Kiss Me at Willoughby Close (Willoughby Close #4) by Kate Hewitt - Review

Welcome to Willoughby Close… a charming cluster of cozy cottages, each with a story to tell and a happy ending to deliver…

After her husband unexpectedly dies, Ava moves to Willoughby Close, trying to keep her chin up and herself to herself as she’s always done—not answering questions, not making friends, and not seeing much of a future. Her marriage was far from perfect, but it offered her a much-needed security that has now been ripped away. She’s not sure what to do now that she’s thirty-five, widowed, penniless… and unexpectedly pregnant with her late husband’s child.

Jace Tucker is the over-the-top sexy caretaker of Willoughby Manor, and he can see beneath Ava's glamor girl act to the hurt she's been hiding for so long. She has secrets for a reason—and so does he. The last thing she needs right now is a fling with a man who hides a past as regrettable as her own.

But with a baby to think about, and neighbors determined to be her friends, Ava finds herself starting to change and even more alarmingly, beginning to hope. Can Willoughby Close work its everyday magic on a woman like her? And when the past comes calling for both her and Jace, will they have to answer for their previous mistakes?


My Review:

When life doesn’t turn out as you planned, you learn to make the best of it.

Ava Mitchell gets the shock of a lifetime when her millionaire husband of five years suddenly passes away and all he left Ava was a small inheritance.  Her husband’s two snobby grown children got the rest.  Now Ava has to face the reality of starting her life over again.  Having struggled all of her life, she knows how to survive.  The first step is finding a place to live. 

Ava chose Willoughby Close, the old stables of Willoughby Manor which have been converted into apartments as her new home.  But Ava doesn’t realize at the time her life is about to change dramatically.  Ava is not used to having close friends or socializing, but the women who live in the other apartments want to be friends.  Soon, Ava realizes she will need them more than she realized when she finds out she is pregnant. 

Jace Tucker started working at Willoughby Close as a groundskeeper when he got out of prison.  He enjoys his work and helping out any way he can.  He is also more than happy to help the new tenant when he finds out she doesn’t own anything other than what she was able to fit into her car.  Jace and Ava hit it off good and become good friends and eventually develop feelings for each other. 

I enjoyed this story as much as the rest of the series.  I really liked Jace and Ava and catching up with the characters from the previous books was fun.  I love the quirky Lady Stokeley of Willoughby Manor.  She is a fun old lady who is battling cancer but has been trying to hide it from most people.  If you read this series, I would recommend starting at the beginning because her story runs throughout the series.