What a perfect feel good read. Great setting, good characters and an interesting plot. I couldn’t put this down, it would make a brilliant holiday read. Thoroughly recommended.

Another brilliant read from jo, this time taking us to hot sunny Spain. Trying to get away from her family that that have decided to return home to mum and be reliant on her Spain seems to be the answer, house sitting.
Isolated but near the village it 's about time to try the local culture and learn Spanish, what could possibly go wrong????? Being left to look after a herd of pigs for a start, tracing stolen hams, teaching the local bar owner how to make tapas to mention just a few.
Could love sneak in there too?

Such a lovely read.

The perfect feel good read. As a mother it's lovely to see a book written from a similar perspective.

I loved the characters in the Spanish Conversation club and their combined life experiences. There was lovely dynamics throughout the story, I especially loved the bond Eliza formed with Sebastian the dish washer at the tapas bar where the Spanish Conversation club meet.

A great feel good book!

An absolute joy of a book, full of Spanish sunshine, tapas, cold beer, Iberian ham and lots of pigs! Jo Thomas has done it again with this gorgeous cast of likeable characters and a couple of villains thrown in for good measure. Highly recommended!

I just adore Jo's books.

Simple story.

Witty characters.

Entertaining dialogue.

What more could you ask for?

Jo is one of those authors that I just know is going to deliver exactly what I need.

Retreat to the Spanish Sun, much like their other books is a perfect piece of escapism.

Eliza needs to complete an essay to finish the course she has been taking, but her three children have returned home and invaded her space, leaving her unable to concentrate. She decides to take a house-sitting job in Southern Spain to allow her time to finish the essay in peace.
Finding new friends and purpose while at the finca, Eliza settles into her temporary job, The characters are all well drawn and relatable, along with two adorable dogs, and pigs galore! There is a rich tapestry of humour, dialogue and story, though the pace tends to be steady until you become absorbed in the book.
Eliza keeps being diverted from writing her essay, finding that problems of others take priority, resulting in a riot of humorous adventures involving her new found friends in the Language Club, Josef, and others in the community.
Jo Thomas is expert writing stories which pull at the heart-strings, and her latest book is no exception.
Recommended.

I've just spent a wonderful time, in Southern Spain, learning all about real Iberico ham, pig farming, the local towns gastronomique society, and the really good local food producers.

Not to mention a tapas bar with an owner that likes to try bizarre flavours, the Spanish conversation club (not that any of them can speak Spanish), and all manner of intrigue and potentially dodgy happenings.

Who says that house sitting in a farm in Spain would provide Eliza the much longed for peace and quiet to be able to work on her foundation year coursework. To say there is a whole lot going on is an understatement.

What starts off as a relatively calm read, keeps ramping everything up, to the most fabulous of finales, which I was utterly hooked on.

And I would heartily recommend reading this with snacks to hand, as with the amount of sumptuous food descriptions, and the fact I could almost taste the Iberico ham, as well as understand just how it differs from Serrano ham, means that you will get hungry reading this book.

It's a Spanish food lovers paradise. It's also a pig lovers paradise, and i especially loved following Banderas' progress rather closely!

This is another utterly fantastic book from Jo Thomas, who I am rapidly running out of fresh ways of saying that if you haven't discovered this wonderful author yet, then you are missing out, as she is wonderful. This is perfect for Spain loves, foodies, and those looking for a good story, a hint of romance, and new friendships and learning a lot about yourself too.

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

Jo is such a fantastic author….. I really enjoyed this story and I wanted to get to the end to find out whether Eliza got her happy ending or not. I always want to race through Jo Thomas's books to get to the end and then I am sad that I have finished it.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Retreat to the spanish sun is the perfect holiday read that will take you away and draw you complety in.
Eliza life is not what she thought it would be, she is sharing a bed with her daughter and feels like there is no time in her life to achieve anything. Then one day she sees an advert which gives her the chance to escape to the sun and ends up in rural Spain.
The book is fun and emotional and takes you on a journey of discovery.

