I have just binged on the three books in Veronica Henry's series,
The Honeycote Collection, and I wish there were more to read! These were originally published as separate titles in the 2000s as
Honeycote,
Making Hay, and
Just a Family Affair and, in 2017 to 2018, were repackaged as
A Country Christmas,
A Country Life and
A Country Wedding, finally becoming
The Honeycote Collection in 2020. They are all based on the ficticious, picturesque Cotswold village of Honeycote, and its brewery, Honeycote Ales, run by Mickey Liddiard and his family.
A Country Christmas sets the scene with the brewery in financial trouble and shows the ups and downs of the Liddiard family: Mickey, Lucy and their children, Patrick, Sophie and Georgina, and the people who get involved with them like Keith Sherwyn, a Solihull businessman, his wife, Sandra, and their daughter, Mandy, who have quite an impact on the future of the brewery and the family itself.
It's all a bit like Dallas, in a way, with wheeling and dealing, and hot affairs! But it is so well written that you can't help getting really involved with the story, and being sorry when it's finished. However, it's not too Christmassy so you could read it at any time of the year.
A Country Life, although the Liddiards are there in the background, this book is about Suzanna and Barney Blake who are taken on to refurbish and run The Honeycote Arms, the brewery's flagship pub. They have been unsuccessfully trying for a baby and feel that this challenge will give them a new focus in life. Other new characters are Ginny, freshly divorced and making a new start with her twin teenage daughters, Kitty and Sasha, and Damien, also escaping to the country and trying to live down his dodgy past, but who also has eyes on taking over the pub.
Lastly,
A Country Wedding, Patrick, Mickey and Lucy's son, and Mandy, Keith's daughter, are to be married, but her father is acting strangely, and Mayday, Patrick's platonic friend, finds that she would perhaps like him for herself.
All in all, these three novels are a wonderfully engrossing read, so sit back and escape to the Cotswolds with Veronica Henry!
