The war in Europe has finally ended, the residents of Beach View Boarding House in Cliffehaven celebrate and can’t wait for the men to return home. The owner Peggy Reilly is busy working in the office at Solly’s clothing factory, looking after the boarding house and her youngest daughter Daisy and worrying about her husband Jim.

Second Lieutenant Jim Reilly is fighting the Japanese in Burma, with his Scottish mate Jumbo McTavish, they hear about the war ending in Europe and Jumbo gets out his bagpipes. The 14th Army has fought hard and it’s been a long campaign, the tropical weather means it’s hot and humid and when it rains, it’s the perfect conditions for mosquitoes, leaches, malaria and ulcers. Jim dreams of returning to Cliffehaven to be with Peggy and his children and this keeps him going.

Three of Peggy’s older children are living in Somerset, at Owlet Farm with widow Aunt Violet and Peggy assumes they will move back home? Her eldest daughter Anne calls to say they won’t be returning just yet, she waiting to hear from her husband Wing Commander Martin Black who’s a prisoner of war in Germany and their happy living in the countryside. Peggy’s other daughter Cissy loses her job when the war ends, she moves back into Beach View, and Cissy finds all the extra people staying there a right nuisance.

Peggy has grown close to the evacuees staying with her at Beach View, with the end of the war and she’s busy planning engagement parties and weddings. Ivy is marrying her finance Andy, Peter a wounded Australian soldier has proposed to Rita, and Ruby’s Canadian boyfriend Mike has popped the question and wants her to move to Canada?

I received a copy of With Hope and Love by Ellie Dean from NetGalley and Random House UK in exchange for an honest review. It describes the hardships of living in England during WW II, children being evacuated and people made homeless from the bombing looking, the celebrations when the war in Europe ended, and the struggles men faced returning to civilian life and especially those who were prisoners of war. Three and a half stars from me, I enjoyed the narrative, however it did end rather abruptly and this could be because the book is part of a series.

With Hope and Love is the seventeenth book in Ellie Dean's Cliffehaven series and with the war in Europe finally over, Peggy Reilly could be forgiven for thinking that life is finally going to become a little easier. However, what this novel beautifully - and often very poignantly - demonstrates is that the effects of the war lasted long after the VE Day celebrations ended.
Although many of the men who have been away for so long are finally able to return to Cliffehaven, they all come home bearing the scars of war; whether physical, mental or both. I thought Ellie Dean captured the anguish that those who came home felt so well - their conflicted emotions often driving a wedge between themselves and their families after the initial euphoria of their homecoming faded. The unpredictable behaviour of these men is shown here to be hurtful and frightening to their families who suddenly found a virtual stranger in their midst. The importance of finding somebody they could talk to about their experiences is also explored and is a reminder that often these were men who were badly let down by the authorities who failed to provide the support they desperately needed, with many suffering from what we now understand to be PTSD. Of course, not everyone came back and even at this late stage, the brutality of the enemy brings heartbreak back home.
As always, there are a few chapters which follow Peggy's husband, Jim who is still fighting in the Far East. The ferocity of the Japanese soldiers is renowned of course, and even though the Allies have driven them back, it seems that they will never surrender. Readers have the benefit of terrible hindsight here, and the inevitability of the decision to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki hangs over the book as we know what will eventually force Japan to accept the war is finished.
Meanwhile, Peggy is forced to wait anxiously for news while still taking care of her 'chicks' - the young women who have made Cliffehaven and the Beach View Boarding House their home. With the series drawing to a close, there are a few goodbyes here as some of the young women who have benefited from Peggy's wise words, no nonsense advice and loving care, are finally able to spread their wings and begin their new lives away from the seaside town. It's not all smooth sailing, however, and Ivy in particular has a big decision to make. It was often young people who were left with these dilemmas and With Hope and Love is a touching reminder of the burdens they faced at a time when their lives should have been more carefree.
There are plenty of lighter moments too, as for all the heartbreak, this was also a time of optimism. Reunited couples mean wedding bells and as always, the community pulls together to ensure those embarking on a new life together have a day to remember. There are new baby announcements as well, and a welcome return for Betty and Brendon who are one of my favourite couples and a pair I hope to see more of in the next book - even if that means more from the dreadful Pauline (who has taken over from the still reformed Doris as the character most in need of a few sharp words from Peggy!) With everybody looking towards the future, it's not surprising that the changing political landscape also plays a part with the characters discussing the upcoming election as the Conservatives led by the hero of the hour, Winston Churchill faced Clement Attlee's Labour Party who promised sweeping social reforms. The result is obviously not a shock to readers - unlike some of the characters - and I'm looking forward to seeing if the policies introduced by the new Government will feature in the next book.
With Hope and Love is as engrossing as I've come to expect from this series and the cliffhanger conclusion ensures there will be an anxious wait for the publication of the final novel, Homecoming next year which will be a bittersweet moment. I've loved getting to know Ellie Dean's characters; the authenticity of their lives and the various dramas they have faced have meant this is a series which is a heart-warming - yet never trivialising - testament to the resourcefulness and courage of those who lived through the Second World War. Highly recommended.

