A heartwarming and heartbreaking story about love and life in one of Europe’s most romantic cities, Prague.

Welcome to a city where wishes are everywhere

For Megan, a winter escape to Prague with her friend Ollie is a chance to find some inspiration for her upcoming photography exhibition. But she’s determined to keep their friendship from becoming anything more. Because if Megan lets Ollie find out about her past, she risks losing everything – and she won’t let that happen again . . .

For Hope, the trip is a surprise treat from Charlie, her new partner. But she’s struggling to enjoy the beauty of the city when she knows how angry her daughter is back home. And that it’s all her fault . . .

For Sophie, the city has always been a magical place. This time she can’t stop counting down the moments until her boyfriend Robin joins her. But in historic Prague you can never escape the past . . .

Three different women.

Three intertwining love stories.

My Review

For once the blurb is on the money, this truly is a – heartwarming and heartbreaking story about love and life in one of Europe’s most romantic cities, Prague.

It tells the story of 3 women staying at the same hotel during a short break to Prague. They meet and form a bond that none could have anticipated when they arrived. They have very different back stories, are of different ages but they do have one thing in common – relationship concerns. This trip will bring into focus the problems they’ve been unwilling to acknowledge, and at the end of the trip, no-one is quite sure how and if those problems will be resolved.

I loved everything about this book, the characters were very believable (even when at times you wanted to give then a reality check – yes you Megan!) and it was so easy to be drawn into their stories and sympathise with their concerns. The character that really grabbed me though was Sophie, because from the beginning it’s clear that she’s vulnerable, suffering and that something is wrong, but it’s impossible to guess as to what.

What I also liked given this was a book that looked at relationships, was that the male characters were also positive and likeable which made for a pleasant change. What it served to emphasise was that the problems that Megan and Hope in particular were having, were largely self-inflicted. Not in a deliberate way, but in the sense that they needed to discover who they were and what they wanted for themselves. It’s true that in order to love someone else you have to know and love yourself, something that they both had to learn to do.  In that sense it was a book that shone a spotlight on the nature of friendships and relationships and how they work (or don’t).

It was also a book that shone a very big light on Prague and it’s delights. I’ve never been and have always wanted too. After reading this book, I’m aching to go there even more. The description of the streets and sights were captivating and given it’s Christmas setting added another layer of poignancy to the story and a sprinkling of magic to the city.

This was a book, I think, that can’t fail to move you and certainly brought me to tears at one point. Having been on a journey both literally and figuratively with these characters I was pleased that the ending was realistic and brought things to a  fitting  conclusion.

If you love great character driven plots with an enchanting setting this is your book and the cold wintry setting makes it very appropriate for curling up with right now – so enjoy.

I received an ARC via NetGalley for the purposes of this review.

Book is available now from Amazon UK and Amazon.com