I enjoyed this book but somehow it didn’t give me the wow factor. The story was fresh not a repeat of anything else I have read but for me just lacked a punch.

Another happy sweet chick lit read from a great author of this genre. Happy, a book you pick up as you know your guaranteed a smile and warm fuzzy feelings.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I love chick lit that I can just immerse myself in,spend  a few hours without having to think too much, this book filled the bill.  it is a warm loving story that takes you away from reality for a while.  thoroughly enjoyed it and will be moving on to the next in the series.

This is a first for me by this author but certainly won't be my last! I'll be adding others to my TBR pile.

I absolutely loved this story... it has a fabulous cast of characters, in an idyllic setting... Willow Tree Farm... a place that screams out for a visit.

Ellie and her son Josh have escaped the US... Ellie's husband Dan has cheated on her with Josh's school teacher, who is now pregnant. 
Ellie hasn't been home to Willow Tree Farm or seen her mum, since she was 14... she's hoping to build bridges and recuperate, whilst also hoping Art, the boy she disliked, isn't still living there.

I enjoyed the possible restarts of relationships with both her mum and Art... the fact that it involves the whole community and a lot of tears and laughter, hopefully it'll be enough to correct any misunderstandings of the past.

The ending of the book leaves me hoping that there will be a sequel.

Thank-You Netgalley for my ARC.

A feel good read that brings you right into the story. Lovely story line, funny and romantic. Really enjoyed this book. perfect summer read

Well I can officially report that this wonderful book Summer at Willow Tree Farm has compketely and truly melted my heart.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this delightful story, it kept me entertained from start to finish.  I loved getting to know all of the characters and discovering each of their own stories as they developed throughout. It was lovely to see how the characters came together and helped each other out in times of need. 

As for the setting Willow Tree Farm, well it sounded truly idyllic and picturesque, which was written and described in such a way as to make you feel as if you are really there yourself, experiencing it all through the characters eyes.

What I especially loved about this story, was that it wasn't your standard love and chic lit book, it was so much more, as there were plenty of surprises along the way, not to mention a few giggly moments.

Review:  It is a warm, charming and romantic read. This book will add sizzle to your summer. Adorable characters and the most wonderful descriptions of the setting. I will defiantly be reading more by this author. It reminded me of books by Sarah Morgan.

A wonderfully easy, feel-good, romance. Perfect to welcome the warmer weather, sun, and days reading by the pool/in garden. Delightful characters, charming setting, thoroughly enjoyed it, and will seek out more by the author.

I absolutely loved Willow Tree Farm, and the main male lead of Art is brooding and sexy and a real challenge of a man!

Ellie on the other hand is wondering just why she came back to the scene of her worst ever summer holiday,  although the fact she is in need of her mum despite their fractured relationship speaks volumes. 

I loved the growing friendship between Toto and Josh the two teenageers who gain a lot from each other. 

The community of people at the farm were a joy to get to know, a mixed selection of friendly characters, that really helped Ellie a lot, and I loved seeing what they were trying to achieve at the farm. 

This was a entertaining romance to read, with clearly sizzling chemistry between the leads, and a good underlying set of storylines too. 

I also really enjoyed spotting that all the titles for the for parts were Take That song titles. The fan in me was jumping for joy!

This isn't the first book Ihave read by Heidi Rice, but it is is the most enjoyable so far. I am eager to see what she writes next, and would love to see a return to Willow Tree Farm in the future. 

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

When Ellie was fourteen years old her mother left her father and moved to a commune in Wiltshire to live together with her girlfriend. Ellie went with her, but was used to a life of relative luxury and couldn't find happiness in her new life, especially not since one of the boys she had to live with made things pretty difficult. While she had a crush on Art he also broke her heart and Ellie left the commune to live with her father.

Ellie is back with her mother at the commune. She hasn't seen her mother in years and moved to America, but she's divorcing her husband and Ellie and her son Josh need a break. That's why they're now spending their summer at Willow Tree Farm. The commune has developed into a thriving business with a lot more comfort than many years ago. Ellie's mother is running the place, but what Ellie hadn't expected was being reunited with Art. His attitude is still hostile, but he's also very attractive. Was it a good idea for Ellie to come back home and will she find what she's looking for at Willow Tree Farm or will she risk having her heart broken all over again?

