Thank you to Netgalley for a pre publication copy. In return for an honest review! #fivehundredmilesfromyou #netgalley

Lissa gets involved in a cufuffal trying to save the life of a young man after gang involvement in London so it is decided by her nursing manager that she is to partake in a job swap to the countryside. So Cormack leaves Scotland to swap with Lissa in the lights of London. Will they get more than they bargained for ?

I have been recommended Jenny's books previously so knew I needed to read this one as the theme is of interest to me too.

This book covers some very emotional but modern topics which are often unspoken in the face of adversity in our amazing NHS. It really shows the trauma, horror and darkness that these heroes face and live with on a day to day basis. It also shows how your career doesn't need to stay the same it can change as you grow as a person.

This author is fantastic. Her writing just jumps off the page at you making you want to read on. You can feel every ounce of emotion pouring off the page and you find yourself waking at all hours to read it.

It does take a few chapters to get into the changing points of view because they are so opposite due to where they are living but once in your riding the waves!

What a great feel good story. It is part of a series but would also read well as a standalone.
This book tackles mental health very well.

I love Jenny Colgan and this did not disappoint.
This seemed a bit more hard-hitting than some of her other books and deals with some sensitive subject matters. We all know that nurses don't have an easy ride and this highlights the trauma suffered as well as the rewarding nature of the job on a daily basis.
I loved the contrasting settings of Scotland and London. Scotland is seen as this beautiful, breezy paradise where life is slower, calmer and just a whole lot nicer than the dank, dreary London.
I liked the interactions between the two characters who both initially embodied their 'hometown' in their mannerisms and speech. As the novel progressed, both characters opened up and became 'better' people.

Why had i put this off for so long?! I absolutely devoured this book in a few days. Typical jenny colgan with some lovely characters, great environment descriptions and a heart warming story.

As usual nothing to fault!

I adore Jenny Colgan, I turn to her when I want a fun book with charming settings and characters that I enjoy spending time with.

But for some reason, this book is not one my favourite of hers.

Maybe it was wrong time, wrong book for me. It fell a little flat and I never got absorbed into the plot the way I normally do.

But I'm still a huge fan. And when I next need a rom com, I'll be returning to Jenny who has never before now let me down.

Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

This was a brilliant read and is being featured on my blog for my quick star reviews feature, which I have created on my blog so I can catch up with all the books I have read and therefore review.
See www.chellsandbooks.wordpress.com.

I was very much torn between a 3 or a 4 star rating for this book. I have enjoyed it, the storyline not being your usual for a chick-lit which made a refreshing change, but I struggled with the writing in some places. Some of the sentences were just a little too long and detailed that it made be forget what it was even talking about, and I’m a little sad that the ending just wrapped up so quickly; another chapter or 2 would have been great. All in all though, an enjoyable read.

This novel follows Lissa and Corman. Lissa lives in London and loves her job as a community nurse but when one day she witnesses a traumatic incident she struggles to cope and is offered a three-month job swap with Cormac. He lives in a remote Scottish village and loves his life as a nurse there. Over time Lissa and Cormac have to swap notes about patients and a bond starts to form. I loved reading about how each of them had to find their feet in a completely new place, and it was fun seeing their friends too and how they coped with the swap. I didn’t enjoy this as much as previous novels by the author but it was still a really fun read and I’m glad I read it. This book is the third in a series but can definitely be read a standalone. An enjoyable summer read!

Jenny Colgan does it again! Great read loved where the book was set. Very heart warming read.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

Lissa and Cormac swap job roles . 500 miles apart. Lissa's employers feel a change of pace would be good for her and Cormac fancies a spell in the bright lights of London.
I love Jenny Colgans books, the characters are always fantastic and the plots flow and keep you glued to the story.

I am weirdly shocked by how indifferent I felt about this book. I am a HUGE fan of Jenny Colgan books and normally devour them but for some reason this one just didn’t hit the mark. There are a few books I think featuring this part of Scotland and from memory I enjoyed them but again they weren’t maybe favourites of hers that I recall. Lissa is the main character and she is a nurse who is involved in a traumatic incident at work. This is the catalyst for her being asked by her work to do a placement swap meaning she would swap homes and jobs with somebody up in Scotland.

Cormac is the person Lissa ends up swapping with and as Lissa moves to the small village up in Scotland, Cormac makes his way to London. Don’t get me wrong the story was okay and I didn’t dislike this book but it just didn’t feel like JC other books. It didn’t flow as well and frankly I didn’t really care what happened to the characters. I am struggling to find many positives within this as it just felt the opposite of everything I normally feel when I read one of her books. I can only hope this was just one of those books I didn’t gel with and the next one returns to her usual kind of book that I love

I love all of Jenny Colman’s books and this, as ever, didn’t disappoint. I love the dual lives and comparisons to how the two main characters settled into their new lives. I could relate to them both. The switches between the two locations were seamless and the descriptions were just right, not too detailed but just enough to set the scene.

Lissa is a follow – up nurse living in London, spending her days driving from one patient to another to make sure they’re following the doctors’ orders, getting the treatment, doing well. One day she is a witness to a terrible hit and run where a 15 – years – old boy dies. She tries hard but she can’t shake off the horror and she’s simply not coping. The hospital’s HR team notices it and advises her strongly to participate in a professional exchange program – it means she’ll be sent to a rural area where her skills are also needed. A nurse from this area will come to London and take her place for the time being. Not absolutely convinced but also left without a choice, Lissa agrees and soon finds herself in Kirrinfief in the Scottish Highlands.
Cormac, an ex – army, is the nurse who swaps places with Lissa. He’s also not too convinced about the whole swap idea and is afraid of London, its noise, pollution and so many people. The two have never met but now they exchange patient notes and it looks like an unlikely friendship is forming between them, even if they’re a bit reluctant. And can it be that the WhatsApp professional banter turns into something more private and intimate?

