Book Review: The Best Is Yet To Come by Jessica Redland

It’s a pleasure to be welcoming Jessica Redland back to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her latest novel, The Best Is Yet To Come.

Emma is having a fresh start.

After a successful teaching career, an exciting new chapter awaits Emma – helping her fiancé Grayson run one of Beatrix Potter’s farms. While imagining days spent supporting Grayson with his dream, working the land and helping with the animals, Emma harvests a dream of her own – to set up an alpaca-walking business around the farm.

But working together isn’t as easy as Emma expected. Soon her dreams are in tatters and, broken-hearted, she must start over yet again.

When Oliver, Rosie and the team at Willowdale Hall welcome Emma with open arms, she can’t believe her luck. But starting a new business in a new place is a daunting prospect, especially when it comes with unexpected obstacles. With a reserved, prickly groundskeeper as a partner, rapidly changing family dynamics to contend with, and time running out to get her new career off the ground, Emma may have bitten off more than she can chew.

But even though things are not going to plan just yet, the best is yet to come for Emma, if she can just take a leap of faith and follow her heart…

Escape to the Lake District with million-copy bestseller Jessica Redland, for an uplifting story of family, friendship and love.

*****

It’s always a wonderful day when there is a new Jessica Redland novel to read and i was so pleased to be invited onto the blog tour for The Best Is Yet To Come. 

This is book three in the Escape to the Lakes series and almost immediately follows on from the previous novel, A Breath of Fresh Air which ended on a cliffhanger (I am not going to give anything away on that front.)There is a little catch up chapter at the beginning of this novel so, if it is your introduction to the series, you don’t need to have read the prior novels in order to read this one. I do recommend them though. 

Emma has had many things thrown at her and deserves a break. Life doesn’t seem to want to give it to her to begin with. She showed a resilience I loved and seeing her life change as the novel progressed was fantastic, even with twist, turns and bumps along the way. Heartbreak and the need to start over are strong themes and Emma’s journey presents a realistic path through them. 

The characters surrounding Emma were also great. They show so much warmth toward one another. I was pleased to see Rosie and Oliver again. Killian was also a welcome sight and the scenes with him and Emma were among my favourites. And of course, it’s hard for the alpacas to not steel the show. 

The plot moved well and naturally. Jessica Redland creates such beautiful settings and pulls me into her novels so easily. They just make me feel better if that makes sense. You feel like you’re part of the community you’re reading about. 

The Best Is Yet To Come is a great addition to the Escape to the Lakes series. It has humour, love, friendship, family and warmth running through it in spades. It’s a perfect literary escape for when you just want to disappear into a story for a while and come out smiling the other side. 

I loved this book and I hope you will too.

(Thank you to Boldwood Books, Netgalley and Rachel’s Random Resources for the advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.) 

About Jessica Redland –

Jessica Redland is the million-copy bestselling author of novels, including the Hedgehog Hollow and Escape to the Lakes series.

Inspired by her hometown of Scarborough and the Lake District, she writes uplifting women’s fiction of love, friendship and community.

Say hello to Jessica via Facebook, X, Instagram and Bookbub. Click here to sign up to her newsletter. 

The Best Is Yet To Come is book three in the Escape to the Lakes series and was released by Boldwood Books on 3rd September 2024. Click to buy on Amazon and Waterstones.

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.