The Country Guesthouse by Robyn Carr

This post is sponsored by BabbleBoxx.com on behalf of Harper Collins.

I don’t think that the weather has gotten the memo that I’ve officially hit my hibernation season. All I want to do is curl up on the couch and read my books or needlepoint. But DC keeps giving me these 65 degree days! Now, don’t get me wrong, they’re beautiful and great, but it’s January. My brain can’t handle this confusion. My to-read pile is high and my couch is calling my name. Give me that snow!

Speaking of my to-read list, my most recent read was The Country Guesthouse by Robyn Carr and I was so pleasantly surprised by this one! I decided that for my review today, I would use the format that Anne and I use for our Blogger Reads posts (though I took out a few sections). Let me know what you think of this format and if I should use it for other review posts!

The Country Guesthouse by Robyn Carr

TWO SENTENCE SUMMARY

Hannah had a solid plan for her life, but it gets quickly thrown out the window when Hannah’s best friend dies and leaves Hannah as the guardian of her five-year-old son, Noah. To get to know each other, Hannah takes Noah for a vacation in at a rented house in Colorado where they not only become close with the owner, Owen, but new challenges begin to be thrown their way.

WHAT I LIKED MOST AND WHAT FRUSTRATED ME

I loved how pleasantly surprised I was about this book! When I first started reading this book, all I could think was, “ugh, why is this book being so predictable? I can TOTALLY guess what’s going to happen.” Then, as I continued to read, I realized that I couldn’t put the book down and I was completely wrong. Carr wasn’t making the book predictable at all! No! Instead, she was laying down breadcrumbs throughout the book and building anticipation like crazy. Then as the anticipation is building and getting more intense, you think you know what is going to happen, but then wrenches keep being thrown into the plan. I could not put the book down because I needed to know what would happen. I was just left in awe by Carr at the end.

What frustrated me? Luckily, not much. The only thing that really frustrated me were the (very few) romance scenes. They just felt a little bit out of place. I almost feel like they could have done that PG-13 cut where they go from kissing to the next scene. It just didn’t feel necessary in this book. Others might disagree with me though.

RECOMMENDED FOR

Hmm, so this book definitely falls into the category of contemporary romance or adult fiction. Or the category of “women’s fiction” but I hate using that term. I think that if you’re looking for a feel good book or a happy family book to curl up with, this is definitely a good one.

A few more fun things…

Now going into this book, I had no idea that Robyn Carr was actually a #1 New York Times bestselling author or that this novel was the fifth book in a series! But I loved the characters in it. So I’m going back now so I can read books one through four in the series. I’m also now looking forward to book six!