*I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity*

Oh how I desperately wanted to love this book. It had such a promising premise– please give me all the charming English villages and crumbling manor houses and Mr. Darcy-esque pseudo-aristocratic love interests– but unfortunately it fell flat on pretty much everything for me.

First off, the romance. I, as a person and reader, love love. I will find the tiniest crumbs of a relationship and honestly, that’s usually enough for me. But there was no chemistry between Wolfie (ugh) and Pippa, and any interaction between the two of them felt not only flat, but incredibly forced.

Which leads me to my second concern, the characters. I loved the secondary characters– the delightful organic farmer neighbors, Pippa’s lovely cousin and his steamboat roommate, even Juniper the rare heritage breed pig. However, Pippa continued to lack boundaries concerning her ex boyfriend and fall into the same pattern of devoting herself to a project for someone else’s benefit. Wolfie never seemed to have much personality at all. I figured out he liked piano, but mostly he was just there to prove Pippa had moved on from her ex and provide a beautiful historic home.

I feel like this book was crying to be a women’s lit detailing Pippa’s recovery and growth as a single person– instead it felt like wasted potential.