The Long Weekend

It's become Veronica Henry's trademark writing books about beautiful picturesque little villages and intertwining lots of small stories together until they are all connected.

The Long Weekend follows the same formula with the story The Townhouse hotel in Peenfleet, a little seaside village. The story upon which all the others are built is that of Claire, part owner of the hotel and her boyfriend and chef Luca. Her world is turned upside down when a stag party arrives at the hotel containing an old flame and bringing back old difficult memories. Alongside Claire's story is that of a girl searching for her long lost father, the co-owners of the hotel who on the surface appears to have it all and a man trying to build a relationship with his illegitimate daughter.

As with Henry's other books the stories a forged around the location, like a sense that escaping from home and being somewhere serene and calm can change your world just by being there. Henry is a master at painting a wonderful picture of the little seaside towns and their easy way of life for visitors whilst tempering this with the often harsh realities of what it means to reside there year round.

The stories contained in The Long Weekend were good, I would have liked to have read more about the story of Chelsey and her father's attempts to build a relationship with each other. I'd also have liked an epilogue at the end to conclude a the book more as it felt like it ended a little abruptly.

It was a good read, there was nothing different about the stories within and I knew where each story would lead but I loved the setting and the summer feel of this book.