„Five Hundred Miles from You“ is another, third, beautiful story in the Scottish Bookshop series, brilliantly researched, with a lovely, warm storyline and a bunch of fantastic characters, some of which we have already met in the previous novels. Yes, you could read this book as a stand – alone, absolutely, but as the other two are truly gorgeous reads you’d simply miss too much.

The characters are extraordinarily well developed and I loved them from the very beginning. Cormac maybe even more than Lissa but I also fell for her immediately. We get to know her so well as we are able to accompany her from the very beginning of the trauma, of her PTSD developing and it’s written in such a way that it’s very easy to sympathise with her. She doesn’t have it light, our Lissa, the author takes her our of her comfort zones, letting her either sink or swim – while it was sometimes heart – breaking to see her pain, it was also a real joy to see how she tries to come to terms with her new surroundings and people.
I loved Cormac from the start, he was so easy – going and had his heart in the right place. He’s still having flashbacks to his time in army when serving in Fallujah and to be honest I am truly thankfull to Jenny Colgan that she didn’t focus so much on his memories – it would be too hard for me.

What I love in Jenny Colgan’s books is the writing style. It’s exceptional, and sometimes just the one – word – sentences bring the whole essence, with just one word she can relay this what other would write about for two or more pages – and it’s brilliant. Not that I don’t like her descriptions, because they are beautiful and vivid, but here also, without using overdone words and flowery language she can so easily transport me to her fictional world – and I love it. She covers so many heavy issues with so much sensitivity but without making them feel overdone and too meh. This time she highlights the importance of the national health system, and I think it doesn’t only concern the UK but we can all shuffle it to our own better known grounds – simply to appreciate how important it is, how hard those people work and how much they sometimes have to sacrifice and they for sure don’t deserve racist comments or any other negative vibes. She also touches upon the importance of organ donors, and the last scene in the book had me in real tears. Her writing will tug at all your heart – strings, you simply can’t stay indifferent to her books and her characters. And I love her dry humour, it must be one of the best.

This book was – again – a real and pure escapism. It was, at the same time, heartbreaking and heart – warming and it really messed with my emotions – and there were many hard and emotional moments in this book and they were so realistic, with reality biting and hitting the unsuspecting people. It is a story about second chances and starting again, about love, hope, trust, sadness and happiness. Another gem from this author and I can’t wait fort he next offering. Highly recommended!

I really loved this gentle romance from an author who proves that you don't need to add lots of gratuitous sex scenes in order to have a best seller. The best parts of this book for me were those that included the peripheral characters especially Kim-Ange who had me laughing out loud. We all need a friend like her.

Five Hundred Miles From you by Jenny Colgan

Lissa and Cormac are both Community Nurses. Lissa from London, Cormac from the Scottish Highland. Lissa has a trauma whilst working and as a way of getting over the incident does a 3 months exchange programme to adjust and Cormac to expand his experience. They both have to liaise via email regarding their current workloads.

Jenny Colgan created a well written story covering trauma, friendship and new experiences. A gripping traumatic start and the ups and downs both go through from the new adventures. I laughed cried and loved the characters and descriptive scenery on both locations.

Five Hundred Miles From You is the third of Jenny Colgan’s books set in the Scottish village of Kirrinfief, but works fine as a standalone. The action is split between Scotland and London, and somehow the contrast gives the narrative a disjointed feel.
Lissa and Cormac are both Nurse Practitioner Liaisons working in the community, who swap locations for six months after Lissa experiences a traumatic event while on duty in London. To begin with they are both well out of their comfort zones, but slowly come to appreciate things about their new surroundings.
I loved the idea behind the story, but did not feel that it worked all that well. There was little or no chemistry in the exchanges between the main characters, they seemed to spend more time getting to know their neighbours than each other, and the ending was disappointing and a bit far-fetched.
I loved the descriptions of the Scottish countryside, but found the gritty realism of life in London too much of a contrast. I have read and enjoyed a lot of Jenny Colgan’s earlier books, and will continue even though this one did not really work for me. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC to review.

Another fantastic book by Jenny Colgan!. I loved being transported to Scotland from the comfort of my own home... the author truly portrayed the settings perfectly.
I loved the story, the characters, everything about this book!.

From the highly gripping opening chapter, that had me going nooo that is not how you end the first chapter of a book - as well the action was on a knife edge and from then on everything was alternating between London and Scotland.

The aftermath of this opening dramatic occurrence is what leads to Lissa and Cormac swapping places for three months - Lissa is moved to a small Scottish village to recover from what she witnessed, and Cormac to London to grain new skills.

They are both community nurses, and it is interesting to see how they cope with their life swap.

They have never met each other but communicate about their regular patients and also more personal things via messenger throughout the few months.

They may be 500 miles apart but there is certainly something forming between them.

I loved every moment of this wonderful and heart warming story. It is always a joy to read a new Jenny Colgan novel, and this one was really something special.

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

Fabulous armchair travel to the Scottish Highlands with a jig or two!
Loved catching up with a few characters from other books set in the little village of Kirrinfief too.

Lissa is a nurse living in London who has experienced a traumatic incident and can’t get over it so is recommended a swap jobs and homes with Cormac who lives in a sleepy Scottish village.

They text or email regularly about each of their patients and get quite friendly with one another, could there be more?

Jenny Colgan has done it again the setting, and people are real and I so want to visit Scotland !