Blog Tour: The Cheesemaker’s House By Jane Cable

I am delighted to be taking part in this Blog Tour to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of the release of Jane Cable’s novel The Cheesemaker’s House. Many thanks to Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources and of course the wonderful Jane Cable for allowing me to take part, I hope you enjoy my review!

Synopsis

When Alice Hart’s husband runs off with his secretary, she runs off with his dog to lick her wounds in a North Yorkshire village. Battling with loneliness but trying to make the best of her new start, she soon meets her neighbours, including the drop-dead gorgeous builder Richard Wainwright and the kindly yet reticent cafe´ owner, Owen Maltby.

As Alice employs Richard to start renovating the barn next to her house, all is not what it seems. Why does she start seeing Owen when he clearly isn’t there? Where – or when – does the strange crying come from? And if Owen is the village charmer, what exactly does that mean?

The Cheesemaker’s House is a gripping read, inspired by a framed will found in the dining room of the author’s dream Yorkshire house. The previous owners explained that the house had been built at the request of the village cheesemaker in 1726 – and that the cheesemaker was a woman. And so the historical aspect of the story was born.

Jane Cable’s novel won the Suspense & Crime category of The Alan Titchmarsh ShowPeople’s Novelistcompetition, reaching the last four out of over a thousand entries. The Cheesemaker’s House can be enjoyed by anyone who has become bored of today’s predictable boy-meets-girl romance novels.

Review

The Cheesmaker’s House tells the story of Alice Hart, 30-something divorcee who has decamped to her holiday home, New Cottage in North Yorkshire, after discovering her husband had an affair. Built in 1726, Alice’s new home is steeped in history like author Jane Cable’s own dream home which provided the inspiration for the historical aspect of the novel.

Initially a fish out of water, Alice soon begins to meet and befriend the locals starting with mysterious Owen Maltby whom she meets at the local church. When new friend Owen recommends local builder Richard to help renovate the barn adjoining Alice’s home a shocking discovery under the barn floor kickstarts a series of strange events.

It soon becomes clear to Alice that things in the village and more specifically with Owen might not be quite what they seem. Ex-pharmacist Owen has a reputation locally as a ‘charmer’, something he seems unwilling to discuss with Alice despite their developing relationship leaving her wondering if the strange things she is experiencing are down to him. What is the secret Owen is hiding and can their relationship survive it?

When I began reading this book I thought it was going to be a love story as the initial chapters seemed to indicate a love triangle between Alice, Richard and Owen but I couldn’t have been more wrong! It’s hard to pinpoint a genre, the best way I can describe it is as a historical, paranormal romance. It’s extremely well-written with reasonably short chapters that allow the story to flow, keeping me utterly gripped.

Alice is a fantastic strong female protagonist, however I personally found Owen rather annoying at times and felt he needed a good shake as he is a bit of a drip. His character did improve, and he did ‘man up’ a bit as the story progressed, but I still felt something was lacking which I can’t quite put my finger on.

Full of suspense and mystery this book has plenty of twists and turns along the way which kept me guessing until the very end. The historical aspect was woven cleverly into the story with everything being tied up perfectly at it’s conclusion, allowing me to make sense of the snippets of information I had gleaned throughout. The Cheesemaker’s House is an intriguing story of the past colliding with the present. I thoroughly enjoyed it unable to put it down until I had discovered its mysteries. **I can highly recommend reading this on the beach, it made the perfect holiday read!**

About The Author

Although brought up in Cardiff, Jane Cable left Wales to study at the age of eighteen and has lived in England ever since. Her father was Anglo-Welsh poet Mercer Simpson so growing up in a house full of books Jane always read – and wrote. In 2011 she started to take her hobby seriously when The Cheesemaker’s House, which became her debut novel, reached the final of The Alan Titchmarsh Show’s People’s Novelist competition. She writes romance with a twist of mystery which has been published independently and through the UK ebook giant, Endeavour Press. Jane is an active member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and a director of Chindi Authors.

In 2017 Jane moved to Cornwall and this year will become a full time author. She’s passionate about her new home, cricket, travelling and her husband of 22 years – although not necessarily in that order.

The Cheesemaker’s House is available to purchase from Amazon, Waterstones and also available for download on Kobo and iBooks.

*We were gifted a copy of this book in return for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are our own