'Warm and life-enhancing, I wanted to move to Spain with these wonderful characters' Katie Fforde

'A fabulous read celebrating the good things in life - fun, friends, family and food' Jill Mansell

From the bestselling author of Escape to the French Farmhouse comes a deliciously feel-good new story...

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.

Readers have fallen in love with Retreat to the Spanish Sun
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Perfect for a summer holiday read'
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'You'll be craving tapas, Flamenco and the southern Spanish sun after reading this 5-star book'
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'A lovely read from Jo Thomas, her books never fail to make me happy'
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'A lovely, warm and sunny read'
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Fabulous location, delicious descriptions of food & drink & wonderful characters, an all round feel-good book'

If you love Jo's books, her next Christmas novel, Keeping a Christmas Promise, is available to pre-order now

Today is my turn on the Tour for the fabulous Retreat to the Spanish Sun by Jo Thomas.

As a “woman of a certain age” this book appealed to me. The idea that you hit your mid forties and realise that you no longer have an identity outside of mum is all too real. As my children are 4 and 6 (hello geriatric motherhood!) I have a long wait until my kids leave home but I can imagine that it’s tiring going from them leaving and being an empty nester to them all returning and upturning your life (again). I don’t know whether my time of life affected my reading, I so understand where she’s coming from in having put everyone else first for so long that it’s hard to remember who you actually were before the kids come along.

Oh to get the chance to house sit in the sun!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Having been in the rain of the UK for the past 2 years, this is the closest to a sunny holiday I’ve had in some time. I can’t wait until I’m on Spanish shores again. This has really whet my appetite for it!

The opening to the book was a little rushed; we pretty much had “oh the kids are back, they’re driving me crazy, I need some space, hello house sitting in Spain” which is fair enough as the “meat” of the story happens once Eliza is rediscovering herself (see what I did there, meat – pig farming 🤣 – it’ll mean more once you’ve read the book).

Anyway, as a bit of a foodie I loved learning about Iberico ham and pig farming. I loved the escape to the sun, the friendships, the romance. It really wasn’t the quiet break that Elixa had been hoping for – but then that wouldn’t have made such a good novel.

This was my first Jo Thomas book and I’m not sure why as I love this genre of “feel good fiction” the sort that has so much going on, not always positive, but that written in such a way as to have a constant smile on your face while reading.

I highly recommend reading this, especially if we get a little bit of sun, while armed with an antipasti platter and a nice glass of something alcoholic!