the secret of happy ever after by lucy dillon

Michelle is a character full of determination and organised beyond belief. Set in the small town of Longhampton (which has apparently featured in Dillon's books before), we meet Michelle- new to the town after her recent divorce and determined to set up a homeware/interiors shop in the abandoned fishmongers.

I'm so glad I started with this book- and I will definitely be looking to read her others at some point soon because this was a fabulous read- full of characters you can care about and a really charming storyline. I've never read one of Lucy Dillon's novels before, but I was swayed by the dreamy, fairytale-like quality of this front cover and the other great reviews for this book on here. I did not feel that one of the issues playing was totally resolved. Only the ending was not wrapped up entirely according to my liking. I enjoyed most of this book, bookshops and dogs (Tavish seems such a great dog) are a wonderful combination in my books. Her parents would love to see them back together and blame her for their break-up but she has her reasons to keep very far away from him. And Michelle tries to keep everyone at arm’s length and is still suffering the ongoing attention of her (almost ex-)husband. Anna for example wants to have a baby of her own after caring for her husband’s three children for a while now.

They both have their own (not so little) problems. The story is told in alternating POV’s of Michelle and Anna.

Michelle doesn’t know anything about books but of course Anna does. After some time Michelle sees an opportunity to expand her business even further by taking over an existing bookshop, located next door to her shop. Her life collides with Anna’s when she’s drinking a cup of tea in town and meets Anna’s dog, Pongo. The book opens with Michelle who just moved to Longhampton and will open a shop called Home Sweet Home.

The secret of happy ever after by lucy dillon