Juniper Meadows is home to much of his extended family, not to mention the many local businesses that operate on the estate, so there’s no time to sit back and enjoy the view. Juniper Meadows is a full-time job, and that doesn’t leave much time for romance…
Tasha Blake’s career leaves no time for romance either – much to her mother’s chagrin. Tasha’s sister Danni has kindly provided two grandchildren, but Victoria Blake is keen for more! When her job takes her to Juniper Meadows for an extended project, the slower pace of life, the beauty of the countryside and the warmth of the Travers family, soon has Tasha in its thrall, and the future Lord of the Manor Rhys Travers is rather easy on the eye too.
As the busyness of life on the estate sweeps Tasha and Rhys along, they are both able to ignore the secrets and silences that are growing between them. But when the future of Juniper Meadows hangs in the balance, loyalties and love are tested to breaking point. When the chips are down, can Rhys and Tasha see a future together, come rain or shine…
Review: This is the third book in the Juniper Meadows series from this author. Stories in this series are set on the Juniper Meadows estate in the Cotswolds. The exclusive hotel, once the ancestral seat of the Travers family, the farm and camp site are run by two generations of the current family, who now reside in the large farmhouse or elsewhere on the estate. Each book has focused on a particular member of the large, extended family, although all of them feature to a greater or lesser extent. Although the books in this series can be read in isolation, I would recommend reading them in order to build up a complete picture of this interesting family.
This story centres on Rhys Travers, heir apparent to the family title, and a newcomer to the estate, Tasha Blake. Tasha has been sent by her boss to work undercover as the estate’s camp site manager and report back to him on activities within the family business as a whole. However, she is surprised to find herself welcomed into the family as more than an employee, and realises that she is forming a relationship with Rhys. She also discovers that she enjoys the job and the slower pace of life in the country. Being suspicious of her boss’s motives, Tasha is unwilling to report to him, but the problem remains of how to explain to Rhys and his family that she has been deceiving them. It looks as though she is in a no-win situation and may lose both her new job and man she has come to love.
I am really enjoying this series from Sarah Bennett; her books are always full of warmth and romance coupled with interesting characters and real-life situations. In this story, it was good to see the character of Rhys brought to the fore. He has struggled with the knowledge that he will one day inherit the estate, with the attendant responsibilities, and employing someone to take some pressure off him was a great idea. I wasn’t sure that I liked Tasha to begin with but she grew on me as the story progressed. She had her own problems of course, her mother with her strange ideas being one of them. I’m already looking forward to the next book in this series and wondering who will take centre stage.
