ARC Review: One Winter Morning.

I’m not sure how she does it but Isabelle Broom has, once again, written a cracker of a story that doesn’t just make you fall in love with her characters but also the setting.

Whenever I read one of her books I always get a serious case of wanderlust but, to be fair, New Zealand, as featured in One Winter Morning, was a sure thing for me.

When I was 21, my brother and I went on an epic adventure to Aotearoa. It was the first time I had ever been on a plane. I never wanted to see another one again by the time we arrived more than 24 hours later but all that was all forgotten the minute we left the airport.

I might gush about other places but New Zealand immediately felt like home for me – even though it’s the other side of the world.

It was the same for one of the main character’s in this book – although Genie has more of a connection to the country, as we go on to discover.

Here’s the blurb:

Genie isn’t feeling very festive this December.

The frosty mornings and twinkling fairy lights only remind her it’s been a whole year since she lost her adoptive mother, who took her in as a baby and raised her as her own.

She’s never felt more alone – until she discovers her birth mother’s identity.

And where to find her: New Zealand, half the world away.

Travelling there could be her one chance to meet the woman who gave her up.

But will she find the answers she has been looking for? Or something she could never have expected?

 

This beautiful, uplifting tale is written from both Genie and her birth mother’s point of view, which keeps things moving along but also means there is never a good time to put it down.

It’s a tender story about love and loss, which I felt was written with a delicate touch.

I loved the fact that Genie’s adoptive dad wrote about her in a series of children’s books and her complicated feelings towards them. The excerpt of one was brilliant and I wanted to read more (maybe a sideline for Isabelle there).

Two other characters also stood out for me, Kit and Tui felt like they were written in full colour to the point where I could almost see a photograph of them in my head.

All in all, this is another fabulous book to add to Isabelle’s collection.

Format: Kindle.

Price: 99p.

My rating: Five stars.

With thanks to Penguin UK – Michael Jospeh for the ARC in return for my honest review.