Camping at Juniper Meadows

‘Come Rain or Shine’ – Sarah Bennett

There are worse fates than growing up knowing that you will one day inherit a vast and magnificent Cotswolds country estate, but for Rhys Travers it has always felt like a huge responsibility.

Juniper Meadows is home to much of his extended family, not to mention the many local businesses that operate on the estate, so there’s no time to sit back and enjoy the view. Juniper Meadows is a full-time job, and that doesn’t leave much time for romance…

Tasha Blake’s career leaves no time for romance either – much to her mother’s chagrin. Tasha’s sister Danni has kindly provided two grandchildren, but Victoria Blake is keen for more! When her job takes her to Juniper Meadows for an extended project, the slower pace of life, the beauty of the countryside and the warmth of the Travers family, soon has Tasha in its thrall, and the future Lord of the Manor Rhys Travers is rather easy on the eye too.

As the busyness of life on the estate sweeps Tasha and Rhys along, they are both able to ignore the secrets and silences that are growing between them. But when the future of Juniper Meadows hangs in the balance, loyalties and love are tested to breaking point. When the chips are down, can Rhys and Tasha see a future together, come rain or shine…

Another great read from Bennett, I am looking forward to seeing how this series concludes. At first I was a bit concerned that this book would be an echo of the previous stories, but I found that Bennett still threw in some surprises and kept this a sweet, easy and entertaining read – everything I was looking for.

Definitely this is one where reading the other books helps you understand the background to the characters. I hadn’t realised how many people there were at Juniper Meadows until I saw the opening character list! In this story, we see newcomer, Tasha, start working with Rhys Travers, helping him establish the camping side of the estate. I liked that the writer moved to a different aspect of Juniper Meadows, whilst seeing familiar faces from the previous books make an appearance. This certainly reinforced that community feel that I recognised in the previous book.

However, Tasha has not been honest with the Travers family and readers know that it is only a matter of time before she will need to confess that her employment at Juniper Meadows is, essentially, to help her boss spy on the business with a move to buying it. I liked the revelations that showed the connection between her boss and Tasha’s new job, as well as whether she would be judged by the Travers family. Whilst you can predict there will be another happy ending, I was keen to see whether Tasha and Rhys would be able to cope with Tasha’s secrecy.

With only one more book to go in the series, I will certainly be sorry to say goodbye to Juniper Meadows. The setting has made these stories so much more enjoyable and I loved wandering through the different aspects of the estate: the archaeological dig to gin making, the community trails to the glamping site. This has helped make the books unique from each other, so I cannot help but wonder what aspect of Juniper Meadows will feature in the last story.

This was a really enjoyable read and I liked the romance aspect that is established between Tasha and Rhys. I look forward to returning to the cast of characters once more, and hope I am not waiting too long!

With thanks to Boldwood books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.