The Honey Farm on the Hill by Jo Thomas - Magical, Romantic, Thrilling and Funny

This isn't a photo of Crete because I haven't been there yet - it's Italy - but after reading Jo Thomas' new book, The Honey Farm on the Hill, I can't wait to visit the Greek island!

Things are not going well for Nell. She's working in a Christmas decoration factory when it burns down; her eighteen-year-old daughter, Demi, has left home to be an au pair in London; and her rotten boyfriend is in bed with someone else, so with no job, no boyfriend, and no daughter to look after, she decides to return to Crete, the one place where she felt truly happy, but where she left Stelios, Demi's father.
She's tried to forget him over the years, but it's been hard, so now that she has no responsibilities, she decides to return to Crete and find him and tell him they have a daughter.
She gets a job as a WWOOFer*, unpaid work on an organic honey farm, owned by Maria and Kostas, to help prepare their honey factory for when the bees return. The problem is that the bees live on a herb called dittany which is only found high up the mountain, but which is dying out because it keeps getting picked by tourists for its healing properties.
A grumpy man called Georgios, not much older than her, warns her off the mountain because of the drug dealers who hide away up there, but small bunches of the herb arrive mysteriously on the door steps of people who need it to heal their arthritis or gout.
With no bees, and having done all she can on the honey farm, Nell gets a part-time job at the restaurant owned by Stelios' family, not saying who she is, but wanting to find out whether he's got married and had children of his own.
But when entrepreneur, Harry Henderson, comes along and befriends Nell, the whole mountain community is in jeopardy because of his plans to build an exclusive resort.
Will the bees and (as Kostas' mother, Mitera, believes) love return to the mountain, so everyone, including Nell, can live happily ever after?

I've read every one of Jo Thomas' novels and this one is the best yet. It's magical, romantic, thrilling and funny: everything you need in one beautiful, gripping story. I hope that you enjoy it too!


*World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms

My Map of You by Isabelle Broom - Coming to terms with the past and looking forward to the future on the magical Greek Island of Zakynthos

Who can resist reading about summer holidays now autumn's  here? Dreaming of revisiting those magical days spent in the sun?

Here, in My Map of You, Isabelle Broom transports you to the Greek holiday island of Zakynthos with Holly Wright who has just inherited a house there from an aunt she's never heard of. And you can explore the island with Holly as she discovers the secrets of her family's past.
Holly has a good job at Flash magazine (even if she doesn't get on with her boss, Fiona) and a wonderful boyfriend called Rupert, but when she receives the solicitor's letter about the house in Zakynthos, her whole life changes.
She's still trying to come to terms with the death of her mother, Jenny, from alcoholism, and now she's shocked to find that Jenny had a twin sister, Sandra, who has left her the house. Why had she never heard about her before?
Isabelle Broom cleverly reveals the relationship between these two to the reader in tantalising letters added to the end of some of the chapters which Holly eventually finds. Also she discovers a map of the island, drawn by the sisters of all their happy places, so their life on the island can't have been all that bad. What happened to change their relationship?
Of course, she has a gorgeous neighbour in Zakynthos, Aidan, an Irish vet, who takes her to some of these places. She is attracted to him, but wants to solve the mystery of her mother and aunt more than anything else, so goes off on a moped that one of the islanders, Nikos, lends her.
All the characters are beautifully drawn from Kostos at the local store, to Phelan, Aidan's dog.
It's a wonderful story of Holly's exploration of the island and her own life, where she comes to terms with the past and can look forward to the future, but will it be with Rupert or Aidan? In London, or the magical Greek island of Zakynthos?
It's very popular at the moment to write about girls returning to, or inheriting, a house and uncovering family secrets, but this is one of the best I've read.