From the beloved author of IT STARTED WITH A SECRET comes a fabulous new novel about love, friendship and finding the way to your best life.
The old spark is still there, but Didi’s determined to ignore it. As manager of a stunning Cotswolds hotel, she’s happy at last, and soon to be married. Anyway, Shay isn’t staying. He’s made a promise to his father. He’s going to keep it. And then he’ll be gone.
One magical night in Venice, Didi fell in love. But it ended – and he left without even saying goodbye.
And Now You’re Back is typical of what I expect from this author and she never lets me down. A humorous and warmhearted read, it also touches on more serious issues, and is tinged with sadness but overall it has romance at its heart with all the ups and downs that goes with it. A story of friendships old and new and helping those in need as well as deciding what it really is that you want from life. I loved it.
When Didi and Shay Mason began their teenage romance in a snowy Venice at the start of the book, little were they to know how their lives would pan out over the intervening years. Publisher: Headline
Format: Ebook, Audio, Hardback (21 January 2021) | Paperback (10 June 2021)
416 pages
Source: Copy received for review
My Thoughts
Jill started writing fiction while working in the field of Clinical Neurophysiology in the NHS, but now writes full time. She lives in Bristol with her family.
Now, thirteen years on, Shay Mason is back.
Shay was the love of her life but something happened to break them apart – exactly what is not yet known. However Shay is not back for Didi – he has returned because of his father ‘Red’, a man who had spent much of his life in and out of prison during Shay’s childhood when Shay had pretty much been left to fend for himself. It is no credit to his father that Shay has made a success of his life.
But Shay’s return stirs up long-forgotten emotions, and the scandal that led him to leave raises its head once again. It’s time for buried secrets to come to light. And it seems that this was someone’s intention all along . . .
Jill’s personal favourite amongst her novels is Three Amazing Things About You, which is about cystic fibrosis and organ donation; to her great delight, many people have joined the organ donor register as a direct result of reading this novel.
13 years later Didi is managing the family hotel and engaged. However when Shay reappears in her life – and more particularly in her hotel, her emotions are all over the place,
About the Author
This is another heartwarming read from Jill Mansell. Didi and her best friend Layla were both strong, successful career women but I did question their taste in men! Didi however has excellent taste in wine – there was mention of one of my favourites – Vouvray. There were so many other engaging characters (mostly!) – Aside from Didi and Shay who were the stars of the story, special mention has to go to Red – he may have had a chequered past but in his later years he was a charming old rogue with a no nonsense approach, a much different character from the Red of old – he and Rosa were just brilliant together as a double act. Rosa, Layla’s mother, was just wonderful – her kindness was clear from what she had chosen to do to try and earn some extra money. I really felt for her after all that she gone through, especially when she was at the receiving end of Ingrid’s acid tongue.
Jill Mansell is the author of over twenty Sunday Times bestsellers including The One You Really Want and Meet Me at Beachcomber Bay. Take a Chance on Me won the RNA’s Romantic Comedy Prize, and in 2015 the RNA presented Jill with an outstanding achievement award.
My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for the invitation and the publisher for the review copy. It’s a pleasure to review another of my favourite author’s books, an author that I have followed ever since book one. It’s an honour to be one of the bloggers opening the tour on paperback publication day and congratulations to Jill. 🍾🎉