Summer at Willow Tree Farm is a wonderful romantic story. I loved Ellie. She's a strong woman with a good head on her shoulders. She will do anything to make her son happy. Josh had quite a few problems before he arrived at Willow Tree Farm and Ellie is hoping his new surroundings will do him good. I loved how she looks out for him. Being at Willow Tree Farm isn't without issues. Ellie and her mother have a lot of problems to solve and it was fabulous to see their relationship grow. Ellie feels a lot more at home at the commune than she used to, but Art is still an enigma. There's so much tension between them and I couldn't wait to find out where that would lead.

Heidi Rice has chosen a fantastic setting for her story. Willow Tree Farm is a beautiful original place and I loved her warm and welcoming descriptions of it. There's plenty of community spirit and it's clear from the start that people care about each other. I loved seeing the place through Ellie's eyes in both the past and the present. It was interesting to find out more about her disastrous summer and her plans for the future. It's a good combination that kept me interested from beginning to end. Summer at Willow Tree Farm is a charming and entertaining feelgood story, I really enjoyed reading this amazing book.

I really enjoyed this book. 
Although there were a range of interesting characters I like how it focused on the dynamic and relationship between Ellie and Art. The way it was written with sections of text from each of their points of view was well written and easy to read.
Looking forward to reading the next book from this author.

A new author to me and I loved this book from start to finish. A fabulous and eclectic cast of characters based in a former community at Willow Tree Farm. It is an idyllic setting and a place I would love to visit. There is a wedding, family separations, trundled backgrounds and of course love. The ending of the book leaves me hoping that there will be a sequel.

This book has such a wonderful cast of characters and a lovely setting. I was initially drawn to this book because of the title reminding me of one of my favourite childhood books. I was imagining losing myself on the farm again!!!!!!!!
Eloise had a terrible time as a teenager when her mum split with her dad and moved them to a commune. She had a crush on a lad around her own age but found it hard to deal with his attitude towards her. She finds herself moving back and to her horror finds that Art is now helping to run the farm. She’d been estranged from her mum but gradually realises that things weren’t easy for her mum at the time.
The characters living at the farm are delightful and all help out in various ways. Ellie wants to help them set up a successful plan to move the farm forward and into a thriving hub. I loved the romantic element to the book and the setting was described so well that I wanted to visit and enjoy a meal in their kitchen!

I really enjoyed everything about Summer at Willow Tree Farm.  The characters were fantastic especially Ellie the main character. She heads to Willow tree farm for a fresh start and boy does she get one.  Its really lovely to see the progress and the new relationships she makes.  The writer has done a really good job with the descriptions of Willow Tree Farm and it really sounds like the perfect escape and makes you want to go and stay there.  Really lovely to see Ellie get her happy ever after.

I do always love a chick-lit, fiction that I can immerse myself in without thinking too hard, and this looked like an ideal read. It took me a while to get into the plot of 'Summer at Willow Tree Farm' as I found it a little on the slow side, and quite unusual in that it centred around the people living on a co-op / commune. However, the middle of the plot picked up and I found myself invested in Art and Ellie, the two subjects of the blossoming romance which unfolded. The romance and the way it progressed was extremely predictable, as was the ending of the book, but the characters were both very likeable and left you feeling invested in their story. The plot slowed again a little towards the end and I did find it a bit of a drag to finish, hence only the three star rating. But on the whole this is a nice easy read to relax with.

3.5 - "You're still here then..." Stars!

Summer At Willow Tree farm is not the first book I have read by Heidi Rice, it is however the first one that I have read of her more Chick-Lit type offerings.

IMAGE.

And on the whole, it was pretty enjoyable. The author set the scene well with the return of Eloise Granger to the farm from the US after years of estrangement from her mother the two have gradually been rebuilding their relationship with the aid of the internet. But Ellie’s reasons for returning with her son Josh for the summer are more than just looking to reconnect with her mother.

Life was so fickle and unpredictable, you needed to grab every ounce of happiness where you could…

Staring down the barrel of divorce proceedings after catching her husband out again Ellie decides some time away from everyone would be best for her and Josh, spending the summer in a completely different country seems like a good idea, while the dust from his latest scandal settles. Both Ellie and Josh are pretty sorry characters when they first arrive, and you get to see both of them flourish and blossom as the story progresses.

