I'm thrilled to be able to join in the blog tour for Karen King's delightful
The Year of Starting Over! I was able to read it in advance thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture and absolutely flew through it.
The book starts with poor Holly and her miserable waste of a boyfriend whom she's certain is "The One" in spite of the protests of her mum, best friend, and beloved grandfather. After her grandfather dies and wants her to use her inheritance on herself and her dreams she begins to really take stock of her life and, hence, begins her year of starting over.
Haven't we all felt that desire to just start over at one point or another? I was super-jealous of her ability to make a bucket list that she would now have the means to tackle! I was
especially jealous that she had friends in Spain who would let her stay with them rent-free for months! I need to get me some of those.... but at least I got to live vicariously through Holly for the couple of days it took me to fly through her story. Once I really got into it, I didn't want to put it down. (Just ask my boss .... she knows all too well!)
It was a joy getting to know Holly as she got to know herself. Along the way we also get to know her friends Fiona and Pablo and watch them turn their run down estate into a fabulous artist retreat. Of course, there's also Matias and Luna. I absolutely fell in love with Luna! Matias? Well, he took some warming up to ... for myself
and for Holly. I'll let you read for yourself how that all plays out.
Make sure you check out what everyone else is saying about this fabulous book!
What if – to find yourself – you had to run away?
Last year was meant to be when Holly got her happy-ever-after. But stuck in a job that’s going nowhere, and a relationship that feels more like it’s going backwards… this year Holly hasdecided it’s time to change her life. She just has to:
– End the relationship with the commitment-phobic boyfriend
– Go on a proper adventure
– Learn to be herself again
– Definitely, categorically not fall in love.
Cramming her belongings into her little yellow Mini, Holly drives on to a ferry bound to Spain, to stay at a remote farmhouse near a beautiful village in the Andalusian hills.
But the day she arrives she nearly crashes her car into a gorgeous guy on a motorbike. He’s called Matias and their paths keep crossing, much to Holly’s irritation. Because as she learns to speak Spanish from the locals, finally starts laying out plans for her own design business, and sips sangria in the sunlit village square, Holly is beginning to remember who she is and what she wants.
So she won’t allow herself be distracted by Matias. Because this year – for Holly – there are more important things in life than love. And she won’t let yet another bad relationship ruin everything… will she?
A moving and uplifting romantic comedy about living each moment and learning to trust yourself again, for fans of Jenny Hale, Debbie Macomber, and Sophie Kinsella.
About the author
Karen King is a multi-published author of children's books, YA and romantic fiction. She has had 120 children's books published, two young adult novels, six romantic novels and several short stories for women's magazines.
'The Cornish Hotel by the Sea', published by Accent Press, became an international bestseller, reaching the top hundred in the Kindle charts in both the UK and Australia, and #2 and #3 in Holiday Reads respectively. Karen recently signed a two book contract with Bookouture, the first book 'Snowy Nights at the Lonely Hearts Hotel' was published in November 2018.
