I loved the return to the Loveheart lane series and Heartcross.
Julia runs the local B&B along with her wonderful friend. When she discovers that she has met the owner of Starcross Manor before, she's worried for the whole villages future. She thinks that a luxury hotel may take all their business away and leave them all struggling.
There is a spark between them, but their history makes Julia very wary, although Flynn sounds like the perfect brooding hero.
The village comes together to see how they can approach everything and I love the whole community feel.
I always love Christie Barlows books and this one left a lovely feeling.

5☆ A Cosy, Heart Warming, Uplifting Romance!

It was so delightful to be back with the Love Heart Lane Series.
If you haven't yet had the pleasure of reading this gorgeous series don't worry this one is perfectly readable as a standalone.

This time round we have Julia's story.

Julia invested the money from the sale of her grandfather's house into building a beautiful bed and breakfast business in the quaint town of Heartcross in the Scottish Highlands.

Flynn is Julia's nemesis, not only did he con her out if lots of money on the sale of her Grandfather's House, he jilted her best friend on their wedding day after telling her he found someone else.

But now 5years later and Flynn is back and staying in Heartcross and Julia isn't best pleased. She don't trust him one bit! Just what is he up too?!
Will she suffer again at the hands of Flynn and his Property Development or has Flynn changed!

I don't normally add this type of thing in, but it really made me smile & giggle....My Best Quote of the Book was....‘Life is too short for all that diet malarkey. Love me… love my wobbly bits. Lol I love it! 🙌🏻 to wobbly bits 😏

Once again Barlow has written another superb story.
As always her Characters are wonderfully written and engaging.
This is a Heart Warming, Cosy and Uplifting story about community spirit, change, drama, discoveries, problem solving, friendships and budding relationships and as Julia might be about to discover things are not always what they seem!

I always look forward to reading Christie Barlow's Books and the Love Heart Lane series is one of my favourites.
So if you haven't yet had the pleasure of reading this series then I highly recommend you pick up a copy of Starcross Manor.


Thank you to Rachel Random Resources for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

What a wonderful, well-written book set in a gorgeous Scottish village!
Starcross Manor was my first read by Christie Barlow and I’ve fallen for her cozy village, the quirky yet lovable folk who live there and her writing kept me captivated throughout! 
Julia runs a B&B and is planning on extending and renovating, allowing more customers to stay and enjoy the beautiful Scottish scenery and village life. Until ... Flynn Carter comes along! Julia knows Flynn from her past, he’s untrustworthy and she’s not impressed with his plans on developing a 5 star luxurious hotel. What ensues is a story that is fun and funny, well-written and captures the village life perfectly. Some ups and downs, mild dramas and low-angst, you’ll want to keep reading more and more by this author!

4.5 stars

I really like the story. I felt that the characters and the plot line kept me very interested and I want to go back and read the other stories in the series.

You can't beat a Christie Barlow book and this is no exception. Great setting, great characters and an intriguing plot - everything you want in a good read. Another fantastic addition to the Love Heart Lane series. It has drama and romance in spades!

I LOVE THIS SERIES.

Every time I read a Christie Barlow book I wonder HOW she'll beat the last. Every single time she has me obsessing over every character. I go into the next book missing the last set of characters, but she makes you fall in love with the next set AND you get sneak peaks of the others in there too.

While this book would be perfect to read as a standalone - I highly recommend reading the series. It's become a firm favourite of mine and I absolutely 100% recommend it.

It's an easy read, I flew through it. In fact I couldn't put it down. I love the relationships, the romance, the plot twists at every turn.

I rate this book ALL THE STARS. It's excellent!

So I have been waiting with bated breath to get my hands on a copy of Starcross Manor - I have loved the Love Heart Lane series, so I was very pleased to discover she had written another one (with more on the way!).

Julia Coleman is the owner of the local B&B in Heartcross, and she is truly a part of the community.  When she discovers that Flynn Carter has appeared in her village as the new owner of Starcross Manor she is worried.  She has personally had dealings with him before and knows that he cannot be trusted.  He might be rich and handsome but he is incredibly ruthless, thinking only of himself.  When she discovers his plans for the manor she feels she has no option but to rally the villagers into action.

Flynn Carter is excited by his new venture at Starcross Manor; he's hardworking, and he enjoys seeing that work come to fruition.  What he doesn't expect though is to come up against an entire village of angry business owners that will stop at both to put a halt to his plans.  He doesn't understand what they have against him, but he's determined to prove to them all that he is not who they all think he is.

I think this may be my favourite of all the Love Heart Lane series so far.  I loved both Julia and Flynn as characters and whilst there are clearly misunderstandings and wrongdoing on both sides, it all felt justified.  I didn't struggle to understand either of their points of view, they both acted based on the information available to them at the time.  Obviously things would have been easier if they had communicated a little better, but that happens in real life on a daily basis! I loved their story, and I loved reading more about Starcross Manor.  Heartcross is such a tight knit community, it was great to watch them come together and support one another, even if it was to the detriment of Flynn for a while!  Its always lovely to read about loved characters from previous books - I particularly liked catching up with Allie from Clover Cottage, however brief!

