The Guestbook by Holly Martin
Welcome to Willow Cottage – throw open the shutters, let in the sea breeze and make yourself completely at home. Oh, and please do leave a comment in the Guestbook!
As landlady of Willow Cottage, the young widow Annie Butterworth is always on hand with tea, sympathy or strong Norfolk cider – whatever her colourful array of guests require. A flick through the messages in the leather-bound cottage guestbook gives a tantalizing glimpse into the lives of everyone who passes through her doors.
This includes Annie herself – especially now celebrity crime writer Oliver Black, is back in town. He might grace the covers of gossip magazines with a different glamorous supermodel draped on his arm every week, but to Annie, he’s always just been Olly, the man who Annie shared her first kiss with.
Through the pages of the Guestbook Annie and Olly, along with all the guests that arrive at the seaside retreat, struggle with love, loss, mystery, joy, happiness, guilt…and the odd spot of naked rambling!
Forget sending postcards saying wish you were here – one visit to Willow Cottage and you’ll wish you could stay forever.
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And with that, I welcome you to my stop on Holly Martins 'The Guestbook' blog tour, arranged by the lovely girls over at Gosling book tours. (Check 'em out!)
The Guestbook is a sugary sweet romance novel written by english young-adult novelist, Holly Martin who, like all writers, loves spending her time scribbling down ideas into her notebook.
I was rather excited when I received the email regarding this Blog Tour. Holly's work has been an inspiration to me for a while so I really couldn't wait to get involved. The Guestbook starts of different than I expected and by all means, can not be compared to her previous works. I rather enjoyed the way the story was laid out- it was certainly different and rather unexpected, but in the best possible way.
The cottage described in the Guestbook sounds like the most magnificent place on earth and you find yourself longing, wishing for this place to exist. You close your eyes and you can almost smell the trees, almost hear the faint bustling of people trotting up to their rooms.
Holly's characters were once again, grandiose and I just adored the whole community of Wells-by-the -Sea- so loving and caring. Wonderful, work, truly.
What I admired most about the story was that Holy's characters showed so much depth and variety. The houseguests at Willow Cottage were sweet and sometimes odd, but not once fell into the trap of being overly cliched, which is something that seems to happen all too often in the romance genre.
If you ask me, THE GUESTBOOK has got it all; There are pets, old charming ladies, romantic tension, heart filled laughter, bitter tears and even a plotting tarantula. Who seems to take orders from no-one and is always planning its next great escape!
If i had to pick a favourite, which is something I don't tend to enjoy, it would have to be Annie. As the heart of the story, she just appealed to me the most and I loved getting to know her as a person. Whenever I think about her character, I can't help the warmth that spreads through my heart and I want to step through the pages and give her one of those great big hugs. She's someone who can wrap you up in cotton candy with a single smile and I thoroughly enjoyed her positive attitude. The way Holly shaped Amy's character was exceptionally well done and it was particularly interesting to see just how Amy's shaped the lives around her.
The Guestbook gets 4 STARS FOR it's sweet and unique concept. It inspires, uplifts and encourages to dream a little. Thanks for the copy, Holly!
If you'd like to purchase your own copy of THE GUESTBOOK you can find the link below.
