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?
Title: The Queen of Wishful Thinking
Author: Milly Johnson
Published By: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: Ebook and Hardback 9th March, Paperback 4th May
Links: UK: Amazon US: Amazon
My Review
This was an absolute joy to read with lots of funny laugh out loud moments.
After a few pages you find yourself immersed back into the magical world of Milly Johnson
It was lovely to meet up with familiar characters and places such as the teashop on the corner.
Bonnie Brookland works in a cosy antique shop that used to be part owned by her father and his friend but it has now passed to the friend's son who is now her boss. Unlike their fathers' this man is unscrupulous and thinks nothing of ripping off the customers.
One day Bonnie decided to do something about it which leads to her losing her job and landing a job at another antique shop called A Pot of Gold which is situated next door to the lovely teashop on the corner.
The owner Lew sees Bonnie as a lovely ray of sunshine in his shop and she quickly becomes worth her weight in gold there.
After suffering a heart attack a couple of years before he had wanted to pack in his city job and fulfill his dream of opening an antique shop much to the disappointment of his wife who was enjoying her luxurious lifestyle.
Bonnie's connections from the wonderful world of antiques brought a lovely camaraderie to the book, most of them had known her all her life and had really respected her dad. It was interesting to see how an antique shop works with dealers renting units from them.
Some of the dealers such as Vintage Valerie had stories of their own to share which was interesting.
Bonnie's mum has always told her she could achieve anything she wanted she was the queen of wishful thinking. Bonnie knew that she had spent too much time wishfully thinking she should leave her husband and not ever doing it.
Stephen her controlling ex has a hold over her though so she needed to decide whether she should stay with him out of fear of being found out or take a risk and fulfill her wish of a new life.
The characters are very well developed and likeable apart from Regina and Stephen who are horrible. Lew is handsome and has provided his wife with everything that she's ever wished for and he is a totally loving and kind husband.
Both Bonnie and Lew are separately dragged through tumultuous times by manipulative people.
Along with the dark times there is lots of humour in the book especially as threaded throughout are little apologies that the Daily Trumpet has to make due to errors in their reporting.
There is a lovely tenderness that grows between Lew and Bonnie and I loved the things he said to her. The ending felt like a cuddle from a loved one for me and gave me goosebumps.
This book was even more special as Milly dedicated it to her beloved dog Teddy.
Milly Johnson delivers yet again, this book is a melting pot of love, loss, laughs, heartbreak and friendship. Make sure you keep a weekend free as once you start it you won't want to put it down.
Sincerely
Book Angel x
About the Author
Milly Johnson is an experienced public speaker and broadcaster and contributes regularly to her local Barnsley press, as well as appearing at literary festivals, plus radio and TV appearances. She is very active on social media.
The Queen of Wishful Thinking is Milly's 13th book.
To find out more about Milly please visit her website http://millyjohnson.co.uk
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