I’m a huge fan of Ellie Dean so you can imagine my excitement at being invited onto the blog tour for this, her latest book. This was another fantastic addition to the Cliffhaven series and was, once again, a compelling read.

I loved visiting The Beachview Boarding house and so enjoyed catching up with the residents again. The author has created some hugely likeable characters which are easy to get behind. My favourite was Peggy who is the life and sole of the boarding house. She is always hugely welcoming and always seems to be there for the other residents which was wonderful to read about. She has a lot of worry about in her life, especially regarding her husband Jim and I felt so sorry for her during the VE celebrations when she was trying to put on a brace face despite her anxiety over what has happened to him. I felt like I had to keep reading to find out what happens to her.

The author does a great job of setting the scene in this book so the reader feels like they are actually there experiencing everything alongside the characters. The author has clearly done her research and I really liked learning a bit more about the VE celebrations and life after the war which I hadn’t read much about before.

I though this was an absorbing, compelling book which I loved reading. There is lots of things happening and multiple storylines to keep the reader on their toes. I found I enjoyed following the characters journey throughout the book to see what became of them. I really hope this isn’t the last book in this fantastic series!

Huge thanks to Rachel from Arrow publishing for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book.

Ellie Dean is a consummate storyteller who is back with another enthralling, captivating and heartwarming installment of her much-loved best-selling Beach View Boarding House series, With Hope and Love. Whether you are a first timer or a regular visitor to Cliffehaven, one thing is for certain: all it takes is for you to read the first chapter of this book to fall under Ellie Dean’s magical spell.

It’s 1945 and the Second World War is finally over. All over England, people are out celebrating the end of this awful conflict that has wreaked so much havoc and despair and caused so much misery, heartache and misery. For the first time in six years, the future looks bright and promising, but just because the war has ended, it doesn’t mean that life can go back to normal in a heartbeat. The war has had far-reaching consequences and devastating repercussions for every single person in England – a sad reality which the residents of Cliffehaven are only too aware of. Loved ones have been lost, promises have been broken and houses have been razed to the ground, but through it all friendship has seen the inhabitants of the Beach View Boarding House through many a dark time.

Peggy Reilly is absolutely overjoyed that the war is over. Finally, after six long years she can have her beloved family all around her again, but it’s going to take time for her to feel her husband Jim’s arms embracing her once more. Still fighting the Japanese in Burma, Peggy is worried sick that something will go wrong and she will end up losing Jim at the eleventh hour. Will Jim ever return to Cliffehaven? Can happiness ever be within reach for Peggy and Jim or will a cruel twist of fate end up tearing them asunder once and for all? In times like these, family is a great comfort, but a dismayed Peggy is heartbroken to learn that her daughter Anne, who had been evacuated to the countryside, plans to continue to live in her rural idyll for the foreseeable future rather than return home to be with her mother. Is further heartbreak in store for Peggy? Or will the stars finally align and provide her with the happy future she is so desperate for – with her family.

It’s not just Peggy who is going through a difficult time. Her daughter Cissy cannot wait to be reunited with her beloved boyfriend, Randy, but as she hasn’t heard anything from him in months, will she ever see the man she loves with all of her heart ever again? Is Randy as trustworthy as Cissy thinks he is? Or has he been lying to her all this time? Rita is also in love with Australian Peter and although she is overjoyed when he proposes to her and asks her to live with him in Australia, she finds herself torn between following her heart and staying in England to be with her family. Meanwhile, Cockney evacuee Ivy cannot wait to begin a new life with her beloved Peter in the East End of London, but when tragedy strikes she is faced with a heart-wrenching dilemma only she can solve.

