Hello fellow book lovers. Hope you are reading some great stories and taking care of yourselves. Today’s review is of Home on Folly Farm by Jane Lovering, part of the blog tour organised by the lovely Rachel of Rachel’s Random Resources.
Happy reading and discovering new stories and authors.
Book
Title – Home On Folly Farm
Author – Jane Lovering
Genre: Romance / Women’s Fiction
Publication Date: 16th March 2021
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Story
Escape the rat race by heading to the Yorkshire Moors in Jane Lovering’s funny, warm and magical new novel.
Needing an escape, Dora swapped city living for life as a shepherdess on her grandad’s Yorkshire farm. More than a decade later Dora is still there, now farming the fifty acres and caring for the one hundred rare sheep by herself. She never hears the call of the city, but instead relishes the peace and simplicity of life on the Moors.
When Dora’s glamorous but quarrelsome sister Cass, her teenage nephew Thor and his handsome tutor Nat, turn up for an unexpected and unreasonably long stay, life on the farm is thrown into chaos. Cass brings with her unwelcome memories from the past, and of someone who once stole Dora’s heart.
Dora takes refuge in the comforting routine of the farm, the sheep never allowing her too much time to dwell. But, as the seasons change, the snow starts to melt, and as lambs begin to fill the fields, Dora can’t keep hiding in the hills. Because even though she’s trying, Dora can’t run away from a love that never really let her go…
Let Jane Lovering whisk you away to the beauty and serenity of the Yorkshire Moors, far away from the noise of the city. Just right for fans of Emma Burstall, Holly Martin and Kate Forster.
My thoughts
Jane Lovering is an author whose stories I always look forward to, she writes stories which make me happy and nostalgic, reminds me of a time and life which is simple with little moments of joy.
Home on Folly Farm is a good story especially at deals with some issues which re the facts in today’s modern life like loneliness, too many choices and little joy in the mundane rat race of life and career.
Our lead Dora is a sheep farmer working on a remote farm in Yorkshire who spends most of her time alone with surrounded only by her rare breed of sheep’s. Leaving behind a past of risks, drugs and promiscuity Dora inherits the farm after her grandfather passes away and soon her present is filled only by the vast fields, sheep’s and lambing cycle.
Dora’s life is a rut which she doesn’t even realise untill she has guests at the Farm.
Her sister Cass alongwith her teenage son and his home schooling tutor, descends on the farm from glitzy London to set home for the near future. The sisters have been estranged for a long time and have nothing in common, not enough for even a conversation.
Cass feels right at home at the farm and starts changing, decorating the derelict farm much to Dora’s dismay. To escape the familiar strangers, especially her nephew’s tutor Dora spends more and more time outside on the fields with her sheep.
As expected, with vast emptiness of the fields, silence of the village greens and nothing social to do around the sisters get talking,fighting and they become a reluctant family unit. When Dora starts building a friendship with the tutor who reminds her of someone from her racy past she tries to stay away but feels the pull to him growing strong. Will Dora get out of her rut and fill her loneliness with these new strangers.
The plot of the story is a bit mundane and boring at places which given its setting at a remote farm is unavoidable. But as every small, sleepy village does it has it’s moments, soon things pick up and we see Dora come out of her rut. The handsome tutor has secrets he reveals to Dora which is bittersweet for her and a bit of life changing. It also looks like her sister and nephew are about to become more permanent fixtures at the farm they co-own with Dora.
Home on Folly Farm is just right for a sleepy, lazy reading day by the fire on a long, silent night. I enjoyed it very much.
Author. – Jane Lovering is the bestselling and award-winning romantic comedy writer who won the RNA Novel of the Year Award in 2012 with Please Don’t Stop the Music. She lives in Yorkshire and has a cat and a bonkers terrier, as well as five children who have now left home. Her first title for Boldwood will be published in September 2020.
Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jane-Lovering-Author-106404969412833
Twitter: https://twitter.com/janelovering
Newsletter Sign Up Link: https://bit.ly/JaneLoveringNewsletter
Bookbub profile: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jane-lovering
Reviewed by Bee
27 Book Street By Bee 