Well-written and engrossing - it kept me reading when I had other things I needed to be doing. Great characters, interesting setting. It is a bit heavy-handed - the romance was more than foreshadowed, it was laid out from the start and the reader is hit over the head with it over and over and... And the magic stuff was a little annoying - not because it was "airy-fairy", to quote the book, but because it seemed to be the only solution. Time after time a character (mostly the protagonist) said that they believed that if they hadn't come to Torley and encountered the magic of the cottage they would still have been stuck in their old rut. I'd rather read a story where, even if magic helps or accelerates healing, it's the person and their actions that bring the solution. I'm also very bored with "oh, they're hurt, I realize I love them!" - a far too common romance trope. The whole menopause thing is also leaned on a bit too heavily; multiple characters, and particularly the protagonist, assign vast amounts of their troubles to "the change of life". Still, it's a sweet story, even with the heavy-handedness; I enjoyed meeting the inhabitants of Torley, and I'm interested in reading the next. Especially since the blurb for that one says it will deal with Carla and getting _her_ out of her rut. Ah, this appears to be her first book; in that case, I'm _definitely_ interested in reading more. ( )

I liked the book. I especially liked the storyline. It was exactly what I wanted to read the book for: a sad woman who finds magic in her life.
It is a pity after some time the magic seems to disappear. Luckily at the end it is back, in full force.
I liked the heroine and the people, in the Lake District, surrounding her. And of course I did not like the husband and was glad when things went wrong for him.
What I certainly did not like, was the style of the book. People are thinking too long about things. That is OK in real life, but not in a book. And I do not think you should write what someone thinks and then let that person say it.
That is the reason I only give three stars.
But I am still looking forward to the following book. ( )

A middle aged woman arrives at a small English village to house-sit for a few weeks in an attempt to put her failed marriage (and men) behind her. Circumstances seem to have their own plans however, and the weeks turn into months, and the locals (and a certain man) manage to penetrate her armour in a hundred different ways, making her extend her stay indefinitely.
An excellent book for those chilly evenings, or those sunny afternoons. Make sure to slip it into your bag for that next holiday. ( )

Note: I received an ERC of [30392789::No Small Change] by Annie Cook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a sweet story that I enjoyed reading. It was set in England's Lake District, and I'm a sucker for pretty much anything set in the English countryside, particularly a romance. The main character, middle-aged Adie, who is recovering from a recent divorce and struggling with menopause, takes a two-week housesitting job in a small village, where she meets a similarly-aged widowed farmer and his young-adult daughter. Circumstances turn her two weeks' stay into several months, and the plot involves how she settles into small town life with the local residents and develops feelings for widower Mark.

The character development was thorough, the characters were likable and interesting, and the story was altogether enjoyable. The pacing could've been tightened up a little bit, and some of the narration was both excessive and repetitive at times: too much telling and not enough showing. Both Adie and Mark had an appropriate amount of baggage for middle aged folks considering romance without it being excessive, and I found myself rooting for them enthusiastically.

I was a little put off by the amount of emphasis on menopause; even the title references "the change". I kept having the sense that perhaps the author was trying to work something out for herself, more than write it into her story in a way that really fit. I also felt like the secondary plot of the maliciously jealous Carla was unnecessary to the story... Mark and Adie had enough to overcome without needing the inclusion of her character, and it seemed to be a bit of melodrama just for the sake of melodrama.

All in all, though, I thought it was enjoyable and well-written, particularly as a first book. I liked the characters enough that I would be interested in additional books set in this small town. ( )