Will this run of bad luck for the residents of Beach View ever end? Or will the hope and love that has seen them through the darkest of days provide them with the strength and courage needed to triumph over all the obstacles standing in their way?

Put the kettle on, find a comfortable chair and get ready to lose yourself in Ellie Dean’s latest touching, tender and warm-hearted saga, With Hope and Love. As always, Ellie Dean draws you into the story from the very beginning and you will become so involved with the lives of the residents of Beach View that putting With Hope and Love Down will prove impossible. Written straight from the heart, With Hope and Love is a fantastic saga of friendship, family, love, loyalty and the ties that bind that you will simply not be able to stop reading.

Ellie Dean has done it again and with With Hope and Love, has written an emotive, engrossing and immensely enjoyable World War 2 saga fans of the genre are going to love.

With Hope and Love is the seventeenth book in the Cliffehaven series by Ellie Dean. It really feels like we are making our way towards the conclusion of what has been a brilliant war time family saga series as now the war has been declared over and Peggy's chicks are starting to fly the nest. I only discovered this series four or five books ago so it is proof that you can pick up any of these books and slot right into the overall story. Saying that I don't think With Hope and Love would be the best book to start with as overall it really is a book where loose ends are begun to be tied up and there is nothing dramatically new as there had been in the previous books I had read. To get a real feel for the series go back a few books or even to the start if you so wish.

Saying that I did enjoy the story overall as it sees lots of little plots which I presume had begun in book one and the books that followed on have some resolution and characters who had so desperately missed their loved ones got some definitive answers be they positive or negative. There are lots and lots of characters to keep track of, and to remember how people are connected, but at the back of the book there are several pages which give a brief synopsis and background to several of the main characters. This is invaluable as you can flip back and forth to get information or just to reaffirm things regarding certain characters in your mind.

No doubt about it the stand out character, the one whom everyone turns to in a crisis and the person who really has held the whole show together over the last six years of war, is Peggy. She is such a brilliantly written character and one you root for all the way. Having no tourists at her guesthouse in the seaside town of Cliffehaven since the outbreak of war she opened her doors to those in need of a home. Evacuees, family members or women simply needing a place to stay whilst they engage in war work or at the nearby aerodrome. Women who then go on to feel like family and become known as Peggy's chicks. Peggy is a mother figure to everybody and is always there to offer advice or to just to listen to whatever troubles or issues that crop up.

In this book we get to see inside the real Peggy and there is a vulnerability shown to her. That all the worries and burdens she has shouldered for so long are starting to come to the surface. She should be so excited and happy that the long years of war have come to an end but yet she can't fully embrace this new found peace that everyone else seems so readily and willingly able to grasp. That's simply because the future of her immediate family is not yet secure and those she has longed to see arrive home on her doorstep have yet to do so.

Peggy's husband Jim is still away fighting in the jungles of Burma as the war in the East is not yet over. I really understood how Peggy was feeling, on one hand she was delighted to see so many reunions at home and that the stories of her chicks were starting to see a resolution. Marriages that people have longed for start to happen and those imprisoned abroad begin to arrive home. But on the other hand the person she longs to see with every fibre of her being remains very much far away and really all she wants to do is hold Jim in her arms. I love how Ellie Dean paints such a realistic picture of war and that the fact it was over in Europe did not mean that everything went back to normal overnight. So many changes had happened and people had to adapt to those and to continue to make the best of what they had.

Throughout this book Peggy was filled with even more worry and anguish as I don't think she truly believes that Jim will make it home until she sees him standing on the doorstep of Beach View House. Again we had chapters dotted throughout told from Jim's viewpoint and I loved this as it took us away from Cliffehaven and showed just what a tough time Jim was continuing to experience. We can tell he is fed up and at the end of his tether and just desperate to get back home into the warm embrace of his family. But when will this become a reality instead of just a dream or will it ever happen at all? We are left guessing throughout and this keeps the reader engaged and interested in the story.

