A Country Rivalry

Treweham Hall #2

by Sasha Morgan

Life in the beautiful Cotswolds village of Treweham could never be described as boring, but the arrival of a documentary film crew means that things are even busier than normal.

For the ever-so dashing Lord of the Manor Tobias Cavendish-Blake and his new wife Megan, it's a great advertising opportunity as they've recently opened up their home, Treweham Hall, to the public. And for the chef at the local pub The Templar, Finula, the arrival of the brooding director Marcus Devlin, means her love life is looking up. Whilst at the racing stables, jockey and trainer Dylan Delaney is hoping the exposure will help him find new owners and horses for him and his partner Flora to train.

But there is more to Marcus Devlin than meets the eye, and he has very personal reasons for heading to the Cotswolds. And once his plans become clear, life in Treweham may never be the same again.

'I couldn't put this book down and was gripped from the very first page! I was so engulfed in the characters and life in Treweham, that I actually felt a little lost when I had finished it' Amazon reviewer on A Country Scandal.

Genres: Romance, Chick Lit

340 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 19, 2019

About the author

Sasha lives in a coastal village in Lancashire, in the North West of England with her husband and Labrador dog, Zac and has a grown up son.

Besides novels, she writes articles, short stories and is on the writing team for a childrens publishers.

She loves drinking wine, walking her dog and curling up with a good book.

Reviews

[Dash fan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4☆ A Light hearted and Entertaining Read!

COUNTRY RIVALRY is the second book in the series, and I highly recommend reading them in order as the characters cross over and can be a little overwhelming otherwise.
This is not a Standalone Book!

When Marcus Devlin rocks up at Treweham wanting to make a documentary about this gorgeous quaint countryside, but things are not all what they seem.
Is the documentary really a good idea for the village? Or will it ruin Treweham?

All of the characters are back with a sprinkle of new ones. It was a joy to catch up and see what's new and what's changed since the previous book.

Once again COUNTRY RIVALRY is a fun, heart warming read with a dash of romance, drama, friendships, intrigue, secrets and revenge.
It's told by multiple points of view, which can become a little confusing at times especially if you haven't read the previous book.

Overall a light hearted, entertaining, heart warming romance, with quirky characters and an engaging storyline.

Thank you to Aria Fiction for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily.


My Review is also on my Blog Website :-

https://dashfan81.blogspot.com/2019/0...

[DJ Sakata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite Quote:

In every sense she had reinvented herself, changing her name, address, hair, dress style, and career. The only thing that she had kept, unfortunately, was her disturbing nature.


My Review:

Picking up shortly after A County Scandal had ended, I gleefully dove right back into the small Cotswolds village of Treweham. While this could be read as a standalone, readers would get far more enjoyment and entertainment from the story had they already fallen in love with the enticing and alluring characters as I had while reading the first book. I am more than eager for more as I have adored this series as well as Sasha Morgan’s crisp and appealing writing style, her work pleases me and puts a smirk on my face and an occasional bump in my pulse rate with her saucy bits.

The pace was lively, the issues addressed were relevant, the characters were easily accessible, and the engaging storylines were laced with amusing observations, sharp insights, and evocative dabs of steamy goodness. Two new additions to my Brit Words and Phrases List were: bish, bosh, bash – efficiently completing a task; and podgy – chubby.

[Lady Clementina ffinch-ffarowmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Aria for a review copy of this one.