Maybe she wasn’t totally immune to Art’s non-charms…

I really liked the first half of the book, the reconnection between Art and Ellie, is spiky and abrupt at best, with both of them trying to go out of their way to avoid the other and the inevitable confrontations that seem to happen whenever they do, you can still sense the chemistry there between them, the dual POV really helped in this regard as you got to see how they both reacted after certain events. But for me if I am honest, the secondary story with the development of the café and shop and all of the secondary characters was what kept me reading the second half because everything sort of fizzled a bit between them for me, with the repetitive over-reaction to things, then lack of communication afterwards, it was akin to them going back to the first summer they spent together.

"I’d like to know if that stick up your backside is a permanent fixture… Or whether you just shove it up there for my benefit..?"

I liked getting bits of the story from Dee’s perspective (Ellie’s Mum) although the author seemed to be alluding to something in the first half with her thoughts that then never materialised into anything in the second.

All-in-all, a decent summer read, if you are looking to escape to a farming co-operative, with plenty of likeable and diverse characters, that’s not too heavy on the drama with a little bit of everything thrown into the storyline to keep everyone happy.

ARC generously provided via Netgalley, in exchange for the above honest review.

I've read a fair few books by Heidi Rice and once again she hits the spot with Summer at Willow Tree Farm. A blend of enemies-to-lover and second chances with romance, humour and a smattering of drama along the way, we're taken to the Wiltshire countryside where we're introduced to the fabulous cast of diverse characters living on Willow Tree Farm. 

"He does the whole strong silent moody thing better than Christian Bale’s Batman."

I'm a complete sucker for a single dad and Art ticked all my boxes as whilst he has the whole strong, silent, brooding thing going on, underneath it's a different story. There were times when my heart ached for him and all he has been through in life; his daughter is his world, his co-workers are his family and Ellie's return stirs up memories and feelings he'd rather not revisit. 

"Art was a mercurial and enigmatic man. And she had always wanted him, even as a girl."

Equally, Ellie hasn't had an easy time either and, visiting home 19 years after leaving, shows her that all was not as it seemed as she was growing up, and it was lovely seeing her find her feet, grow as a person and loosen-up around those who love her. No wall-flower, she isn't one for mincing her words, leading to plenty of verbal sparring and disagreements with Art creating plenty of build-up and sexual tension.

"...what seemed like a simple affair at the outset was starting to become more complicated." 

Heidi Rice has created a story filled with great characters who each add value and bring the pages to life and Willow Tree Farm was an absolute delight to visit. For fans of authors such as Sarah Morgan and Kat French, this is definitely in the same ballpark and is indeed the place to be this summer.

Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher.  How I wished I had read Sunrise at Butterfly Cove first but nevertheless I really liked this book.

When Ellie flees America with her son Josh, to escape a messy divorce, she heads for her Mothers in Wiltshire. However, not long after the plane lands at Heathrow does she begin to doubt her decision. She hasn’t seen her Mum for nineteen years, and The Rainbow commune where Dee lives holds some very bad memories. Arriving at the newly named Willow Tree Farm, and adding insult to injury, Ellie is shocked to find her teenage crush and nemesis, Art, still working and living there.

Ellie faces challenges to find her place on the farm, but when it becomes clear all is not as it seems Ellie has a few tricks up her sleeves that might just save them all.

Can Ellie manage to rebuild old relationships and find a place for herself within this new community? Or will she be heading back to the US with her heart in tatters?

When this title popped up on NetGalley I was eager to start reading. I had loved ‘So Now You’re Back’ by Rice and looked forward to another fun filled book from her, and I wasn’t left disappointed.

Right off the bat I found the characters to be extremely affable and easy to relate to, especially Art who I loved (phwoar)! The story was told from three narrative strands and I found it interesting to read the same situation from multiple points of view. The writing was faultless and flowed easily, which isn’t always the case when changing from one character to the next.

The plot was fairly typical of this genre, and the ending highly predictable, but this is why I love picking these books up. I like immersing myself in a story that is perfect!

I very much look forward to reading more from Rice in the future, as she is fast becoming one of my favourites for chick-lit!