Thursday 8 June 2017

Book Review - Queen of Wishful Thinking by Milly Johnson


Available in Hardback/Ebook and Paperback 
on Amazon

When Lewis Harley has a health scare in his early forties, he takes it as a wake-up call. So he and his  wife Charlotte leave behind life in the fast lane and Lewis opens the antique shop he has dreamed of. Bonnie Brookland was brought up in the antiques trade and now works for the man who bought out her father’s business, but she isn’t happy there. So when she walks into Lew’s shop, she knows this is the place for her. 

As Bonnie and Lew start to work together, they soon realise that there is more to their relationship than either thought. But Bonnie is trapped in an unhappy marriage, and Lew and Charlotte have more problems than they care to admit. Each has secrets in their past which are about to be uncovered. Can they find the happiness they both deserve?


Thank you to Books and the City for my preview copy, which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

I love Milly Johnson, so when I was given this signed preview copy of her latest novel I was very excited. So excited in fact that I read it twice!

Lewis Harley opens an antique shop called The Pot of Gold and has yet to make a profit. Bonnie Brookland is working for Grimshaws, a once reputable antique dealership that was run by Bonnie's dad and his business partner. The business had been bought out by Ken Grimshaw and is now being run into the ground as a junk shop. Bonnie hates working for Ken, but she cannot see a way out, Her homelife is terrible too. She is married to Stephen who is nothing but a control freak. As the book moves on we learn that Stephen has some kind of hold over Bonnie making her wary of leaving.
In the meantime Bonnie is fired by Ken after advising and elderly lady to take her valubles somewhere else to be valued as Ken is about to rip her off.
Bonnie drives to the Pot of Gold on the off chance that Lewis may have a job going. As luck would have it, he has, but first he has to get rid of his current, incompetent assistant. 

Lewis is constantly trying to please his wife Charlotte who is getting more and more like her friend Regina everyday. Lewis isn't happy about this as Regina is a bitch. Charlotte is very materialistic and Lewis feels he has to give her everything she wants as a few years ago she lost their baby and it has left her very depressed. On top of that their other friend Gemma wants to try for a baby with her husband and this is proving hard for Charlotte to cope with.
Lewis finds himself getting closer to Bonnie and Bonnie finds herself dreaming about her new boss.

Can Lew and Bonnie help each other get through their troubles?

This book is warm and laugh out loud funny. The character names for the dealers such as "Stickalampinit" are genius. Milly writes with such humour and is also fantastic at making you shout "BOO HISS" at the baddies when they show their true colours.
Woven through the book are hilarious apologies from the local newspaper for their printing mistakes, which actually made me laugh so much I spat out my tea!

The Queen of Wishful Thinking is dedicated to Milly's late doggy and best pal Teddy. This struck a note with me as we lost our darling cat Darcy last year after nearly 19 years together. The void left is huge and our hearts remain broken.

I urge you to buy this glorious book, pour yourself a cuppa and delve in. You'll be smiling in minutes.

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