Published: 28th January 2016
Publisher: Headline
Pages: 368
Available in Hardcover and on Kindle
Blurb
On the morning of Lily's twenty-fifth birthday, it's time to open the very last letter written to her by her beloved mother, who died when she was eight.
Learning more about the first and only real love of her mum's life is a revelation. On the same day, Lily also meets Eddie Tessler, a man fleeing fame who just might have the ability to change her world in unimaginable ways. But her childhood friend Dan has his own reasons for not wanting Lily to get too carried away by Eddie's attentions.
Before long, secrets begin to emerge and Lily's friends and family become involved. In the beautiful Cotswold village of Stanton Langley, nothing will ever be the same again...
Learning more about the first and only real love of her mum's life is a revelation. On the same day, Lily also meets Eddie Tessler, a man fleeing fame who just might have the ability to change her world in unimaginable ways. But her childhood friend Dan has his own reasons for not wanting Lily to get too carried away by Eddie's attentions.
Before long, secrets begin to emerge and Lily's friends and family become involved. In the beautiful Cotswold village of Stanton Langley, nothing will ever be the same again...
Review
At the start of You and Me, Always we meet Lily on her
twenty-fifth birthday just as she is about to read the last letter written to
her by her mother, who died when Lily was eight. This was a very bittersweet
opening for me as you could feel the lost love between mother and daughter and
this made me a shed a little tear but as the chapter progresses Lily is given
some joy when she finally learns the full name of her mother’s true love Declan
Madison and decides she wants to contact him and find out just why he was so
special to her mother. Later that day Lily gets another birthday surprise when
she meets film star Eddie Tessler sitting in her friend Patsy’s kitchen, after
which Lily’s life becomes a little more hectic.
As Jill introduced the other characters into the story I
felt like I had become part of their little gang and had a sense of belonging
as I watched Patsy go on yet another comical and disastrous date, as Coral
struggles with having feelings for a new man for the first time since her
husband Nick died and as Lily and Dan playfully avoid their true feelings. Lily
is the main character in this book but I loved how the other characters all
have things going on in their lives too, making the village of Stanton Langley
feel very real and somewhere I loved reading about.
When newcomers Declan and Eddie arrive in the village Lily’s
world is turned upside down. Declan helps Lily to remember her mum and she
feels a real connection to him, probably wishing he was a real dad. Film star
Eddie falls for Lily and introduces her to a life of film premiers and
red-carpet treatment, but is this the life she really wants or does she just
want a quiet life back in Stanton Langley with that special someone. One thing
is for sure she’s not prepared for facing her past and things that have been
kept secret for far too long.
You and Me, Always is a novel which is jammed packed with
drama from the start, with many likable characters, all set in the scenic
village of Stanton Langley and I loved reading every page. It’s a novel about
friendship, love, loss and just how to deal with secrets that are maybe best kept
hidden. It’s a novel I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend to anyone who is looking
for a drama filled read which will make you laugh and cry (or that could be
just me) and overall leave you with a warm cosy glow when you’ve finished. A well-deserved
5 out of 5 and I cannot wait to read Jill’s next one.
Thank you so much to the publishers and Netgalley who provided
me with a copy for review purposes.
