Philippa Taylor (Pepper to her friends) has big dreams. When she closes her eyes, she can picture exactly who she ought to be. The problem is, it’s about as far away from her real life in a small coastal town in Suffolk as she can imagine.
“Do you have children?” then, when Pepper shook her head. “Very wise – they spend the first half of their lives ignoring most of everything you tell them to do then the latter half complaining that you never gave them the right guidance.”
So when her elderly friend Josephine persuades Pepper to accompany her on a trip to Europe, she jumps at the chance to change her routine. And when Pepper bumps (literally) into the handsome Finn in Lisbon, it seems as though she might have finally found what she’s been looking for.
But Pepper know all too well things are rarely as they seem. Her own quiet life hides a dark secret from the past. And even though she and Finn may have been destined to find each other, Pepper suspects life may have other plans as to how the story should end.
A romantic and sweeping story about friendship, love and realising that sometimes it’s about the journey, not the destination.
Isabelle Broom was born in Cambridge nine days before the 1980s began and studied Media Arts in London before a 12-year stint at heat magazine. Always happiest when she off on an adventure, Isabelle now travels all over the world seeking out settings for her escapist fiction novels, as well as making the annual pilgrimage to her second home – the Greek island of Zakynthos. Currently based in Suffolk, where she shares a cottage with her dog Max and approximately 467 spiders, Isabelle fits her writing around a busy freelance career and tries her best not to be crushed to oblivion under her ever-growing pile of to-be-read books.
Pepper has never left the country, living alone, lacking in love and good family relationships she finally takes the plunge when her elderly, but close friend Josephine persuades her to keep her company on her travels.
This is a good travel and self-discovery story; the travel scenes are beautifully written and really transport you to each country. Pepper bumps into Finn (literally) in Portugal and a new romance begins. Pepper, her family and friends all have issues to deal with from recent health issues through to long held hurts and resentments this is quite a packed full book.
The plot flows nicely and is all bought to a lovely ending, it focuses on many relationship complexities, twists and turns, love is the main theme. While Pepper and Finn’s relationship dominates the story, Josephine’s story is also very lovely as is the relationship between Pepper and Josephine.
Pepper is quite a self-deprecating character, she doesn’t have any self-confidence and refuses to paint again since the passing of her sister, which she blames herself for. It was nice to see her grow and come back to her painting again. Finn, while appearing as a lovely guy who is devoted to Pepper once they meet doesn’t seem quite right to me. While the premise is lovely that they meet and keep bumping into each other and a sudden love blossoms, it feels almost starker like at times and his other relationship in Germany, far more than he would have you believe… I’m not sure if the story would be better without that part or if there is a hint that he is actually a snake. Either way, the fact that you are drawn into thinking of these things shows how well the characters are developed and how drawn into the plot you become.
I found the first part easy to get into but then there seemed to be a bit of a lag in the middle up to around 60% which felt a little like unnecessary filler, after this, it became well-paced and more enjoyable again.
Overall it was well written and flowed nicely, maybe just not the right book for me at this time.
Thank you to Net Galley, the Publisher and the Author for a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
| Title | Hello, again |
| Author | Isabelle Broom |
| Series | N/A |
| Format | eARC |
| Page Count | 304 Pages |
| Genre | Contemporary Romance |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Release Date | 4th June 2020 |
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