just a little too cheesy of a read for me. It was hard to feel connected with the story.

The Sanctuary Keepers by Alexandra Barber is a contemporary romance. There is also an awakening of self and finding your true purpose in life. Carrie Adams is shocked to find out she is not the new partner at her advertising agency. She knows she is creative and a hard worker. That wasn’t to be. Carrie leaves abruptly to consider her next moves.

Carrie rents a cottage on the Isle of Wight called Hideaway House. The cottage is seemingly the best place for her to contemplate her next moves. There are many characters she meets and people that she connects with. She almost feels like this is where she is supposed to be. Then her past shows up and wants to make amends.

I loved the main character, Carrie, and felt she was realistic as we all get “stuck in our own loops”. There are also ghosts or spirits who live in the cottage that occasionally rearrange things into how they feel they should go. What I liked the best for Carrie, was the feeling of companionship with the island natives.

This is Alexandra Barber’s first adult romance. I am hoping that there are more in this series to come. I thought the book was an interesting read full of great characters. The Sanctuary Keepers by Alexandra Barber was a good read.

Feeling adverse to this sort of writing swaying from similar novels as this and then to opposite like horror and can't settle in any genre comfortably.

Carrie Adams has just lost a promotion, a boyfriend and a life that she never thought she lose. Her friend Jules tells her she needs to regroup. She has to go somewhere and collect herself and get over Mark especially Mark’s betrayal. So if she goes to a beautiful little island the Isle of Wright. Here she meets a cast of characters that I myself truly loved.. first we have Rita, who is always taking care of everyone on the island. She even tries to help her family, but no one seems to listen to her there. And this is the major who has beautiful gardens and home that he opens up to people, but he himself has had some loss in his life and doesn’t open up to people except when Carrie comes into his life. Then mystery man.Guy who is not just the handyman and gardner for the Major. Could he be the man that helps Carrie get over Mark and move on with her life?

I truly enjoyed this book. It was a feel good read which ties into white the island did for Carrie. The novel is just beautifully written. I felt like I was really on the island. This cottage that was so special really was I healing place and you felt that while you were reading. I loved Eliza and Isaac and how they tied into the story . Having Carrie feel that there were other people in the cottage beside her maybe think that maybe Carrie I’ll be able to heal. I really didn’t want the story to end. I hope there is more by Ms Barber because I feel she has a lot more to write.

Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC. TRULY TRULY ENJOYED EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS NOVEL. 4.5 stars

The Sanctuary Keepers is a book that will stay with you long after the last page. It's heartbreak and hope, grief and healing, second chances, sweet romance and new friendships with a bit of charming cottage mystery. The colorful cast of characters draw you in gently then keep you hooked to this amazing story. It was lighthearted yet had depth and I didn't want it to end. I loved the wonderful, heartfelt, entertaining and fabulously written book. A beautfiul story that had all the feels.

A beautiful book written with a love for the Isle of Wight that shows through clearly in the writing. Apparently Wight actually means ghost which forms the background to this story. A book that you do not want to end and are overjoyed to discover that it is the first of a series where you will learn more about the lives of the four central characters. Thanks to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

The Sanctuary Keepers is a soft, character-driven, atmospheric read that makes you feel a bit like stepping into a timeless summer, in a cozy cottage by the sea.
What I really enjoyed about this book was that it felt like a feel-good, comfort read in a way that holds space for grief and the messiness of being human while still showing you that peace is possible anyway. The cottage by the sea felt like a sacred place you retreat to when the world feels too loud.
This book doesn’t rely heavily on plot/plot twists, but rather on emotions and deeply human characters you care about. This book is less about what’s happening, and more about how it makes you feel. It felt a little bit slow for me in this sense personally, but I still really enjoyed being immersed in this world and read about 85% in one sitting because I didn’t want to leave!
A cute & cozy summer read 📖☀️


Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the advanced copy of this book 📖

the cover. the plot. the people. this book held my heart and held it tight. how can a book be filled with both heartbreak and hope. how can it climb up into my heart and take a seat. well, it can and it did. and when it was finished i was like ermm no thats not fair, it cant end yet, now, ever.
the emotional balance and tender writing from Alexandra was just on point the entire way through. right from the start i was in there by Carries's side. and i cared for her and then the cast of characters she and we then meet. because Carrie is here having run here. life got the better of her so she finds herself in Hideaway House on the Isle Of Wight( and what a wonderful place for a book to be set btw). you can feel the house. you can picture it. you can picture the sounds, smell and all the things you might hear in this place.
this is the perfect place for Carrie to escape and she needs that, she needs it to her very core right now. i wanted to give her a big hug and it felt like a privilege to watch her journey, watch her try to heal gradually and also face her pains.
the other characters were also done to perfection. Rita was fantastic. she was so utterly lovable and again so real with layers it felt a joy to reveal. there is also the Major who is that reserved type and more so. he is guarded with the caps lock on. but hes got his pain, hes got his hurts and is finding it hard to even begin to let go.
the way Alexandra writes these characters into the story and how they interact with Carrie is like watching wonderful relationships happen in front of you. proper ones. good ones. ones that make a reader smile. and its not easy but thats truth and trust that comes from building real relationships with people and thats what we get to see here. and this goes tenfold when we have the romance. its just happening seamlessly before our eyes. no wam bam or lust busting bursts of chapters. but its still as powerful still as wonderful but all the more true.
and of course we have the character ive not mentioned yet. and thats the one of the house. the mystery around the house and who lived there before is so helpful in bringing our Carries own self. when you get to know the stories that lived through the house its an added depth to the book.
i would now like to ask to be enveloped into this community please. i need this place to wrap itself around me too.
but because we all know that aint happening any time soon then ill do with reading it and hugging the book to my chest instead.
a stunning read. just wow.

A quiet, emotional read about grief, healing & second chances. I loved the cozy setting, the soft romance, and the house full of whispers from the past.
It felt like a warm hug in book form.

Loved it. Now following author. Personally I would have preferred a neat ending but there will be another book. The main character escapes her real life to a magical cottage on The Isle of White. Her x was terrible.. Lots of ace characters. A great setting. Took a while to get use to the way it was written. Love Rita’s baking and the Major . A good story. Read it

This should probably be more accurately be described as a paranormal romance, which changes how I look at the book. It moves from being a straightforward romance to something else, something I didn't anticipate before I started reading. In any case, this was pretty mild on the paranormal and pretty mild on the romance. I appreciated the Isle of Wight setting, and I wish this was more of a focus. The characters seemed pretty young, as each often-misinterpreted utterance and action was responded to childishly and with an overreaction.

To be fair, this did keep my interest, and I found myself rooting for the tow main characters.

Will I read more of the series? Hmmm. Maybe.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.

An absolutely delightful book - Carrie ends up at the cottage a bit of a wreck after losing out on a partnership at work which went to her longtime beau. He, however, had just recently broken off their relationship. Carrie goes to the cottage, jobless and all alone. The cottage has just been renovated with everything one would need, except for the internet which Carrie was used to having at her fingertips. There was a landline .She is welcomed into the community, but feels a certain presence at the cottage that she can't put her finger on. The book is pretty straight forward, no magical twists or turns, but amazingly refreshing. I was truly saddened when I reached the end. This is the beginning of a series which I look forward to reading. I saw the book advertised in the New York Times and went to Netgalley to see if I could download it. I am so glad I was allowed to read this book. I don't think anyone will go wrong reading it.

What a fascinating read. This was first by this author, and I’m not sure what I expected, but after I started reading I realised there were ghosts/spirits I was a bit skeptical but I was intrigued and I have to say very pleasantly surprised. The ‘ghosts’ weren’t the main characters and their ‘activity’ was spoken about by other characters, both believing and none believing, the author even cleverly managed to leave us on a cliffhanger of sorts with them, and I know I’m curious to know what’s happening and why.

