One long summer. One perfect setting. Can fiction inspire real life…?

Sometimes a book grabs you by the heart and grows to mean everything to you. That’s what Hope Falls is to friends Emily, Rachel and Tori. So, when they get the chance to spend a whole summer at the cottage in Lakeside where the film adaptation was located, they know it is going to be the holiday of a lifetime.

Spending six weeks away will give them a chance to re-evaluate their life choices. For Emily to decide which way her career will go – the safe route, or the more risky creative option? And for Rachel to decide whether to move in with her partner Jeremy. Then Tori has to drop out at the last moment, and her space is offered to another Hope Falls afficionado, Alex.

But when Alex turns out not to be who they expected, the holiday takes an unforeseen turn. And as the summer develops, so does their friendship. Could this be where they uncover their future selves, find love in all its forms and where their lives will change course forever…?

The Book-Lovers’ Retreat follows friends Emily (Em) and Rachel as they spend six weeks at a cottage that was the location for the adaptation of their favourite book ever, Hope Falls. The two friends were supposed to be joined by another friend but complications meant she had to pull out at the last minute and her place was given to Alex, a stranger to the two girls.

The book is told from Em’s POV and follows the three characters as they get to know one another and themselves over the course of six weeks, as well as following in the footsteps of their favourite fictional characters and visiting the places in Hope Falls.

The story is quite a slow burner and whilst I enjoyed the read and the friends it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. This story is more about the three friends’ complicated lives, troubles, and issues. Yes, there were some uplifting moments and some fun ones but a lot of the time the book left me feeling sad for the characters and wanting to give them a big hug (or slap in Jeremy’s case).

The Book-Lovers’ Retreat is set in an idyllic place though, The Lake District. I love Cumbria for the hills, lakes, small villages, etc. The cottage also sounded like pure heaven, I’d certainly be there in a heartbeat, snuggled up by the roaring fire reading my favourite book.

Overall, Heidi Swain has written a wonderful, warm, creative story and she has given her characters the holiday that every book-lover only dreams of. It is a book you will find yourself getting lost in and hopefully enjoying from beginning to end. Plus, if the above doesn’t do it for you there is a sexy bartender and his dog you may be interested in!!

Although passionate about writing from an early age, Heidi Swain gained a degree in Literature, flirted briefly with a newspaper career, married and had two children before she finally plucked up the courage to join a creative writing class and take her literary ambitions seriously.

A lover of Galaxy bars, vintage paraphernalia and the odd bottle of fizz, she now writes contemporary fiction and enjoys the company of a whole host of feisty female characters.

Heidi can be found at the keyboard at all hours of the day and night and quite often scribbling longhand in her car during her lunch break. She lives in stunning south Norfolk with her wonderful son and daughter and a mischievous cat called Storm.