Most charming tale of life in rural Dorset and the problems of making a success of a remote country Hotel. Meg a trainee chef is summoned by her mother the Hotel manager who was in dire Straits. Resigning her job in London she arrives to find that the Chef had left in a tantrum having sacked most of the sfaff as well, planning to hire agency staff to save money. Realizing that the hotel originally the manor house and the source of employment of the local community for generations Meg sets about rehiring all the former staff aiming to create a family homely hotel. As she sets about preparing for the annual community lunch, Justin the son of the owner, also a Chef views her critically with the tradition view that women cannot be a chef. How this, threaten closure for sale, inheritance disputes and a mystery legacy and falling in love makes a roller coaster of a story where all ends well against all odds

4 stars

Sweet story set in the 60s. Meg is asked by her mother Louise to help in a hotel kitchen. The chef is a mightmare and the owner of the hotel, Louise's boyfriend, is away in france sorting out a will. Julian the owners son comes over and starts to undermine Meg. She holds her own even though he's very anti women in the kitchen. He's a chef at a competing hotel. He is also very suspicious about Louise's romance. Meg has some aristocratic friends who support her. Julian's girlfriend, Laura is reasonably awful, It appears there's a missing beneficiary to the will, it's not difficult to work out who that is. I was a bit surprised at the fairly quick turn around of Meg/Julian's apathy/dislike to their romance. Quite a quick read. I'm not enthused to read any other work but it's a pleasant read.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Visiting her mum at the hotel she works at leads to a new job. Taking on the challenge of a fading country house hotel in Dorset as the chef. With the owner away, his son turns up and sparks fly.
Can the hotel be saved and updated? Can they get along?

I really enjoyed this wonderful, romantic story and such a treat to travel back in time to the sixties when en-suites were an unheard of luxury, I would love to stay at Nightingale Woods

Katie Fforde's latest title in her series about Alexandra, Lizzie and Meg focuses on Meg. Meg is a good cook and wants to train as a chef -a difficult task for a woman in the 60s.
A cry for help from her mother who is running a hotel in leafy Dorset and Meg steps into cook in a hotel that has seen better days. As she shines in the kitchen she butts heads with the owners son also a chef.
With plans to make the hotel successful Met draws in Alexandra, Lizzie and Nessa to turn round the fading hotel.
A cast of entertaining characters, arguments, secret wills, and hidden histories means this story will appeal to Fforde's many fans.

A good escapist read.

Love a Katie Fforde book, and 'One Enchanted Evening' does not disappoint. Fab characters, a great story, a little bit of conflict and a happy ending...this is the perfect comfort read!
Set in the 1960s in a small hotel in Dorset, Meg's mother calls her and asks her to come to the rescue after the chef walks out. Meg is training to be a chef in London, but agrees to go and help, but soon finds that things are not straightforward. The future of the somewhat dated hotel is looking uncertain, but Meg soon finds herself working hard to modernise it and save it from closure. Conflict arrives in the form of Justin, the owner's son and chef at a local newly opened hotel.
This is a warm, witty read and thoroughly enjoyable, as you find yourself willing Meg to succeed. A real feel good story.

Really enjoyed this book, several characters from a previous novel which I think is unusual for Katie Fforde.
Meg, an aspiring chef responds to her mothers call for help at small Dorset hotel. Will be she save the day? Naturally and a lot more. Justin the son of the owner of the hotel is very dubious about the relationship between Meg's mother Louise and his father Andrew.
Add in a few trips to France and an outdoor performance of Midsummer night's dream and all the loose ends are tied up
Wonderful

A very enjoyable Katie Fforde read where love always wins out ,a few girls from her last wonderful read a wedding in provence make up the main players in her new book .Personally i loved the follow on .

Thank you for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a sweet and easy romance set in the 1960s and follows Meg as she helps out her mother with a slightly run down hotel. I loved the setting and cute vibe of this book. I hadn’t realised it is part of a series and although it can be read as a stand-alone there were a lot of characters that were introduced quite quickly with lots of backstory. I feel fans of the series will benefit from their previous introduction more and find them easier to keep track of than I did.