I really enjoyed it

Well, with Jo’s description of the Spanish house, I felt myself relaxing straight away!
What a fun book!
Lighthearted, optimistic and frothy, and none the worse for that. Such escapism, I really enjoyed it!

Jo Thomas can do no wrong in my eyes and this was the perfect tonic for a miserable week with torrential rain in the UK!

The descriptions and locations had me desperately wanting to leave behind the bad weather and just hot foot it and become a house sitter on a pig farm in rural Spain.

The food descriptions had my mouth watering (although maybe not for Juan's crazy tapas ideas!) as Eliza learns more about the farm and herself.

Another winner from Jo Thomas!

I do love a Jo Thomas book, I have a big stack of books waiting to be read and have purposely made myself wait an extra couple of books before reading this new addition to the Jo Thomas Collection.

This is simply a lovely read, the story flows effortlessly and Jo transported me to the beautiful sunshine, I knew this book would be fabulous before I started it.

5 stars from me

I’ve really enjoyed a lot of Jo Thomas’s previous books, so I was looking forward to this one. I wasn’t disappointed.

I loved the setting for this book - a pig farm in Spain. The descriptions gave a real sense of place, without detracting from the pace of the story. I loved the pigs too, especially the boar.

I loved Eliza - she has a great sense of determination, and of justice, though she does things I wouldn’t dare to! Josep was a very likeable character too - we see a bit less of him, but I liked his integrity and ideals.

I also loved some of the more minor characters too - the Spanish conversation class members, and especially Juan and Thiago. Their little subplot was lovely.

There were funny moments, as well as emotional. The ham and van scene especially was tense and hilarious at the same time.

Overall, this was both a lovely romance, and a great personal development story.

I was given a free copy of this book, my opinions are my own.

Another wonderful read from Jo Thomas.

I just love Jo's characters, her style of writing and the wonderful settings.

Eliza somehow still manages to spend her life running round after her adult children. But a trip to Spain to house sit changes everything.

This was another good read by Jo Thomas. I liked the characters, I liked the location and I liked the storyline. Only thing I would say was that it was a bit far fetched at the end but other than that it was really enjoyable. And made me crave ham!

This was an unexpected treat and there was a lot more to the book than meets the eye based on the jacket description! I loved the plot and the ability to travel from my armchair to experience life in a small Spanish village. There was lots of fun, romance and even lots to learn about jamón ibérico! I appreciated the research that went into this and the original details. The likeable characters also made this a joy to read.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read Retreat to the Spanish Sun in exchange for an honest review.

Jo Thomas has done it again. This was a fantastic read. I loved exploring the Spanish food, ex-pat life and the world of pig farming! It was always entertaining and I didn't want to stop reading.

Who would have thought that a Pig Farm could be the scene for a romantic book set under the Spanish sun?
Eliza has a haphazard life and a house full of returned adult children. answering an advert for a house-sitting service she lands in the middle of a Spanish town with more going on than first meets the eye. She soon integrates herself into the community not realising the extent of her actions.
This book is yet another of Jo Thomas' masterpieces ( I still can't get over that it is set on a pig farm) with all the feel-good factors of the mouthwatering descriptions of spanish food, the spanish sun and a handsome spanish pig farmer.
Thank you so much for the advance copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly. I loved it!

Who needs anti depressants when you can read a Jo Thomas book instead! Another great read that makes you yearn for summer. House sitting has never been such an adventure, who know what it might lead to and what we are capable of. Looking after pigs cannot be any more stressful than organising a family surely? Eliza finds that life in Spain posses more challenges than she thought but in true 'mum' style she manages to look after and organise everyone and even find love on the way.
Once you start you have to read to the end

This is a lovely book to read; it's real and engaging, but with enough twists and turns to feel a little bit fantasy. The characters are likeable and believe-able and, whilst it's quite a predictable ending, I really enjoyed getting there! Now I've finished the book, I almost feel like I'm missing some friends! it's well written, easy to read and with enough description that you get a clear mental picture - I could relate it to my own experience of Spain and whilst travel is still looking unlikely, it was a great get away!