After six years of hardship, deprivation, tragedy, devastation, loss and grief the country has altered dramatically but the hope, courage and positive spirit still exists in Cliffehaven. We get an insight into how the town is trying to get back on its feet and also as to how the various girls Rita, Ruby, April, Kitty, Charlotte,Fran and Ivy and many more are finally seeing their dreams come true. There are too many characters to mention and too many sub-plots surrounding them but suffice to say I was pleased with how things worked out for women I had come to call friends over the course of the books I have read in this series. They had plenty of challenging decisions to grapple with and it was interesting to see how these choices would affect the rest of their lives.

There were numerous characters whom we had never actually got to meet in previous books because they had been anyway and all we ever got were mentions of them. Yes, I know they would have featured in the earlier books in the series but I have not had the opportunity to go back and read these so I was delighted to see Cissy, Peggy's daughter, return to the family fold. She was so different to what I thought she was going to be and at times I found it difficult to comprehend that she was Peggy's daughter like wise with Anne. Anne had been away in the country with her young family and two brothers for the duration of the war and now was the time to come home but she was reluctant to do so. Both Anne and Cissy surprised me with their actions. At times I wondered did they have the same values and beliefs as their mother did? Surely they knew that Peggy wanted everyone back under one roof or nearby in Cliffehaven. But as the story progresses we see that both Cissy and Anne are battling with their own circumstances and that time, patience, forgiveness and talking things through may well be the only way to grasp the point they have been striving to reach.

Overall this was another enjoyable read in the series but I do feel stretching it out beyond the next book might just be pushing things a little too far. It feels as if the time is right to being this series to a close when the next book is published. All the characters have come to feel like family and you desperately hope that everyone will get the good ending they deserve but like with real life this cannot always be the case. The themes and messages conveyed throughout the book are done so very well and Ellie Dean has highlighted successfully how Peggy and her chicks have navigated the ups and downs of the war.She has shown that for Peggy and many others that family are life's blood and the reason to keep going even in the darkest of times.Can she keep this sentiment close to her heart as she waits for her beloved to safely return home? Only time will tell and I look forward to the next book Homecoming which will be published in January 2020.

I love this genre of books and I loved this one, it's the first I read in this series and won't surely be the last.
It's heartwarming and full of emotions, you cannot help rooting for the characters and like them.
The historical background is well researched and vividly described, the cast of characters is likeable and fleshed out, I loved Peggy above all.
The plot is engrossing and entertaining, it will make you smile and almost move to tears.
A very good reading experience, highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This is book #17 of the Cliffehaven series. I was excited to give this series a try as I have heard so many good things about these books. As this was the first book I have read from the series, I probably shouldn’t have started at number 17 though!! The story begins in 1945 and the war in Europe has just ended. It continues following the lives of the occupants of Beach View Boarding House and their extended friends and families.

I have to admit I found it really difficult to keep up with all the characters. There are LOTS of characters and I thought that I would get to grips with who was who as the book moved on, but by the end I still found myself confused with all the different names. I assume though if you have read the previous 16 books in the series, you will know exactly who everyone is by the time you reach this book!!

The story, however, was lovely and showed the true wartime spirit shining through. Fair play to all the ladies left behind while their men went to war, keeping the home fires burning and having to contend with the ravages of bombings, death and rationing. They were truly all heroes in their own right. This book shows us that despite the war in Europe being over, it didn’t mean the hardships were over with rationing still in place and jobs that the women were doing were now being taken back by men returning from war. There was, however, happy times ahead for the occupants of Beach View Boarding House with weddings, pregnancies and new beginnings galore!

The characters were all wonderful, but with particular reference to Peggy who runs the boarding house. Her husband, Jim is still fighting in the Burma Campaign, she has five children and yet still takes many others under her wing. Despite not quite remembering who was who, I did connect with some of the other characters like Anne and Ivy, whose stories brought tears to my eyes. The author’s writing was very realistic and at times I felt like I had been taken back 70 odd years and put right in the middle of all the dramas, sadness and happy times that were in this book. This is certainly a series that I would like to go back to the beginning with and get to know all the characters that little bit more before the series ends. We are left with a cliff-hanger at the end of this book though, so at least we can look forward to another book from this series!

I would definitely recommend, but I would also recommend reading some of the previous books as well to meet the characters and storylines. It is a wonderful example of a wartime saga filled with family, friends, love and sadness. I will definitely be waiting with anticipation for the next book of the series!