Review: 'The Bluebell Bunting Society' by Poppy Dolan (2017)

At twenty-nine, Connie isn’t quite where she thought she’d be. When her beloved gran died Connie returned to Hazelhurst, the village she grew up in, and took over her gran’s old job as caretaker at the village hall. It might not be the stuff of dreams, but Connie loves working at Bluebell Hall – the heart of the community fuelled by copious cups of tea.
So when Bluebell Hall is threatened with closure, Connie is determined not to let greedy property developers get their hands on it. She hatches a plan bonkers enough that it just might work. All it takes is a needle and thread, scraps of old material and willing hands.
Can Connie convince the people of Hazelhurst that their village hall is worth saving? And will she save herself in the process…?
I can’t quite believe it, but the moment has finally arrived: it’s time for my very last book review on this blog! Ever since I made the decision to stop blogging a few months ago, I’ve been both looking forward and dreading this moment. I’ve loved having my own book blog, but at a certain point it was simply taking up too much of my time and I couldn’t combine it anymore with my life and full-time job. I’m incredibly happy I managed to reach the last book on my to-review pile, making sure I’ve honoured all review requests I’ve received over the past few months. So, here we go… One more review to share with all of you, and one more set of spoons to give away!
Twenty-something Connie loved her grandmother, and when she passed away Connie immediately returned to the town of Hazelhurst, where she grew up, to take over her grandmother’s responsibilities as caretaker at the local Bluebell Hall. Connie has come to love her job as caretaker, but unfortunately the hall has seen better days. A lot of maintenance work needs to be done and there are certainly not as many visitors these days as there used to be in the past. When Connie discovers the hall is under threat of being closed, she decides to do everything in her power to stop this from happening. With the help of her friends and the Bluebell Bunting Society, Connie is determined to save her grandmother’s legacy, but will it be enough…?
‘The Bluebell Bunting Society’ was actually my very first Poppy Dolan read. I straight away liked the colourful book cover (it reminds me of sunny days and that lovely holiday feeling) and the description promised a lovely story, which I’m glad to say it was! Connie is a great main character; I found myself rooting for her and her mission to save Bluebell Hall straight away, but was also curious to learn more about her, since it is quite clear she’s struggling with what it is she wants to do in life and whether her job as the caretaker is really what she was meant to do. There are some great secondary characters in the story as well (such as Connie’s best friend Steve and his wife Lucy, and new mum Flip), even though I did feel we didn’t get to read as much about the secondary characters as I personally would have liked. However, this obviously also has to do with the fact that the read is quite a short one, with just 200 pages, while it could also have made a great full-length novel, I think.
I’m a sucker for reads that have that lovely comfy village and community feel at its core, and that is definitely the case with this read. All the people in the village of Hazelhurst come together to try and save Bluebell Hall, and I just loved that aspect of the story. The read was a bit slow-paced at times, in my opinion, but I still really enjoyed it and it has certainly made me want to check out more of author Poppy Dolan’s work in the future. All in all, ‘The Bluebell Bunting Society’ is a warm, light and cozy read that is great to pick up on a sunny day when you have a few free hours to yourself. A recommended read for any chick lit fans out there, or if you’re just looking for a read that will cheer you up!

Rating:8,5/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads
Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.