Thank you to Beauty and Lace and Head of Zeus for the opportunity to read One Snowy Week in Springhollow by Lucy Knott.
I love Lucy Knott’s dedication in the front of the book. “For my Nanna: The strongest Superhero I have ever known.”
December 2007. Scar (Scarlett) and D (Devon) are passionate about superhero movies, comics, and costumes. Their shared love of adventure and testing out “superhero leaps and moves” has often ended with both of them in the hospital with broken bones.
Devon is passionate about acting and Scarlett’s special skill is designing comics. They are inseparable throughout their childhood, and their plan is to be “best friends forever”. Both their mothers are distraught and plotting ways to keep them apart and safe. In Scarlett’s case, her mother’s plan is for her to be less of a tomboy and more feminine.
December 2011. Once again Scarlett, now 16, is in the hospital with a broken arm and sprained wrist after a skateboard stunt that didn’t go as planned.
Devon’s family are moving to New York, they have enrolled him in a Theatre School. He has known about this for a month but only tells Scarlett the day before he leaves. Scarlett is angry, this is not something you spring on your best friend. She and Devon have not been popular at school, and have been labelled “ nerds”. After being joined at the hip for so long, Scarlett feels alone as she deals with the bullying by herself. She chooses not to keep in touch with Devon.
December Present Day. Scarlett is now 26, single, with a goldfish for a pet and working at The Village Gazette as her best friend Hope’s PA. She has kept her love of superheroes and her comic drawing skills hidden from her friends. Her dreams are all boxed up and stored in her spare room.
Devon has returned to Springhollow for one week to promote his new Hollywood movie, in which he stars as a superhero. The Village Gazette is contacted to interview Devon. Scarlett and Devon collide. She realises that Devon is now part of the movie franchise they watched while growing up. His dream has come true.
Best friends for 16 years…10 years have passed…now they are both adults…can they be friends again?
The book is a humorous, easy to read romance, with fun and quirky characters that you would love to have in your own circle of friends.
Once you start reading, it is hard to put this book down, you want to know how it ends!
I highly recommend it, 5 stars.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading One Snowy Week in Springhollow by Lucy Knott, you can read their reviews in the comments below…or add your own!
I love to read, any book on any topic. I now love ebooks as they are easier to store, I was running out of bookshelves! My other interests are family, gardening and our beautiful King Charles spaniel dog who is my reading companion.
One Snowy Week in Springhollow – Lucy Knott
Scarlet and Devon spent their first sixteen years inseperable. The best friends couldn’t be kept apart. Their favourite past time was playing superheroes. Their brave tricks often landing them in hospital with broken bones, much to the displeasure of their Mums.
Their bond could not be broken, that is until the day Devon’s Father gets a job in New York and moves the family there.
Scarlet is devastated and can’t understand how Devon could just go and leave her alone to deal with the bullies at school. She gives up drawing and wants nothing to do with the superhero world or anything that reminds her of Devon.
Fast Forward ten years and Scarlet discovers that Devon has fulfilled his dream of becoming an actor and is currently starring in a new Superhero Action film.
His promotional tour takes him to Springhollow where he is being followed by a production team filming a documentary on him.
Scarlet is working as an assistant at the local magazine and joins her now best friend and boss, Hope to interview Devon.
Scarlet still hasn’t forgiven Devon for leaving but what would happen if she gave him a chance and let him back in to her life?
This is a lovely book with wonderful flashbacks of an exciting and fun childhood.
Thanks to Beauty and Lace for the opportunity to read this book.
Superheroes as children. This is a normal relationship for Scarlet and Devon as they grow up close friends, getting into many escapades as they act out their heroes. This was until they turned 16 and both their worlds were torn as Devon is moved away with his parents to New York. Here Devon will work towards his acting career. Scarlet is left devastated and over time loses sight of her cartoon drawing and all that her and Devon did during their childhood.
Chance upon Devon returning to their home town of Springhollow a week our from Christmas. He is a superhero movie star and the relationship between him and Scarlet because quite taunt. With the help of her friends, Scarlet lets her guard down and what evolves is a moving week of thinking, developing, friends and family relationships.
Does she let Devon back into her life and does she focus on her drawings she has pushed aside.
A beautiful story, one I couldn’t put down. Thank you for choosing me to read it.
I was lucky enough to be chosen to read and review One Snowy Week in Springhollow. What can I say? Other than I read it in a matter of hours because I just couldn’t put it down!
It had the perfect balance of humor, love and seriousness and I just felt like I was part of Springhollow. I was sad to finish this book and really hope there is a sequel!
What fun this was to read! I love the childhood friends to sweethearts theme, and this one absolutely delivered, with a Christmas theme as well. Devon and Scarlett had each other’s backs in childhood in the village of Springhollow. They were a little geeky and shy, often the butt of teasing from others at school, but they could be absolutely themselves with each other because they both believed in superheroes – and superpowers. Which led to them donning their capes and trying to fly…and ending up with broken bones! Fast forward to age 16 when Devon’s father got a job in New York and the family moved away. Scarlett was so furious with him and herself, and with others trying to force her into the ‘wrong boxes’ all the time, that she maintained her rage and forgot to be her creative self. She put her drawing away, she stopped being a geek, she coasted along without happiness. Fast forward 10 years, and Devon has literally become a ‘superhero’ – as a successful actor in geek movies. He loves it! But then he visits Springhollow on a tour, and he and Scarlett face ten years of tears and fury and misunderstanding and stiflement… Can love rise above everything? I loved this book, with its snowy and glittery Christmas background in Springhollow, and we even got to visit ComicCon and NYC in all its festive glory. Devon is wonderful, unchanged by fame, and determined it’s ‘time’ to woo Scarlett, who totally endears herself to you. You’ll be cheering for them both!
