Wedding Bells at the Dog and Duck by Jill Steeples

Description

Ellie Browne, landlady of The Dog & Duck, is looking forward to a relaxing Christmas Day before the arrival of her and her partner Max‘s baby in the New Year. But with a snowstorm brewing outside, it seems that things might not go quite to plan.

After the dramatic events of the holiday season, Ellie settles into her new life at Max‘s huge country mansion Braithwaite Manor, juggling work and family as best she can. When she’s asked to help organise a summer wedding for one of her best friends it’s only natural that her mind turns to her own, non-existent, wedding plans!

But with Max decidedly lukewarm on the subject and other family complications threatening to disrupt life further, Ellie fears there’ll never be wedding bells at the Dog & Duck after all.

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My Review

I am a big fan of Jill Steeples and was really excited to read Wedding Bells at the Dog and Duck.

It was lovely to revisit the lives of Ellie and Max who are expecting a baby just in time for Christmas. Ellie runs the Dog and Duck in the village of Little Leyton. She has moved into Max’s manor house and agrees to arrange a wedding for her friend Polly. With marriage on her mind, it gets Ellie wondering about her own future plans. Has she left it too late to finally accept Max’s proposal?

There is a little of everything in this book, adorable dogs, dramatic snowstorms, romance, and heart-searching. Don’t worry if you haven’t read the other books in the series, Jill Steeples does a great job of filling in the spaces, without repeating too much of the story. However, the links are here

Summer at the Dog and Duck

Winter at the Dog and Duck

This truly is a great feel-good read, especially for this time of year. The location is described perfectly (I think there should be a Dog and Duck in every village!) and the characters become like old friends. Jill Steeples has a unique way of making relationships come alive, there is lots of drama along the way and humorous moments too.

Biography

Jill Steeples lives in a small market town in Bedfordshire with her husband and two children. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, walking, baking cakes, eating them and drinking wine.

From an early age she fell in love with the fabulously funny romances of Jilly Cooper, and vowed, one day, she would have a go at writing one of her own.

Jill loves writing short stories, particularly those with a twist in the tail, and her work has appeared in popular women’s magazines around the world and in a number of charity anthologies.

Wedding Bells at the Dog and Duck by Jill Steeples