Happy July! Summer is here in Yorkshire but like many summers the weather can be hit and miss so I’m excited to share my review for Retreat to the Spanish Sun by Jo Thomas. It promised to be the perfect escape novel. Scroll down to see if it met my high expectations.
Book Review: Retreat to the Spanish Sun by Jo Thomas
Title: Retreat to the Spanish Sun
Author: Jo Thomas
Publisher: Penguin
Genre: Romance
Release Date: 23rd June 2022
Blurb
Will a summer escape be the answer she’s looking for?
Eliza has a full house! When her three children grew up and moved out, she downsized to a smaller property… but now they’re all back. Every room in the house is taken and Eliza finds herself sharing her bed with her eldest daughter and her daughter’s pug. Combined with the online course she’s trying to finish, plus her job to fit in, there just isn’t the peace and quiet that Eliza needs.
So when an ad pops up on her laptop saying ‘house-sitters wanted’, Eliza can’t resist the chance to escape. She ends up moving to a rural finca in southern Spain, looking after the owner’s Iberico pigs, learning about secret gastronomic societies… and finding a new zest for life and love along the way. From the bestselling author of Escape to the French Farmhouse comes a deliciously feel-good new story…
My Thoughts
Eliza’s life was very relatable and the chaos in her flat and the demands from her grown children leapt from the page. I needed a break with her. The retreat was a delight and immersive. The Spanish Conversation group were a fun and warm addition and made me feel connected to the place and story.
I’ve never considered pigs as something adorable once they have grown past the cute piglet stage but Banderas changed this. His personality shone and I fell in love with him as much as Eliza did. With the descriptions of food my taste buds tingled and I longed to drink wine and eat the tapas mentioned. This is always a good sign of a good book but usually only happens in Christmas novels so it was a pleasant surprise to fancy salad.
The plot requires you to suspend reality in places but like all good romcoms, it makes you feel that while you’re in their world, anything goes and everything makes sense.
It could easily be adapted to a summer feel good movie and hits all the points for a good, uplifting summer read.
Would I recommend?
Yes, it achieved everything I wanted. Whether you are lying on the beach abroad or in your garden at the weekend, this is an ideal escape to Spain with laughter, adventure and gastronomic delights.
It’s a while since I’ve read a Jo Thomas book but now need to backtrack and add her back catalogue to my TBR pile.
Author Biography
Jo Thomas worked for many years as a reporter and producer, first for BBC Radio 5, before moving on to Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and Radio 2’s The Steve Wright Show. Jo’s debut novel, The Oyster Catcher, was a runaway bestseller and won both the RNA Joan Hessayon Award and the Festival of Romance Best eBook Award. Her recent book Escape to the French Farmhouse was a #1 bestselling eBook and in every one of her novels Jo loves to explore new countries and discover the food produced there, both of which she thoroughly enjoys researching. Jo lives in Pembrokeshire with her husband and three children, where cooking and gathering around the kitchen table are a hugely important and fun part of their family life
Thank you Random Thing Tours for inviting me to this tour and providing an advanced copy for me to review and give my honest and unbiased opinion.
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Kate Kenzie Writes 