A Country Rivalry is set in Treweham village in the Cotswalds where we “meet” and follow the stories of numerous characters—the lord of the manor Tobias Cavendish-Blake, recently married to Megan; his younger brother Sebastian who is seeing success on the stage as Richard III but had seen unhappiness in his personal life; Dylan a jockey who is starting his own training yard with a girl he loves Flora but has to face his playboy past; Finula chef at the Templar, the local inn and also daughter of its proprietor, who is also dealing with heartbreak; and Gary and Tracy Belcher, lottery winners who have made Treweham their home after finding that their fortune means that their old friends only value them for their money, and while moving has meant getting away from this, they haven’t yet found a new “home” at Treweham. A documentary-film maker, Marcus Devlin (who has met Finula before) decides to make a film on the countryside and Treweham specifically (he has his reasons), and the arrival of the crew throws the lives of all its residents into disarray as the crew Marcus and Viola (his researcher, with an agenda of her own) are set on showing the worst side of village life, especially the aristocracy. On the other side, their arrival brings hope of love to some of the characters, Finula, and Sebastian, specifically.

This was a pleasant enough read for me (although it did turn out different from what I was expecting from the description (second time this month)—there was no cover at the time I requested the book). The characters are pretty straight-forward, though they each have their problems and secrets, loneliness, heartbreak, illness, revenge etc. among them, they aren’t complicated in themselves (but then, this is popular fiction). But that said, I did find myself getting interested in their stories, and wanting to know how things would turn out for each of them. From the beginning one does know that this is a feel-good sort of book, so things will turn out right certainly, but I still liked seeing how that would happen. The characters were also all fairly likeable except the one/s who aren’t supposed to be, but also they are more or less “perfect” as far as appearance goes even if not in their natures. I also liked that the resolution of everything was not too melodramatic (just a touch). But there were parts of this book that read like a cheesy romance which made me cringe a bit—these I felt could have been done much more subtly. Also there were some parts of the book (not very many, but still) that made me feel as if I’m reading a sequel where previous events are being recapped, which I don’t think is the case, so possibly these could have been written differently as well. Overall, this was a light-hearted read, pleasant, and one I would have enjoyed much more if it weren’t for some aspects (the cheesy bits specifically).

#Acountryrivalry #NetGalley #BookReview

[Nila (digitalcreativepages) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was Book 2 in the series, I haven't read book 1 so I found it difficult to understand and love the characters. Nonetheless, I plodded on. I did read up the gist of book 1.

The story went thus, Marcus was back to the village to film a documentary about Lord of Manor Tobias and his family. There was a massive secret which could destroy their lives.

It was a light warm read with well etched characters. The author Sasha Morgan has written the story well by adding flavors to this wholesome book peppering it with romance, intrigue, suspense with a tinge of rivalry.

Multiple POV did confuse me a bit since I didn't know the characters well, and there were many characters. But I soon caught on.

Overall, a fast read with varied characters

[Katherine Hayward Pérez · Rating 3 out of 5]

After having reviewed, and loved, Scandal, the previous novel by Sasha Morgan, I was looking forward to this. It was unfortunate that there was no cover image available at the time I downloaded it to read immediately as I'm "auto approved" for Aria titles. But it was uploaded to the book's page on NetGalley afterwards and is a relaxing cover and quite pretty colour-wise.

A Country Rivalry is the second in the series and I was glad to see Tobias Cavendish-Blake, Lord of the small Cotswold town of Treweham, again. He's now married to Meghan and we see the couple after their honeymoon.

If you haven't read Scandal, it's a good idea that you do because then you'll get more background. The characters are introduced very quickly in a Country Rivalry and, compared to Scandal, the writing seemed rushed and there was too much going on at once all the time so I felt I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book.

The romance wasn't as full on as I expected, considering Tobias and Meghan are newlyweds. Despite this, I am glad I got to review the sequel. I hope the next offering from Sasha Morgan has me more enthused and satisfied as she is a talented writer, I just felt that, compared to Scandal, the talent was not fully taken advantage of. I felt I was not really "gelling" with the characters and their exploits. The book felt a little "flat" to me.

Thanks to Sasha Morgan and Aria for my ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review and my slot on the blog tour for this title.

3 stars.

[booksofallkinds · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I voluntarily reviewed this book from Netgalley

A colourful story with plenty of antics to sink your teeth into, A COUNTRY RIVALRY by Sasha Morgan is an entertaining read that will appeal to romance and contemporary fiction fans alike.

