First, I want to thank Boldwood Books and NetGalley for this ARC. I already read a Redland story in 2025, and I liked her writing so much that I was thrilled when I saw she had a new story coming up.

This is book 5 in the Escape to the Lakes series, but it can be read as a standalone.

I want to begin confessing that I loved the author’s style and writing in Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop and this time I could confirm that, yes, she has a gift for cozy, feel-good kind of storytelling that keeps you hooked until the very last page.

When I first read the synopsis, I expected a standard second-chance romance. I decided to make this my final read of the year, but I was surprised to find that this wasn’t a typical 20- or 30-something year olds’ back-and-forth romance—it’s a second chance at 60! I felt a little misled by the blurb, but I’m glad I didn’t quit.

It is a heartfelt and relatable story about a woman who lost her husband some years back and is readying herself to live and love again. I’ll admit again that I was initially a bit hesitant about the age of the protagonists (which you discover on the first page, so you know what to expect right away). However, the more I read, the more engaged I became.

At the beginning, the exploration of her grief and self-reclusiveness feels quite heavy and slows the pace, but it soon picks up. The author is honest about how it really feels to be down that rabbit hole. It made me think about the people around me who have lost a life partner and have to start over after decades together. Redland truly makes you feel their loneliness and fear, but also their strength and the power of their will to change.

And of course, there is the importance of meeting with others, and the need for support from people who can understand what you are going through, sharing experiences from different points of view and overcoming fear and anxiety.

The group of friends Yvonne meets at Craft & Cake are fabulous, each one with their own quirks and problems, but Redland knows how to make them relatable (although it could be a bit too much at times with so many people). Among them, I loved the grandma and granddaughter drama.

The coziness though falls through the cracks with Yvonne’s backstory (in a good way?) –I could imagine some of it but the whole thing became clear at the end and it hit hard, maybe too much for this kind of story.

As I mentioned, the storytelling is fluid –her present difficulties sprinkled with flashbacks to her past, so we can better understand what she is truly going through now.

This is an emotional, quick read. A powerful story about resilience and the strength of the human spirit.

The very ending is written so smoothly that you feel warmth just turning the last page. Not many books can manage this, but Jessica Redland does it beautifully.

Rating: ★★★★⯪