Thankyou to Beauty & Lace Bookclub and Head of Zeus for the chance to read this fabulously fun romance.
I found the book interesting from the perspective of overcoming the challenges people face when they are bullied or impacted by the opinions of others. Scarlett had potential to become a talented artist but after her best friend and ally against the world left town she was at the mercy of the bully, withdrew into herself, and hid her innate talents. I think the takeaway message of the story line is that we all have the superhero within us but its not always easy to “fly like a bird” and face obstacles with courage. Love, support and truly “being seen” are the ingredients which provide a nest from which to fly. Beautifully romantic, this book is a joy to read,
“One Week in Springhollow” is a light and fluffy romance. It’s not particularly original, but that doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable. It offers exactly what die hard romance fans want, uses many of the tropes of the genre, and does it quite well. It’s not memorable, but it’s a pleasant reading interlude.
Scarlett has grown up in Springhollow, a small and sleepy village. Over the years her dreams of being a comic book creator have calcified, and she makes a living as assistant to her friend Hope, editor of the local magazine. She’s not in a great place; she still wears clothes her mother selects for her, it’s been years since she dated, and she can’t see any kind of career path.
And then one day she discovers that her childhood friend, Devon, has achieved his goal of being an actor. Even more than that, he’s starring in one of the superhero movies they loved as children. The two of them were inseparable for years, but that ended abruptly and completely when they were 16 and Devon’s family moved to New York.
But now he’s back, and his presence in Springhollow starts to unravel Scarlett’s carefully constructed and maintained façade.
This romance lands squarely in familiar grounds for romance fans: a childhood friend who’s grown up hot, a friendship that morphs into a hot romance, mild obstacles to keep them apart – obstacles that are more psychological than real. Although not original, these are handled well enough that most readers will enjoy the journey. There aren’t any twists or surprises in the plot, so for me it trundled along at a very even pace with no highs or lows. This made it particularly undemanding to read.
One minor problem was that I didn’t have a strong sense of place. When the novel talked about Devon moving to New York, I thought I was in small town USA. If not for a later reference to Britain, I would never have realised that that was, in fact, where Springhollow was. This was mildly confusing, though not a huge impediment. But even the size and environment of Springhollow seems unclear; I just didn’t feel that the author had visualised it clearly, because it certainly wasn’t conveyed well to me.
Another small complaint is that this could have used one more going over by an editor. I can read over typos and other small errors without great problems, but in some places the word choice was so odd that it threw me out of the story. The phrase “my intrigue was piqued” was so odd, for example, that I spent a good ten minutes trying to work out whether words were missing from the sentence or whether the author had just used the wrong word. It’s not ideal to have the story interrupted by that kind of distraction.
Overall, though, I quite enjoyed this. It doesn’t have the humorous touches that appear in the romance novels I’ve most enjoyed, and it was extremely predictable, with little extra depth. But it was a nice little romance, a pleasant and undemanding reading experience. Many readers will find it just right for a holiday read.
I was lucky enough to be able to read a copy of ‘One Snowy Week in Springhollow’ thanks to the Beauty and Lace Bookclub. It had an interesting plot and of course being a romance book I’m sure you all know how it ends up 🙂 I thought it had a bit of a slow start and I remember thinking that I wasn’t sure if I was going to even finish it. But then the storyline started to pick up and I couldn’t put the book down till it was finished. An enjoyable read!
“One Snowy Week In Springhollow” should come with a warning that you may have in overwhelming urge to whip up a gingerbread house
I loved this book and the Christmas time setting really got me starting to feel festive. It’s a love story, a tale of childhood friendships and finding your place in the world.
Devon (D) and Scarlett (Scar) were childhood friends who had an incredible bond. Things changed and they have been out of contact for 10 years. Devon then returns home and Scarlett’s world is turned upside down
This is a very readable novel. I loved it. It’s slightly quirky and although I wanted to shake both Devon and Scarlett at times they were both characters with a lot of depth
This was my first Lucy Knott book but it certainly won’t be my last. Thanks so much to Beauty and Lace and Head of Zeus for the opportunity to read this book and find a new favourite author
Such a happy, fun book to read.
Devon and Scarlet were best friends and superheroes as kids, but as Devon and his family moved away, they grew apart.
Ten years later Devon came back and their friendship was rekindled …..
A great read that took me back to my childhood and teen years and who doesn’t love a happy ending.
Thanks to Beauty and Lace, Head of Zeus and Lucy Knott for this wonderful book to read.
One Week in Springhollow is a lovely, easy to read seasonal romance. It was enjoyable and hard to put down – I could have read it in one go if the household didn’t interrupt me.
In this story we meet Scarlett who has a hard time putting her true self forward after a life time of nit-picking from her mother and bullying from peers. Her one true friend in childhood was Devon and unfortunately life moved them away from each other. When Devon returns 10 years later Scarlett is forced to stop hiding her inner self.
The story has a lot of superhero references which were quirky and amusing. Overall a great book. I’ve now added a new author to my list for when I’m searching for a book to read.
I loved ‘One snowy week in Springhollow’ by Lucy Knott! What a lovely breath of fresh air to have a common story told in such a different way. I found it hard to put down and can see it being the start of a lovely Springhollow series – I’ll keep my eyes peeled and fingers crossed for that! Thank you Beauty and Lace >:o)
A great read that was a different start than I was familiar with.
I liked that Scarlett had an edge to her character and wasnt your typical romance novel girl and felt the author conveyed this well.
A second chance for Devon and Scarlett to rekindle after him leaving so suddenly.
I enjoyed this book, thankyou!