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.
Retreat to the Spanish Sun by Jo Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What a lovely escape and heartwarming, fun story! I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, yet relaxing, uplifting, and rewarding summer vacation book whether you’re taking one with you on your trip or stuck at home and wish you were on holiday.
I would like to thank Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for providing me with an advance readers copy via access to the galley for free through the NetGalley program.
The Story
It’s sweet, fun, adventurous, delicious.
The market, sense of community, uncertainty and ambivalence, a bit of mystery, friendship, laughter, falling in love, it’s got it all.
And I always learn something new and interesting with Jo Thomas, whether it’s about an industry, lifestyle, place, or cuisine. I love how each story embraces the full experience with open arms.
That being a lot of lovely culture and food. With food being jamón and various tapas, ingredients of olive oil, chorizo, peppers, tomatoes, dishes of Spanish omelette, patatas bravas, I could go on, it was all immersive.
The Writing
So easy to get into. It’s this casual style, no hesitancy to celebrate secondary language and culture which makes it fresh and flow nicely. Just enough without being distracting, enough to build story and make you curious to dive deeper into every aspect of lifestyle and recipe.
The characters were also lovely, distinguished, and well positioned to support the story through and through, even the side characters were equally entertaining and memorable.
Always looking forward to more!
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