Today it is my pleasure to share with you my review for A Village Affair by Julie Houston on her blog tour.

Cassie Beresford has recently landed her dream job as deputy head teacher at her local, idyllic village primary school, Little Acorns.  So, the last thing she needs is her husband of twenty years being ‘outed’ at a village charity auction – he has been having an affair with one of her closest friends.

As if it weren’t enough to cope with, Cassie suddenly finds herself catapulted into the head teacher position, and at the front of a fight to ward off developers determined to concrete over the beautiful landscape.

But through it all, the irresistible joy of her pupils, the reality of keeping her teenage children on the straight and narrow, her irrepressible family and friends, and the possibility of new love, mean what could have been the worst year ever, actually might be the best yet…

I was very excited when I heard from Julie Houston and she told me about her new novel, A Village Affair.  When you live in a village, you are all to aware that everyone around you knows a lot about you, sometimes too much!  A Village Affair highlights both the good and bad sides to this.

Cassie Beresford is very happy.  She has a long, loving marriage, two wonderful teenage children and she is just about to start her dream job as Deputy Head Teacher at her local primary school.  So it comes as a shock when she finds out in front of the whole village that her husband of 20 years, Mark, has been cheating on her with her best friend Tina.  To add insult to injury, she then finds herself in the position of Head Teacher the day before term starts.

In the face of all of this stress and trauma, Cassie also finds herself at the forefront of a fight with some developers who are seeking to build on the local green belt land surrounding the village.

The number of challenges that unexpectedly face Cassie take her through many emotions, as she seeks to find her place in the world again whilst fighting a number of battles.  A Village Affair is a story about a women who has to find herself when she thinks she is lost.  It is a story about reaffirming relationships, forging new ones and discarding broken ones.  Cassie is a strong independent woman, she just doesn’t know it yet!

I am more than happy to recommend this novel.  I really enjoyed following Cassie and her family as they faced these intense challenges, overcoming them together.  If you are looking for a novel with a bit of heart, this is the novel for you.  Let me know what you think!

Rating: 📖 📖 📖 📖

Thank you to Julie Houston, Netgalley and Aria for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.  Thank you also to Vicky Joss as Aria for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour.

About the Author

Julie Houston is the author of The One Saving Grace, Goodness, Grace and Me and Looking for Lucy, a Kindle top 100 general bestseller and a Kindle Number 1 bestseller.  She is married, with two teenage children and a cockerpoo, and like her heroine, lives in a West Yorkshire village.  She is also a teacher and a magistrate.