In a Nutshell: This book has overthrown all my earlier Jaimie Admans novels to settle at the top favourite position! Loved the main characters, the setting, the connection to ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and of course, the nod to ‘Pride and Prejudice’. Much recommended to readers of clean romances. You can’t go wrong with Jaimie Admans!

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Note: I apologise in advance for sounding an enthusiastic puppy in the review. But oh my God, this book!


Story Synopsis:
Since her mother died about a year ago, Marnie Platt has become a semi-recluse, shunning her concerned friends from Ever After Street. Her attitude also affects the sales in her beloved bookshop. However, when an unknown neighbour files a complaint about the abandoned bookshop garden, Marnie gets a wake-up call. She knows that if she has to save the bookshop, the garden, and herself, she can’t afford to waste more time grieving. Luckily, her grumpy neighbour, a gardener and florist, hears about her problem and by some miracle, decides to help with the garden. Soon, a begrudging friendship forms between them, even though her neighbour is determined to remain as mysterious as ever. Can Marnie convince her new friend that life is worth embracing, when she herself isn’t sure about what it holds?
The story comes to us in the first person perspective of Marnie.

There are a couple of things you need to know first:

1. I no longer read romance novels. The only time I pick up a book from this genre is when it promises to offer me something beyond plain romance. So for romances, the title or the cover can’t sway me. It’s the blurb that makes a difference to my decision.

2. ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is one of my all-time favourite books, with Fitzwilliam Darcy being the top ranker on my Complex Characters’ list. My close friends know how fanatical I am about Darcy (especially if he looks Colin Firth! *swoon!*) As such, I NEVER knowingly pick up books where a character is named ‘Darcy’, because these inevitably turn the original into a caricature.

Why is this important?

Simple. I picked up this book merely on seeing Jaimie Admans’ name on the cover and broke my own rule of reading the blurb first. Her novels always have excellent settings, and her plots go way beyond typical romances. Moreover, I had enjoyed the first book of this series: A Midnight Kiss on Ever After Street, which was somewhat based on Cinderella. So I didn’t feel the need to read the blurb before opting for this standalone sequel.

And then came the big discovery: The mmc of this book is named ‘Darcy’!
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