All in all this is a fab, easy read novel.  If you enjoy Christie Barlow's novels, you will love this one.  Starcross Manor can easily be read as a standalone, but I'm not sure why you would want to!  I'm already excited to read The Lake House (due out in December 2020) followed by Primrose Park (due out in February 2021), but that leaves you plenty of time to catch up if you haven't already started reading this series!

Don’t you just love the start of a romance novel where it feels like the author will have to perform a miracle in order to bring their two characters together? Their characters seem like the unlikeliest of people to find love and you end up diving into the story wondering how it’s going to turn out. Perhaps muttering; ‘this author has her work cut out with these two,’ and ‘I better fasten my imaginary armchair seatbelt because I get the feeling I am in for a bumpy ride.’

This was me at the start of Christie Barlow’s latest; Starcross Manor. How the hell was she going to get Julia interested in Flynn after he’d knocked down her grandfather’s home and built a hotel on the land and had jilted her friend on the day of their wedding?

I was very much on the side of Team Julia at the start of the book in light of all the suffering Flynn had caused and all I could think about was whether Christie Barlow would do the impossible.

I knew bestselling author Christie Barlow would come out fighting on this challenge that she had set herself. She had a few tricks up her sleeve, one of which being – the character of Flynn. When I eventually met this heartbreaking, brooding, wealthy, heartless property developer I wasn’t expecting to… (clears throat and looks over shoulder)…like him. I found myself saying, ‘hmmm…you are actually quite nice!’ I did apologise profusely to Julia and reassured her by saying I was still very much Team Julia. As the book progressed my feelings for Flynn intensified, I stopped apologising to Julia, went quiet on the whole Team Julia thing and took out my electric hand held fan.

Julia was a good character too. I felt that Flynn had met his match with Julia. She was as determined as him in a different way and I loved how she cared so strongly for her community.

I was also really happy to read that Julia turned forty in the book. Can I just take this opportunity to thank Christie Barlow for this! As a forty something woman I am always looking out for characters who represent my age group.

This is a great book and works well as a stand-alone. I have not read any of the others in the series and I thoroughly enjoyed this.

I won’t give the game away on whether Christie Barlow succeeds in her challenge but I did give her a little toast at the end.

You will be glad to know Flynn has promised to visit me in my dreams ❤️ Sorry Julia x

One of the things I love about Christie Barlow is that she doesn’t write about “regular” characters. We’ve had someone who can’t have kids, a marriage on the verge of collapse, a relationship going places (but not) and now, a woman turning 40 and yet to find love.

So few of the romances I read have a main character over 32. I think there needs to be greater representation of these women because there will be more and more women in this age group in the future who don’t need to be made to feel inadequate because they’ve put their career first.

Thank you, Christie, for making sure there are books like this available for when these girls are ready to read these stories. And I’m sure it won’t hurt anyone who currently reads romance!

In so many way’s it’s a standard romance done really well. Yet in subtle ways, there’s some things that make this book so amazing!

Those amazing parts are what really stuck with me and make me believe this is worth a read if you enjoy romance. It’s got an element of second chance romance, enemy’s to lovers and even some other trope I can’t even name!

I received this copy via net galley and give it my honest opinion. 
Well this book did not disappoint!! A well written adventure of Julia and her B&B in Heartcross. The past is not what it seems, Is Flynn a goodie or a baddie!
You will have to read it to find out! 
I couldn't put this one down i just love this series of books. 
Like a hug in a book that takes you aways from every day life and escorts you to a wonderful village full of a supportive community! The Manor House sounds divine! 

I recommend this book!

Starcross Manor is a very well written romance.  I definitely recommend this book.  I received an advance ebook from the publisher and this is my unbiased review.

Thanks @harpercollinsuk for this ARc of Starcross Manor,
When I started to read the book I quickly realised it  was book number 4 in a series of 6. I cannot read a book out of order if it is in a series, so I went onto my kindle and purchased the three earlier books in the series, and I was not disappointed. I have read the 4 books in about 10 days and already pre ordered 5 and 6. 
I love the story, the village the characters and the fact that they all factor throughout the series. Highly  recommend the series and keep on with the fab writing and characters.

When Julia sees Flynn Carter in the pub in Heartcross she knows it can only mean trouble...... he is the man that stood her best friend up at the altar and pushed her into selling her grandfather's house to him for far less than it was worth!  Soon the village are up in arms against him...... but could Julia have got him wrong,  he certainly seems to be making all the right moves.

I love this series and it is great to be back in Heartcross again with the community that always looks after its own and stands together.  Julia and Flynn are great characters and it is a lovely warm book following their story.  Looking forward to the next one in the series.