When a documentary film crew arrive in the quaint and close community of Treweham it will change so much for the inhabitants and in ways that are completely unexpected. For Tobias and Megan who are opening up their stately home to the public, they are delighted for the exposure that this will bring but they don't realise that someone is out to sabotage them at any cost. For the locals they hope that this will bring new customers to their doors and for local chef, Finula, it may just bring her that missing piece of the puzzle that has been lacking in her life - love. But as things start to go wrong, will everyone come together to make things right?

An easy read, A COUNTRY RIVALRY by Sasha Morgan is the second book in this series and I recommend that you read the first book as it will help when connecting with the characters and the story to know the history of it all. The community and setting work really well and overall I found the characters fascinating and engaging. A COUNTRY RIVALRY by Sasha Morgan is an enjoyable story and well worth reading.

[Chelsea Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lord Tobias and his wife Megan have just returned from their honeymoon to the country manor at Treweham, starting their life together among the hijinks of this small town. I hadn't realized when I picked up this book that it was the second in a series, and the author throws the characters at you pretty quickly. At one point, I was introduced to five different characters within one page (one of which I never really heard much else about), and it was a bit overwhelming to keep up with. As the story goes on, I learned to distinguish the characters, but that was still pretty difficult to do.

The characters all had pretty similar personalities and demeanors, and nothing about any of them really stood out as being interesting. All of the women were hopelessly devoted to the men in their lives, and often seemed as if their opinions and desires weren't taken as seriously as the men. For example, when Finula, daughter of the local pub owner, goes on a first date with the brooding film director Marcus, she proceeds to get drunk and make a fool of herself and throw herself at him, which seemed completely out of character for her the rest of the book. She is a successful woman and is being mocked on this date, and it was pretty cringy.

I also take some issue with the "romance" aspect of it, as it was usually anything but. Sex was usually on the terms of the heterosexual men. One even asked his girlfriend if he could get a "blowy" which she wordlessly obliged. It was never empowering to the women, and made me more uncomfortable than anything else. I found Sebastian, the gay brother of Tobias, to be the most likable and realistic. Though Sebastian stumbled upon a possible love interest himself, the furthest he ever gets is a hug. It seemed to defeat the point of having a gay character.

Lastly, I really think the author did a disservice with her writing style. The story is written in third-person style narrative, but the focus character varied from paragraph to paragraph. When a couple was on a date, we would hear the thoughts of the male character, and the following paragraph would be the response thoughts of the female character. There was no "will they, won't they" energy, because the reader always knew exactly what every single person was thinking at every moment.

[Gaele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tobias and Megan are newly married, expecting their first child and settling back in to life at Treweham, with Megan being a local girl who fell in love with the “laird’. Her best friend, Finula having just had her heart broken by local vet Nick is flirting with (and thinking about) the guest at the pub, Marcus, a documentary filmmaker, until he ups stakes to head home. Tobias’ brother Sebastian is an up and coming actor, receiving rave reviews of his portrayal of Richard III, while nursing his own private grief about the betrayal Nick wrought on his life. Tobias’ two best friends and fellow ‘darlings of the bad boy headlines’ from the tabloids are all settling, with the last to fall being jockey and race horse trainer Dylan, now setting up his yard in the old stables of Treweham with his second in command, Flora, a twenty year old girl with a clever way with both horses and customers to be his assistant.

So – having come into this book not knowing whether or not there was one before it – I found the background stories were missing, and while ‘some’ were flushed out during the telling of the current moments, most were left as “I touched on that already’ so it’s done. How Megan and Tobias’ relationship grew, Finula and Nick, Nick and Sebastian, even how Dylan and Flora came to be. And we won’t even start with Marcus and his single-minded determination to despise Tobias, unearthing yet another way to ‘discredit’ him in the press with a documentary – and his using Finula to get ‘into’ the manor house. Using his ‘associate” Vera (her real name) and her bunny-boiling approach to those who don’t instantly fall for her “enhanced’ appearance and her general demeanor which vacillated between obsequious and downright slimy – the multiple moments in this story from several different stories never really allowed for any one story to be developed fully – as it was “off to the next”. While I appreciated the attempt to give some sort of resolution to all of the ‘twists’ and storylines, every one felt rather quick to resolve and didn’t feel as if the multitude of characters were given more than a moment in the spotlight before their stories were, conveniently, concluded.

