I am delighted to share my review today for Retreat to the Spanish Sun by Jo Thomas. I read this book last month and adored it a lot.

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. 

MY REVIEW

I have read quite a few books by this author and it is always great to pick up her latest creation. In this one, we join Eliza tripping over her own grown-up children as they have gradually moved back home. Juggling her own job and also trying to finish her college course while. Being there for her children isn’t easy. But they are her family and she loves them. To try and get some space so she can finish her course she decides to take on a two-week house sitting g job in Spain.

Arriving in Spain and meeting the owner of the home she is going to stay in, is a nervy first meeting. The home is also a farm for special pigs that are reared to produce Iberico ham, expensive and with a unique flavour. Having time to herself, Eliza finds herself quite lonely so makes her way into town. Here again, she doesn’t get the best of welcomes but soon discovers a local shop and a tapas bar. These places become like sanctuaries and at the tapas bar, she finds herself with like-minded people.

Reading this author’s books is a pleasure and the research that goes into her work is amazing. It was great to learn about the lifestyle and pig rearing through to the ham, and they have brilliantly been brought into the story and are part of it. The different flavours and foods from the area are something that makes your mouth water while you read.

There is also a great set of characters in this book from various backgrounds. And, of course, there is a fabulous romance side to it as well as a wonderful main storyline that revolves around Eliza. This book has some brilliant moments and I scored it. It was wonderfully heartwarming, made me chuckle at times and has a fabulous feel to it as you read.

This was a wonderful book that readers of contemporary fiction and romance will adore. It is one I would definitely recommend.

Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx