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A review by mjsam
Home is Where the Heart is by Jenny Frame
3.0
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is book 2 of the Rosebrook series and features Ashlin and Archie, who were both introduced in book 1. Archie works with Evan and acts as her right hand, while Ashlin is Clem’s PA. The two had a rocky start in book 1 when Archie mistook Ashlin for the tea girl (which Ash mentions repeatedly in the first 30% or so of the book).
Evan and Clem have been married for a few months and are now about to go on their honeymoon. They think it’s a great idea to give two people who dislike each other and don’t work well together the same list of tasks without telling them this. I think that’s a childish and unprofessional thing for two women running businesses and villages to do.
So anyway, Archie and Ash spend all their time bickering and tripping over each other. There’s 13 years between them (as Archie continually points out) but you’d never know it by the way they act, since they both spend the majority of their time acting like petulant teenagers. There’s not much to their character development either, their main character aspects are that Archie is grumpy and avoids commitment and hates village life, while Ashlin is young, inexperienced in the world and LOVES romance in all forms.
They do eventually come to terms with each other and then start a relationship, but I was underwhelmed. Likely because I didn’t particularly like either of them (and I really didn’t like Archie). The big moment at the end was also way too cheesy for me.
I do love Rosebrook and the idea of the village and enjoyed catching up with the villagers again. We also get some new villagers, Patrick, a trans man, and Griff, a friend of Evan’s who travels around doing whatever she wants and who is now helping set up the beer factory. I assume book 3 will be hers. She’s already more interesting than Archie, so that’s a plus. 3 stars.
This is book 2 of the Rosebrook series and features Ashlin and Archie, who were both introduced in book 1. Archie works with Evan and acts as her right hand, while Ashlin is Clem’s PA. The two had a rocky start in book 1 when Archie mistook Ashlin for the tea girl (which Ash mentions repeatedly in the first 30% or so of the book).
Evan and Clem have been married for a few months and are now about to go on their honeymoon. They think it’s a great idea to give two people who dislike each other and don’t work well together the same list of tasks without telling them this. I think that’s a childish and unprofessional thing for two women running businesses and villages to do.
So anyway, Archie and Ash spend all their time bickering and tripping over each other. There’s 13 years between them (as Archie continually points out) but you’d never know it by the way they act, since they both spend the majority of their time acting like petulant teenagers. There’s not much to their character development either, their main character aspects are that Archie is grumpy and avoids commitment and hates village life, while Ashlin is young, inexperienced in the world and LOVES romance in all forms.
They do eventually come to terms with each other and then start a relationship, but I was underwhelmed. Likely because I didn’t particularly like either of them (and I really didn’t like Archie). The big moment at the end was also way too cheesy for me.
I do love Rosebrook and the idea of the village and enjoyed catching up with the villagers again. We also get some new villagers, Patrick, a trans man, and Griff, a friend of Evan’s who travels around doing whatever she wants and who is now helping set up the beer factory. I assume book 3 will be hers. She’s already more interesting than Archie, so that’s a plus. 3 stars.