THE COTTAGE IN THE CLOUDS by Caroline Young

4* Absolutely not what I expected and not my cup of tea, but a tale with warmth, sadness, friendships and learning to trust and love - the latter, slightly not-quite-believably...

I think I expected a cosy mystery based on the blurb, but instead I got a tale of secrets and silences; of love that got lost because of secrets; of love that endured despite one party's selfishness/ambition; of learning to open up to others and leave past hurts in the past where they belonged; and of loyalty and doing the right thing. And all of this was interspersed with a little Welsh goodness, decency and magic, and the magic of the mountains, as it turned out.

It wasn't at all a book I'd have picked up had I known the storyline but there was something honest and healing about it, and it felt non-surreal, and believable. The only bit I didn't believe in was the supposed love between Elin and Dylan, because after meeting him and having a supposed magical connection, she went off and basically became a fund manager's mistress. Not a lover or girlfriend, but a mistress by what was described. Not my idea of a 'full-on relationship', as Elin described it later on, and not my idea of romance. That guy didn't need to be part of the story and tbh, didn't really deserve to be ghosted, despite his me, me, me-ness, because Elin had silently agreed to his terms and conditions by not disagreeing to the presents, and not voicing any objections. She wasn't likeable, I didn't feel, but she did have a sense of duty at the right time and did do the right thing by someone who it turned out, hadn't done the right thing by her. A bit farfetched, perhaps, but still, a good read.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Storm Publishing for my reading pleasure.

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