Welcome to Pepper Bay. A small close-knit community where you’ll find chocolate box cottages, quaint shops, drama, friendship, and love.
Snuggle down with this cosy, feel-good, comfort read that whisks you away to a beautiful bay on the Isle of Wight – Perfect for fans of Christie Barlow, Phillipa Ashley, and Holly Martin.
The Pepper Bay books are standalone stories that intertwine with recurring characters.
Pepper Pot Farm – Tessie Sparrow and Nate Walker have everything a relationship can have, except intimacy. Neither of them want to add it into the mix, for fear of ruining their friendship.
It’s not easy for them to stay apart when they are growing so close, and Tessie’s secret plan to help save Nate’s farm might destroy them forever.
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One of the things I like about this series, is that although each book sticks to the traditional format for romance genre novels, it never feels formulaic. Each book explores a different aspect of a romantic relationship: in Starlight Cottage we see the beginning of the relationship between Jake and Anna; in Honeybee Cottage Josh and Joey have been romantically involved for years without ever committing properly to each other and now, in Pepper Pot Farm we have Tessie and Nate who are managing the transition from friends to lovers. Although each book stands alone, we get to see the beginning and progression of the relationships beyond the confines of the individual story and this very much binds them together as a series.
Tessie and Nate actually get together quite early on in the book (in contrast to the earlier books where the couples take a bit longer to admit their true feelings) but this works very well. Their 'relationship' was already quite well established so it would make no sense for them to fight against the inevitability of it. What brings the trouble for them is the re-emergence of figures from their past and the transitioning to an established partnership. There's no doubt they want to be together, the question is whether they can have the equality Tessie craves or whether Nate's stubbornness will get in the way of their happiness.
What I loved most about this was that within a couple of pages I was back in the heart of the Pepper Bay community with all the warm, fuzzy feelings that engenders. It's an idyllic community in many ways and each book is pure escapism. Whilst Pepper Pot Farm can be read as a standalone book, it definitely works best when read as part of the series as a whole and in my opinion, it would certainly be worth reading the other two first. I was delighted to read that there will be more to come from the inhabitants of Pepper Bay, as I'm not sure I'm ready to leave them behind just yet!
Author, reader, mum, chocolate lover, and a huge fan of a HEA. I was born and raised in the East End of London, and I’ve been happily writing stories since I was a little girl. When I’m not writing, I’m baking cakes or pottering around in my little garden in Essex, trying not to kill the flowers. I’m the author of contemporary romance, middle-grade, and the thought-provoking thriller about mental illness, The Focus Program.
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