A Family Holiday

A Family Holiday is one of those books that had me saying at 2am, just one more chapter and then I'll go to bed, I had only started it a couple of hours earlier, and was half way through not wanting to put it down for real life things like sleep. It is a warm loving tale, a story of family and guardianship, and a young nanny that is temporarily in charge of her children, but she is determined to only let them go to the best potential guardian.

Before the book starts, the parents of Charlie's young charges die tragically in a car accident, leaving her in loco parentis. She loves the children and will do anything for them, and helps them with their grief. The will states that the options are either that Aunt Ruth or Uncle Felix take legal guardianship of the children. Just one small snag, Ruth is not a people person and doesn't like Charlie at all, and Felix went awol years ago and hasn't yet been located.

The four children, Ted, George, Eleanor and Millie all have brilliantly different personalities, and its easy to forget at times that Ted is only 15, as a large amount of the time he is feeling like the "man of the house" and trying to be very adult.

In amongst all of this there is also a family holiday to Antigua for Charlie and the children, booked while the parents were still alive. Now how realistic it is that Charlie would have been allowed to leave the country with the children, I'm not sure, but it meant for the second half of the book there was a much more light hearted dynamic at work, with their 4 week trip to Antigua.

I'm not going to give any details for the plot at this point, other than to say I wish I had been in Antigua alongside the family, as I got a great feel for the island, and made me look forward to my own holiday even more.

There are moments where you will be laughing out loud, and others where your heart strings will be pulled, and its just the most wonderful story. I really enjoyed every second of the book, and was gutted that it had to end. I thought that Bella Osbourne's first book was brilliant, but I think I loved this one even more, and that I definitely need to read her future releases.

Charlie is the nanny to four children of varying ages. But the twist to this tale is that the parents of the children and been killed in a car accident. So, for the moment, Charlie is their sole carer.

The story follows the legal and emotional twists as Aunt Ruth and Uncle Felix are approached regarding guardianship. Ruth is a very cold unemotional fish and Felix has never really grown up and faced his own responsibilities, never mind those of his late brother.

The first half of the book really sets the characters in stone and we learn all about their personalities. Millie (3) is wonderful and Bella obviously had a lot of fun regressing to that age! She is funny and typical of a modern 3 year old. The first line of the book tells you so much about her! "Millie had forgotten her knickers again."

George (10) and Eleanor (8) come next. George is pushing his boundaries as only a pre-adolescent boy can and Eleanor is the quiet one - she is still suffering terribly with grief and has a very strong attachment to Wriggly, the Llaso Apso puppy, who never seems to be able to behave.

The oldest is Ted, who has a different father and, at 15, is trying to wear the mantle of head of the family, while still trying to come to terms with the situation.

Charlie had a hard childhood and this strongly influences her desire to protect the children. When it all seems impossible, she takes them off to Antigua for a four week holiday, previously booked by their parents.

I'm not going to say much more about the actual plot, as it would automatically contain spoilers. Bella's descriptions of the island are lovely, and made me want to jump on a plane. (Actually, I may volunteer to accompany her on any future fact-finding missions!)

Suffice to say approaches can be deceiving and one character goes through a real sea-change.

Wasn't so sure about Fleur - her story seemed a little superfluous but certainly served to show the difference in people can depend a lot on their upbringing. And I did admire her trying to change her life - with mixed results.

I cried at the beginning, I cried in the middle and I really cried at the last line. Which was embarrassing as I was on a packed plane!

Thank you Bella - enjoyed this book so much - you just get better and better!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.