A truly wonderful book!!

Christie Barlow has done it again. I adored Foxglove Farm and raved about it to anyone that would listen that it was a hidden gem and this is just as good!

Julia is the owner of a B&B in the village of Heartcross. Everything is wonderful until a blast from the past in the form of Flynn Carter arrives with plans to turn the derelict stately home Starcross Manor into a 5* resort. Is Flynn still the untrustworthy man that she remembers?

I loved this! You know what you are getting with these types of novels so the trick to great writing is to engage the reader so that they still care about the characters in the middle when the usual misunderstanding happens. I'm delighted to say that I did. I'm looking forward to the next in this series.

Another wonderful instalment of the Loveheart Lane series - It was so good to be back in Heartcross again and meet up with characters from previous books (Honk the pony even makes an appearance) while meeting a whole new bunch of residents.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It holds the quality and warmth of writing that has been throughout this series. I loved Loveheart Lane and Foxglove Farm, both of which were captivating and full of fantastic characters & storylines. However, I felt that the last book, Clover Cottage, wasn’t quite up to the same standard as the previous two. Not sure whether it was the storyline or the characters but something just didn’t pull me into the village the way the first books did. Star cross Manor, however, is completely back on track and holds everything that made me fall in love with the village of Heartcross & its residents.
Following Julia as she discovers that things aren’t always what they seem & that what we experience in the past isn’t always an indication of the future. None more so than property developer Flynn Carter, the man who dumped Julia’s friend on their wedding day five years earlier and who paid Julia well below market value when she sold her beloved Grandfather’s house to him. These experiences cloud Julia’s perception of Flynn and stop her seeing the kind and compassionate man he has become, and it’s not long before the whole village has declared war on Flynn.
This book really draws you into the village life and immerses you in the goings on as Starcross Manor is transformed into a luxury hotel and Julia’s view of Flynn slowly transforms too.
Although it is lovely to catch up with old friends in Heartcross (Honk the pony’s cameo appearance really made me smile as he was such a cutie in the previous books); however, it can easily be read as a stand-alone as knowing their back-stories isn’t necessary to enjoy this book. That said, if you’ve not read the previous books I strongly suggest you go and do it and fall in love with the rugged beauty of Heartcross and the colourful and all the amusing characters of the village residents.
Really looking forward to the next book in the series, featuring a character and venue both introduced within his book, so a perfect lead-into the next.

Cute, heartwarming and adorable. This is part of a series but can definitely be read as a standalone fine. I had only read book 1 previously though will now find and read books 2 and 3 because I enjoyed this so much. The characters are great and while the romance was lovely the bulk of the emotion, for me, came from the friendships which were very well written.

A solid cosy read.

another good book in the series - moving away a bit from the original characters but equally as engaging

Flynn and Julia have history. She doesn't like him so when he comes to Heartcross and decides to set up a 5 star hotel to rival her B and B, she is not happy. Oozing with lots of conflict centred around community. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book.

It was great fun to return to Love Heart Lane. In the beginning, I seriously disliked Flynn (as I was probably meant to!) but by the end...

Starcross Manor is the latest book in Christie Barlow’s Love Heart Lane series. I’ve read all of the books and Starcross Manor just might be my favorite. (It is difficult to say that because the series is terrific and all are very good!)

One thing I love about this series is every book ties to the one prior. While they can be read as stand alones, it’s fun to see old characters pop up. The author does a great job of inserting a small backstory while not taking away from the current. In this latest installment we get to know Julia better. She’s the owner of the B&B on Love Heart Lane, about to turn 40, and is the only one in the town that knows the ‘truth’ about Flynn Rider (a multi-millionaire retail developer who is now to town).

Julia is a strong character, building the B&B from scratch on her own. She’s determined, but also very caring. She loves her town and the people who live there. And, she will do anything protect it. Of all the books in this series, Julia is my favorite.

I don’t want to reveal too much of the plot because it will take away all the fun of reading it. However, one thing I want to praise the author on is her writing style. The book takes place in modern times, yet some of her writing makes you feel as though you’ve stepped back in time to the mid-century era. She has a talent of bringing the story to life. I felt like I was living in the town of Heartcross, and in actuality I wish the town really existed. I can see myself being friends with Julia, having a drink at the pub with Allie, or having a scone and tea with Flick and her mom.

This is a wonderful book that will bring a smile to your heart! I highly recommend Starcross Manor and all of the books in the Love Heart Lane series!

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.