I haven’t read Katie Fforde books before and although it was an easy read I must admit it’s not a genre I would normally choose.
It was set in the 1960s and the story mainly takes place in a family owned hotel in Dorset. Meg is a professional chef in her 20s and is asked by her mum, who is the housekeeper at the hotel, to come and help out. The present chef is very difficult and sacks a lot of staff who have worked there for a long time. With an annual function coming up he decides to walk out leaving Meg to cope. Fortunately Meg does an excellent job and manages to persuade the staff to return and stay.
The owner’s son, Justin, is also a chef at a modern local hotel which has en suite bedrooms and a much larger clientele. He’s not happy with having Meg in the kitchen but she eventually wins him over.
Meg is keen to go to France and always planned to go as she has good friends who live there and they have found her a placement in a local upmarket restaurant to further her career.
Justin decides to takeover the kitchen and brings one of his staff from his hotel to help in the kitchen. Meg isn’t happy with the new kitchen dynamics and goes to France.
I won’t give any spoilers but the book has a happy ending. Unfortunately I found the whole style rather twee but I’m sure lovers of romantic fiction from the 1960s will enjoy the book and give it 5 stars.

Another delightful summer romance from Ms Fforde. Everything we have come to expect from one of Katie’s books, a fiesty heroine, a strong and dashing hero and various hurdles and unexpected challenges along the way to the happy ever after we know will come. A wonderful summer read.

I'm a huge fan of Katie Fforde's books and this didn't disappoint. – this was the author at her best.

Set in the 1960s, this novel was a romantic and escapist read that takes us behind the scenes at a hotel and straight into its kitchens.

It is an empowering read for women, featuring a protagonist who has to fight against sexism and prejudice to achieve her potential. It was enlightening to read about this period of recent history and to see just how much has changed since then.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher for a free advance copy of One Enchanted Evening in exchange for an honest review.

This is another enjoyable, easy read from Katie Fforde.
The book is part of a series about a group of girls and set in the 1960s. It helps to have read "A Wedding in the Country" first, as there are numerous characters continuing in the story.
This would make a good holiday read.
I'm not so keen on the dated setting of these books compared to Fforde's earlier books, but that's personal preference and I recognise a good story here when I see it!

Definitely helps to read 'A Wedding in the country' first. Same group of people, but this story is centred on Meg who goes to help her mother in a run down country hotel. With the help of her friends they start to breathe new life into the old hotel. Justin is the son of the owner and works for the competing new hotel. He thinks this hotel will be sold and is at first resistant to all these new ideas. However he is converted as they start to succeed. But when Meg is offered a dream job in France is there any possibility that he could convince her to stay? If you enjoyed the first book you will like this one

The ideal novel for romantics. Not as compelling as previous novels by this author, characters all a bit superficial and predictable. However, if you are a Katie Fforde fan no doubt you will enjoy it.

A cosy romance.

2.5*

Thank you NetGalley.

It was great to catch up with meg and her friends again. One Enchanted Evening is set in the 60s which to is but five minutes ago but the storyline illustrates that actually attitudes have changed over the intervening years.
This book is typical of Katie Fford where as well as not so young find love without any real drama, just a comforting, feelgood storyline.
My thanks to Netgalley for my early copy.

Another great read from Katie Fforde!

When Meg's mother rings her from the stately home hotel she works at requiring backup, Meg rushes to be there and ends up thrown rather in the deep end. Soon enough, she finds out how quickly Nightingale Woods gets under your skin..

One thing I really enjoy about Fforde's stories is that you are thrown straight into the action, there's no scene setting or tedious parts where the author shoehorns in all the information you need. Fforde does this organically and without stalling the story - I quickly found myself completely absorbed in the tale.

The setting is idyllic, it's set in the past (I want to say late 60s/early 70s) and the characters are well developed. If you've read some of Fforde's other works, you'll recognise a couple of them - I love how the stories interweave together!

This is a nice, escapist tale. Nothing ground breaking happens in it, there are no super tense moments but it is an enjoyable, easy read.

A very enjoyable easy read which I read whilst I was not well. I was a bit dubious with it set in 1964 but the attitudes of the time came across well. Meg wanted to be a chef in a time where men were thought to be the best chefs (also women are not thought to be good drivers and men are quite “touchy feely” but of its time).We enjoy Meg’s trials and tribulations as she tries to reach her goal. It is also a love story and while it might be a bit predictable at times, sometimes this is the type of book you need. The characters are all believable and the friendship group are really supportive. I would recommend this book if you want a nice read.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. One of my favourite authors, this was a real feel good, fuzzy feeling read, I absolutely loved the storyline and the characters.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Another of Katie's books set in the 60's and another enjoyable read. Nightingale Woods sounds like a lovely place to be.