Carrie and Guy are great characters, I loved how Carrie is so open and honest and people are drawn to her. The Major was a great character also, who really warmed to Carrie from the start. Carrie saw people and their heart and helped them see it to help themselves. I loved watching her gain more inner strength after being cheated on and over looked at work. I will definitely be back for the next one.

This is the first book of a series. Carrie, who works in finance in Manchester, is cheated of promotion by boyfriend Mark, who then breaks the news he is with work colleague Paloma, and she’s pregnant. After a meltdown at work, Carrie is given time off to sort herself out, but fears on her return she will be out 0f a job.
Hearing of a newly renovated cottage availabvle on the Isle of Wight, she decides on a two week break to try to get her life back together. Heartbroken over Mark, and the future she thought they had, she arrives at the cottage and discovers a whole community of kind and supportive people.
This is a light-hearted and easy read following Carrie as she gradually learns to mend her heart and in doing so, realises she maybe needs a whole life change. Obstacles are in the way, of course, as awful Mark makes a reappearance, and Guy, the man she’s finding herself increasingly attracted to, appears to belong to someone else.
A lovely story, also involving two spirits, Eliza and Isaac, who watch over the cottage and conspire to bring Carrie and Guy together. Although they are limited in their abilities to influence, Eliza has some ghostly tricks up her sleeve.
A lovely holiday read. - I’m looking forward to the sequel to see what these two get up to next!

My thanks to Storm, the author and Netgalley for an ARC of The Sanctuary Keepers in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a heartwarming and emotionally rich novel that beautifully weaves together themes of romance, betrayal, healing, and community.

The heart of the story centers around Carrie, who is reeling from a painful betrayal by both her ex-fiancé and her employer. Her devastation is palpable, but the narrative quickly shifts toward hope when her best friend, Jules, sends her on a restorative getaway to Hideaway Cottage. There, Carrie finds more than just a quiet place to retreat—she discovers a village full of kind souls and personal stories, all as layered as her own.

The supporting characters are a true highlight: Rita, battling family and farm pressures; Guy, a grounded landscaper with quiet strength; Cressie, a struggling new mother; and a cast of other women who each add warmth, depth, and a sense of kinship. These characters—and the community they create—offer Carrie a space to reflect, rebuild, and reimagine her future.

Barber paints the Isle of Wight as almost magical—a sanctuary where healing feels possible, and love (in all forms) quietly finds its way in. Carrie’s budding relationship with Guy is sweetly understated, and the story leaves room for more development, suggesting future installments might delve deeper into the hidden stories of Eliza and Isaac, the mysterious tea caddy, and the unresolved lives of the villagers.

With its perfect blend of emotional depth, cozy setting, and feel-good resolution, This book is a beautiful reminder that even after deep hurt, new beginnings are possible—and sometimes, all it takes is a small cottage by the sea.

Thank you NetGalley for this Great ARC for my honest review This is my first book by this author but certainly not my last. I mean what is not to love about this book?? Poor Carrie leaves town to heal after she didn’t get the promotion she thought was hers. When in fact, her ex boyfriend, who she works with got the job instead. She feels very betrayed by her company and her ex since she taught him everything. So she escapes to a quaint cottage in a small under the advice of her best friend. As Carrie begins to settle in and figure out her future, she meets Guy who is the gardener. He helps her find her way along her healing journey along with all the other special characters in this book. This story is full of so many touching emotional moments. It grabs you in the beginning and leaves you wanting more and more and hoping it will never end. This book was so hard to put down and so powerful. It’s got romance, emotion, healing, and even some mystery I highly recommend this heartfelt touching book.

This is just beautiful. The setting on the Isle of Wight is stunning with gardens, and woods and lovely descriptions of nature. The characters are full of live and care for each other and the book shows their ties and wish to be there for each other in a small vignette of village life. Carrie is in real need of peace and calm and gets it in a cute and restful cottage. There are wounds to be healed and as she slowly manages to switch off, the book shows her learning to start to look forward to what new things life can gift her.