I assume those familiar with these characters and place may enjoy this more than I did, but it was a series of revolving points of view, small and large emotional conflicts and quick resolutions, making this under 300 page read feel more like 500, and requiring plenty of ‘put it down for something else’ time.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at I am, Indeed

[Mystica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the gorgeous village of Treweham we have the current Lord and his family on the one side and motley film crew doing a documentary on this village and its inhabitants.

That Malcolm the extremely clever and popular director of the film has his own agenda regarding the inhabitants of the manor, is not known to any. His idea is to get into the minds of the Lord Tobias and strip the veneer off his very popular facade and show to the world what villains they actually are.

All this is of course unknown to anyone and Malcolm proceeds to do just that.

The aristocracy in this case is a very loving family with their usual eccentric relations but on the whole one who has maintained close links to the community in which they live and is very protective of their inhabitants. Tobias, the present Lord is not going to stand for anyone trying to hurt anyone in his wide circle of family and village and will go to any length to protect them. When Viola the main editor working under Malcolm tries to jeopardize Tobias's family, he goes into aggressive mode and completely cuts the grass under Malcolm's feet without his knowledge.

Malcolm also begins to realize that his vendetta with Tobias and the family is cold comfort if he is going to lose the women he has fallen in love with. How the story ends with a very happy family reunion and love conquering all was very sweetly accounted for.

Descriptive of the Cotswolds to an extent that it could be a travel book added to the interest of this story.

[Jane Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sequel to Scandal takes you back to 'The Cotswolds' and the village of Treweham, it's pleasant to reacquaint with the characters whose lives have moved on. If this is your first visit to the village, there is sufficient backstory for this to be read as a standalone, but it's an engaging series, so I recommend reading 'Scandal'too.

Treweham is the subject of a TV documentary, which the villagers hope will increase tourism, especially the residents of the hall, recently opened to the public. The documentary producer has his own agenda and this threatens everything the integrity of Tobias, his family and the village he loves.

The fast-paced story is told from multi-points-of-view with short chapters, which makes it easy to read The plot has a few surprises as the story's themes; revenge, romance, secrets, friendship and family are explored.

It's a good escapist read for those who like to immerse themselves in characters' lives, in a delightful rural setting, If you like Jilly Cooper and Fiona Walker, this story should please you.

I received a copy of this book from Aria Fiction via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[marlin1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the first book Scandal when it came out and I mentioned that it was an enjoyable romp that reminded me of the old Jilly Cooper novels, this one continues in the same vein.

Tobias and Megan have just got married and with a baby on the way and their home Treweham Hall now open to the public, life is busy.
Documentary film maker Marcus Delvin has come to film the inhabitants of the village but apart from falling for the local publican’s daughter there is more to his visit.
It was great to reacquaint myself with everyone from the village and while it can be read as a stand alone, I think it best to read the first prior to this one. There are a few characters who benefit from knowing their back ground.
This was pure escapism, not brain food so if your looking for a light read to while away an afternoon it could be the book for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy to read.

[Sirilee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book started well, well-defined characters and some witty writing. However, towards the end it became a description of events rather than characters living through the events. That cost one star. About book reviews : so many summarize the contents of the book. I’d rather read opinions and impressions.

[Meg Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light & Lovely with just enough intrigue to keep you reading!

[Bethan Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely charming!

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable easy read series

[suzanne king · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

The different stirs with great characters gives these books a 3d quality. Love them. Unfortunately read in the wrong order, but still great.