Title: The Pets at Primrose Cottage: Part One A Place to Hide
Author: Sheila Norton
Publisher: Ebury Digital
Genre: Contemporary
Book format: Digital (pre-release)
Sweet Strawberries: 
Description: Emma Nightingale needs a place to hide away. Pursued by the demons left by her ex-boyfriend, she takes refuge in quiet Crickleford, a sleepy town in Dartmoor, where she can lay low.
Life in Crickleford is quiet and peaceful, but it won’t be for long if people discover the truth about Emma’s past. Not wanting to make too much of a fuss, she ends up lying about why she’s there – she’s looking after some cats, she says – then suddenly the town’s new ‘pet-sitter’ is in high demand!
While looking after an Alsatian, Emma finds all attention is on her, and the handsome young reporter from the local paper takes an interest in her story…
*Free copy provided by publisher for review…
My Review: I really enjoyed getting into this story. ‘The Pets at Primrose Cottage’ is a lighthearted contemporary book that is released as a whole book but also split into four parts before the full release with ‘Part one: A Place to Hide’ being a great introduction to the tale. Emma needs a place to get away from her old life and heads into the small town of Crickleford where she hopes to start a new life, away from anyone who might know her. But in a small town where people talk, can she really leave her old life behind?
I really enjoyed the last serialised book I read by Sheila Norton which was ‘The Vets at Hope Green’ so I was more than happy when the publisher asked me if I’d like to read this one. It was easy to get into the story right away with Emma narrating her tale. I enjoyed reading about the small town atmosphere and what it was like to be a new person there and I immediately warmed to Emma’s character as I could see myself feeling out of place in a small sleepy town too.
Once Emma settles in as a lodger with a family it’s not long before she is asked to take care of some animals. Through doing this we’re introduced to more characters and I love how much focus there was on some of the pets. A particular alsatian was really well portrayed and I loved the way Sheila Norton’s books can focus so much on the animals and yet still be about the human characters too. All of the human characters are well thought out, just like the setting, I could instantly see everything in my mind and really enjoyed getting into this story.
This first part is only a snapshot of what is happening in the story but it ends in a brilliant way that keeps you eager to read more. I’ll definitely be reading all four parts and can’t wait for the next one already which will be ‘Part two: New Beginnings’. If you don’t enjoy having to wait for all four parts to be released or prefer them all in one book then you can now get your hands on the full story in one book, but I can certainly recommend this series already based on what I’ve read of the first quarter.
As I said, I enjoyed Norton’s ‘The Vets at Hope Green’ already, but in this book, there’s something about the mystery surrounding Emma’s past and her being an outsider to a small town that makes this book even more appealing, to me, than ‘The Vets at Hope Green’. Although this book already has an air of predictability to it, being a lighthearted romantic contemporary story, this didn’t bother me as there’s still so much of Emma’s past to be revealed and I can’t wait to see what else will happen with the animals in the next part of the story!
-Review first appeared online November 2017 – now republished here.
Have you read The Pets at Primrose Cottage? Do you like stories that are seperated into parts? What contemporary novels do you enjoy? Let me know what you think in the comments below 🙂
The Strawberry Post 