Book Beginnings & A Ramble : Helen Pollard's The Little French Guesthouse

I'm actually splitting up my Book Beginnings & Friday 56 this week between two different posts for two different books. I've just finished The Little French Guesthouse (set for an April 28th release) and must ramble about it a bit before diving in to my next book, which you can get teased about at my Friday 56 post.

Book Beginnings is hosted each week by Rose City Reader. Head on over for more ideas on what to load up your wishlist with!

From the very beginning to the very end, I absolutely adored this book. Emmy Jamieson is the narrator of the story and has been left at the little French guesthouse she was vacationing at with Nathan, her boyfriend of five years. She picked the location as the perfect spot for them to rekindle their romance, and then he goes and runs off with the owner's wife! Emmy stays on at the guesthouse for the remainder of their reservation alone as the owner, Rupert, has just been released from the hospital and needs the help his wife is no longer there to give (not she was much help to begin with). Besides, she's not very anxious to return to her home in England to try and explain why Nathan isn't with her ... a notion is made even more dreadful because of the fact that they work for the same company.

Awkward!

Anyway, the longer Emmy stays the more she bonds with Rupert, the community and even herself. Rupert comes to rely on her and tries to convince her to stay on full-time which makes her question everything about her life even more.  I was expecting a romance with a possible triangle (or even a rhombus .... maybe a hexagon ....) and ended up with so much more. Yes, there's romance but it definitely plays second fiddle (at most) to the relationship between Rupert and Emmy. If ever found myself in a jam I would want a Rupert in my life for sure (even with his persistence and tendency to butt-in)!

The emotional journey that ended up being The Little French Guesthouse is sometimes sad, sometimes infuriating and sometimes hilarious ... and abso-freaking-lutely worthy of a comfy chair, a cozy blanket and a nice cuppa.