You know I love an escapist romance. While I normally read a lot of books set in France, Italy and Greece, this year my focus seems to have moved North as I have read a couple of books set in Finland and now this one which is set in Norway.
Sara Pearson is a lawyer who is going places. Sure, her private life is a mess given that she is currently going through a divorce from sleazy Mark, but any day now she is going to be made partner in her law firm. When she wins a big case but doesn't get made partner, her anxiety and stress reach burn out levels and she is forced, albeit unwillingly, to take a month off work.
When one of her friends mentions that she saw that a Hollywood star had recently stayed at a luxury resort called Firefly Forest, Sara decides if it is good enough for them, it's good enough for her so she impulsively books to stay at the spa retreat for four weeks. It's pricey, but it's going to be worth it.
With her bags packed filled with her most fashionable winter clothes, Sara heads off to Norway. She probably should have taken a closer look at the website because the place where she ends up is less luxurious spa retreat and more vegan getting back to nature retreat! As such, it is against the rules to use the internet unless there is an emergency, it is alcohol free, and every day there is a silent lunch. Then there are various wellness activities which encourage participants to look inwards. It is not what Sara signed up for. She does contemplate leaving but there are no refunds and the air fares are expensive to reschedule, so she stays...for now.
There is one bright light though. Firefly Forest is a family run affair. There is the father, Tore Nilsen and his two sons, Henrik, and Jonas and his fiancee Greta who are doing their best to keep the retreat commercially viable. Henrik is one of the good guys. Handsome, attentive and drawn to Sara despite her initial unmet expectations of her destination, he too has had a high flying career but these days he is happy to live and work in the family business
When the Nilsen's whole home and livelihood come under threat from an unlikely source, Sara becomes involved, which is probably the least she can do, especially since she may have been the person who inadvertently caused the problem in the first place.
It took me a while to warm to Sara. She was so focussed on her work that it did make sense that she wouldn't look further at the website to understand where she was going but on the flipside surely as a very successful lawyer she is good at looking for detail. I also didn't always understand some of her decisions. For example, she was moving back into her flat which she decided to get redecorated in exactly the same colour palette of the marital home. And as for Mark....ugh, what a sleaze.
This is my first book from Carrie Walker, and I am glad that I took a chance on this new to me author. I am interesting to read her previous two books as well. The titles make it sound as though they might be connected but I don't think they are. Those books are set in Tuscany and Switzerland and they both sound like fun.
The idea of seeing all that snow and the Northern Lights fascinates me. I read this on the plane to Sri Lanka, so you can't really get much more different weather conditions. We are, however, contemplating a trip to see the Northern Lights at the end of 2026 so this was definitely a good taster for that trip. I can't wait for the day that we too can escape to the Northern Lights.
I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Thanks to the publisher and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. Check out the other stops on the blog tour as well!
Rating 4/5
About the Book
Escape to the Northern Lights
Packed with humour, romance and a love affair with nature, Escape to the Northern Lights is a story of transformation, second chances and finding home in the most unexpected places.
High-powered lawyer Sara thought she had life figured out – until her whirlwind marriage ends in divorce, her dream promotion slips away and a burnout diagnosis forces her to take a break.
Desperate for a reset, she books a four-week spa retreat in Norway, imagining a luxurious escape. Instead, she finds herself in the rugged wilderness of Firefly Forest, knee-deep in reindeer droppings and stuck with an annoyingly bohemian – and ridiculously attractive – outdoorsman, Henrik.
What starts as a nightmare turns into a journey of self-discovery as Sara swaps designer heels for bare feet, legal briefs for tree-hugging, and fleeting flings for something far deeper...
Purchase Link - https://amzn.eu/d/5U4BLAz
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I want to get a copy of this b ook. I wanted to see the Northern Lights when I was in Canada in March but didn't have time to go that far from everything else we had planned to do. I'm planning to go back sometime.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great book. Thanks for sharing, Marg!
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