Wednesday 19 September 2012

Review - The Restaurant @ the Mill by Linn B Halton


A beautifully warm and cosy book which was completely adorable. 

S
ix very different relationships come together with the common link being that they either dine or work at The Restaurant at the Mill.  This is owned by Hilary and Ben who became business partners after Ben approached Hilary when he saw a business opportunity for them to run a fabulous establishment combining his amazing skills as a chef with her front of house professionalism and experience.

We learn about these wonderful individuals and how their relationships develop and intertwine.  The people involved are Hilary and Ben, Charlotte, Grace and Lawrence, Isabel and David, Thomas and  Sadie who works at the restaurant.

Linn threw in quite a few very unexpected surprises and links along the way which kept the plot fresh and kept your interest peaked. The characters are wonderfully created and I could picture both the exterior location and the interior look of the Mill and was quite tempted at one point to actually ring the restaurant and book myself a table as I could picture this beautiful setting, cosy atmosphere and wonderful people and I just wanted to dine in this place and be part of the cast.

I started reading this lovely book on Sunday morning and literally had to drag myself out of bed that morning as I had lots of important things to do even though I really wanted to cancel them all, tuck myself up on the sofa and continue to read. I was counting down the hours until Sunday evening so I could pick up where I left off and continue with the individual lives that weaved around this wonderful community of people who had become my friends.

I'm writing this review a couple of days after I finished reading the book  (because I immediately picked up another book of Linn's - The Quintessential Gemini!) and I'm still thinking about the characters and how their lives will go on from here and what will become of them all. I could have continued to read about them forever and just looking at the picture on the front of the book I can still imagine myself there even now.  I could easily have read about each of the characters in their own separate books - when you're ready Linn!

Linn is an author who makes it easy for a reader to create pictures of people and places in their minds, making you feel part of the story somehow or as if you are just sitting on the sidelines watching in.  I feel that this is such a clever skill because as a reader, there is nothing better than feeling the emotions of the characters and knowing what all the places you are reading look like and she does this particularly well.


Linn B Halton lives in the small Gloucestershire village of Arlingham on the banks of the river severn with her adorable husband and cat with attitude Mr Tiggs! Linn and Lawrence have renovated many houses over the years and she writes romantic fiction with a psychic or astrological theme and many of the paranormal events that feature in her books are real life experiences.

She has written about some of these experiences in Being A Sceptic is Oh So Easy

Linn wrote Touched By The Light shortly after the death of her mother and is a big advocate of the waying "seeing is believing!" 
 
 
You can learn more about Linn at her website and also read more about loveahappyending.com
 
 

 

16 comments:

Linn B Halton and Lucy Coleman said...

Oh Kim, what can I say other than a huge thank you for your very lovely words. I did have a major last-minute panic on this one as there is so much going on and I'm so thrilled you found the links between some of the characters! Sadie, Lawrence and Grace, and Nick are from Touched By The Light - where I wasn't able to tell their individual stories as they were side characters. However I felt they were interesting enough to unravel their own unique lives. Isobel and David are from my next novel, Never Alone and it was fun to see what happened to them after they retired. It was such a lovely book to write, but authors get so close to their work and their characters that often there is a panic that one might leave the readers behind! I'm so made up! Lxx

Anonymous said...

Kim I always love your reviews. Thank you for sharing this one. I am in the middle of this book now and love it. Great work for both Kim and Linn!

Bonnie Trachtenberg said...

Lovely review, Kim! The book sounds wonderful, Linn, and I hope to read it soon. Well done to both of you!

Vickie Adair said...

I'm a big fan of Linn B Halton and I love your review of this book! I will be ordering this book for sure! You didn't give the book's plot and ending away, just increased my desire to read it soon!

Janice said...

What a super review - and if I hadn't just finished reading The Restaurant @ The Mill myself, I would have dashed off to Amazon to get it! I agreed with everything you said Kim and loved it. Having previously read Linn's 'The Quintessential Gemini', I now plan to read her earier novel 'Touched by The Light'. But before I do, I must write my own reviews up on Amazon, I want Linn to know that I'm a big fan!

Kit Domino said...

A brilliant review, Kim, of a brilliant book. I couldn't have put it better myself!

Linn B Halton and Lucy Coleman said...

Thank you all for your very kind words! The Restaurant is my favourite so far as the characters mean a lot to me. They're like friends, but REAL friends are even more special! Thanks guys for being so supportive, you are all fabulous authors whom I admire greatly.

Sheryl Browne said...

That' exactly the feeling I had. The restaurant was real! No doubt in my mind. OK, well, I know it isn't but I bet it exists somewhere! FAB review, Kim/Linn. I loved the relationship and interplay between the characters, too. Well done, Linn Halton! Yay! :) xx

D.J. Kirkby said...

This sounds as if it was a complicated book to write. Love the cover.

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