The Cornish Village School : Summer Love by Kitty Wilson.

I was sent a pre publication copy of this book in return for an honest review by Netgalley.

The first thing I will say about this book is that it is the third in a series - I haven’t read the other two and you don’t need to. From what I understand a few of the characters and settings are the same but this book is fine to read on its own without the prior knowledge of storylines or characters.

The book is set in a small Cornish village and the main character is Pippa Parkin, a teaching assistant, full of life, bubbly and who brings a smile to the room whenever she enters but who’s love life is not so flamboyant! Her mother is desperately trying to get her together with childhood and family friend James, who is polite and courteous when he needs to be but Pippa sees straight through him and decides he’s not the man for her!

When her class teacher leaves on maternity at Easter, her temporary cover teacher, Kam, (male, good looking- we know where this is going) joins the small village school and Pippa is instantly smitten, but knows that their relationship can only be professional.  She introduces him to village life (the local pub) and he quickly realises that Cornish life is what he wants (and Pippa).

The story follows the development of their relationship, the fun they have at school, looking for the escaped class hamster, the May fayre, and the half term night out where their feelings for each other are finally shown. But they remain professional in their work. Kam decides to write Pippa  a letter explaining how he feels but it gets mislaid and feeling that she has blanked him or doesn’t feel the same way, their relationship starts to fade.

After weeks of not talking and each other giving the other one the cold shoulder, Pippa realises the error and sets things straight in a way only Pippa can!

A great, funny, happy ending, which you expect from the outcome, but it is so well written I was giggling out loud imagining the scene.

If you want an easy summer read, this is the perfect book for lounging by the pool or in your garden.  It doesn’t require much thinking, it’s a great little plot and the characters are easy to relate to. 

I really enjoyed it, I liked the fact that it's based in Cornwall and as an ex teacher in North Cornwall I  could relate to the settings and places well, I could picture it where I worked! I read it over three evenings and would give it four stars. 

(The only negatives were a few grammatical errors - which the teacher in me finds hard to ignore!)