The Holiday Escape by Heidi Swain:   full of fun, drama and  romance – book review –

Will a pair of seemingly star-crossed lovers be able to mend a pack of lies, fight back against the fickleness of fate, and reignite the flames of a holiday romance that set both their hearts on fire?

If a wet spring is dampening your spirits, pour a glass of your favourite tipple and escape into the warmth and wonder of summer loving with the queen of feel-good Heidi Swain in a sizzling novel that explores what happens when the lives of two people – with very different dreams – collide.

Swain, who lives with her family in picturesque south Norfolk, has won thousands of adoring readers with her enchanting stories set in three fictional locations... the Fenland town of Wynbridge, cosy Nightingale Square in Norwich, and the resort of Wynmouth on the glorious Norfolk coast.

But Swain – whose stories always have a strong sense of community, family and friendship – also brings us a sparkling summer standalone every year and in this delightful new offering we are swept away first to the bright, bustling streets of Barcelona, and then on to an idyllic hideaway on the Dorset coast.

Since her mother died prematurely a few years ago, Ally and her dad Geoff have run the family business, a creative retreat, from their beautiful Georgian home, Hollyhock Cottage, in picturesque Kittiwake Cove in Dorset. They give their guests their dream break but, unknown to her dad, what Ally secretly hankers after is glamourous city living, fancy restaurants and art galleries.

Ally only stays at Hollyhock Cottage and helps her father because it was her mother’s last wish but it has led her into to an ‘emotional tangle of deep-seated obligation, anxiety and fear.’ To try to counteract this, she has developed a survival strategy, a ‘sanity saver,’ which involves escaping out of season, taking a break abroad, and pretending to be the person she always imagined she would be.

But this year, she meets Logan on the flight over to her favourite destination, Barcelona, and blessed with the blond hair she loves, gorgeous eyes, and both brains and good looks, he is exactly the kind of distraction she’s looking for.

What Logan doesn’t yet know is that Ally is doing what she always does... taking a different name, giving herself a different personal profile, and pretending to be someone she isn’t. After a passionate week together and a ‘deep and meaningful’ connection that Ally had not expected, she returns home with her spirits restored and Logan still very much on her mind.

But just as she is picking up the reins again and setting her sights on another successful season, Logan unexpectedly arrives on the scene with a booking at one of their rental apartments, and Ally soon realises she’s in for a summer that’s going to be far from straightforward.

Whether you need a sunshine fix to see you through to our own summer, or just a warm and cosy book hug full of fun, drama, romance and the angst of real life trials and tribulations, look no further than this beautifully woven tale.

Torn between living the life she has always longed for and keeping a promise she made to her late mother, Ally’s delight in her annual ‘sanctuary’ escape to Europe is wrong-footed when she falls for the handsome, blond, beguiling Logan.

And readers will love the twists and turns that litter Ally and Logan’s path to true love, and the secrets that have a way of tumbling out when Logan makes his unexpected, embarrassing (and not entirely unwanted!) appearance.

Set against the sea, sun and sand of the Dorset coast, and offering a delightful celebration of the joys of family and friendship, Swain’s summertime odyssey guarantees miles of smiles, lashings of heart-fluttering love, the fun of meeting a charismatic cast of characters (not least cheeky parrot Kasuku!), and is the perfect breath of fresh air for spring and summer reading.

(Simon & Schuster, paperback, £9.99)