Love Nest - Julia Llewellyn

There is sometimes just a 'right time' to read a book. A sunny day, warm enough to sit outside was the perfect time to read The Love Nest. Light, witty and just downright fun to read.

The premise of the novel is quite entertaining - all based on the characters 'movin' on up' in the housing market. Each sale is dependent on the next....

Grace's childhood home - a manor - is to be sold off to pay debts now that her mother has died.

Karen's husband Phil desperately wants to move to the country from London and thinks the manor would be perfect for their family. Karen doesn't.

Gemma and Alex are trying to have a baby and want to move to a family home -in fact Karen and Phil's house would be just right.

Rock star Nick Crex thinks that Gemma and Alex's loft would be just the property to invest in. But he doesn't want his girlfriend to know about it.

And Lucinda, the real estate agent, thinks Nick might just fall for her, if she can get him that loft. But all is not smooth sailing....

Llewellyn has created many characters, all with very different personalities. I didn't warm up to all of them, but they all provoked a reaction. Some of them were selfish and shallow, others were warm, quirky and caring. I especially took to Grace and would love to had more of her story. There are enough personalities to keep things interesting. The plot has myriad threads, but I had no problem keeping them all straight. Llewellyn has done a fantastic job of weaving all the stories together. The ending for each story isn't all fairy tale - some turned out different than I would have imagined.

An enjoyable read that definitely kept me entertained!

Read an excerpt of The Love Nest.

Llewellyn was a new British author for me, but one I will be reading again. Fans of Jill Mansell and Marian Keyes would enjoy this chick lit author.