This is the perfect book to cosy up with, beautiful location and characters that you fall in love with, really enjoyed it.

Give me a book set in Scotland and I’m going to be happy. Reading about teas and full Scottish breakfasts got me hungry and itching to go back to the highlands, grab a dram, and curl up in the nearest tartan.

Beyond the country, this was a fun, easy, and light romance. With the setting of a small village B&B in Scotland, it’s hard to imagine this type of book being any more idyllic, and yet, the addition of a gorgeous millionaire makes this tale swoonworthy. I loved the story, however, be prepared for very little drama.

Probably my favorite moments from Starcross Manor came when Christie Barlow got honest about women’s bodies. For example, I felt Julia’s struggle deep in my soul as she wiggled on the floor to get into skinny jeans for a date and ended up having to pitch them because they did not fit. She didn’t stand up and become magically thinner and gorgeous in the pants she hadn’t worn in years. Julia embraced the body she had at 40 and felt beautiful with a little help from her friends.

The only reason this book didn’t get 5 stars could possibly be the fact that this book is the 4th of a series and I haven’t read the first 3. Subsequently, I felt like the characters needed more backstory, which means I wouldn’t recommend this as a standalone. You can absolutely follow the plot well enough, it just felt like something indefinable was missing.

Starcross Manor is light hearted and easy to read, making for an adorable book for low heat romance lovers.

Starcross Manor is the next chapter in the Love Heart Lane series focuses on property development in Heartcross. Julia runs a local bed and breakfast and is looking to expand. The appearance of Flynn, a successful property developer, is worrying. His proposal to create a luxury hotel complex at the manor is troubling for the villagers and particularly for Julia.

This is an engaging story with realistic characters and strong female protagonists. The cast of characters is rich and vividly written, adding to the story's authenticity. It's easy to escape into this rural world and care what happens to the characters.

I received a copy of this book from One More Chapter via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

How thoroughly lovely it was to be back in Heartcross – I really do love this series, and I was really looking forward to spending time in the company of friends again. This time, it’s Julia at the B&B who’s the focus for the story – she’s made appearances in earlier books, but it was so good to get to know her rather better. She’s a little older, which is always something I really appreciate, because it can make a character easier for me to identify with: I particularly liked her relationship with her friend and sidekick Eleni, and really loved her infectious enthusiasm for developing her business further.

But there’s a shadow on the horizon, in the shape of Flynn Carter – he’s bought nearby Starcross Manor, and rather than turning it into the retirement development the villagers were rather expecting, it’s going to be a luxury hotel and wedding venue. That’s something that will threaten the livelihoods of quite a few of the villagers, but especially Julia’s plans for expanding the B&B – and she has history with Flynn, and a few very good reasons to neither like nor trust him.

The story is essentially a fairly classic enemies-to-friends one, with a good bit of tension and conflict, and more than a touch of things not being quite what they seem. There’s some particularly well written drama too, and an opportunity for all the villagers to pull together as they always do when the chips are down.

The characters are really excellent – I loved Julia from her first appearance, but Flynn’s character is developed so very well too. Did I mention that he’s rather hot? And he has hidden depths and a side to him that you really won’t be expecting – but you’ll need to discover that for yourself. But it’s not just Julia and Flynn who are great characters and very real people – every single supporting character, even the very minor ones like the guests at the B&B, is drawn in three dimensions with their quirks and foibles.

The writing is really excellent – so comfortable to read, infused with warmth, easy to escape into, well written dialogue and interplay between the characters, and the whole book a perfect balance of drama with lightness and humour. There’s a very strong sense of place too – the descriptions of the story’s setting are excellent, and I’m really getting to know Heartcross itself rather well now. But I really enjoyed the added dimension of Starcross Manor – its grounds, the luxurious interior, and the way the little touches of interior decoration drove the story forward at times and contributed to the character development.

This was a really lovely read, and highly recommended – and I’m already looking forward to the fifth book in the series, The Lake House, due out on 10th December (available for preorder).

(Review copied to Amazon UK, but link not yet available)

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher.   I like this author and all that she has written.   This has a good story, good characters and I fell in love with Starcross Manor.   Would recommend to other readers.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

Once again, Christie Barlow takes us to the beautiful village of Heartcross and this time it is Julia, the owner of the B&B who finds her happily ever after. Surely, this is not only her story, but also of an entire village where the community stands together no matter what.
        Gorgeous, wealthy Flynn Carter is not a past that Julia wanted to face again. But here he is in Heartcross, encroaching on her safe haven with plans of converting the Starcross manor to a world-class hotel facility. Flynn's plans threaten the welfare of the entire community with their small businesses and Julia is determined to stop him. But is Flynn Carter really the guy she thinks to be? Her past experiences advise her to be wary of him, but her heart is not planning to listen. 
        From beginning to end, this cute little story was the perfect getaway from the real world. As always, Christie Barlow never fails to amaze us.