Wish You Were Here: Book Review

Rating: ★★★★½/★★★★★

I was introduced to English novelist, Phillipa Ashley's books on Fly High! last year when she was featured as the guest for Maria's RA Friday post to promote her US release for Dating Mr. December. Since then I have wanted to read her chick-lit novels as a diversion from consuming only Austenesque reads. After checking the synopsis of Wish You Were Here, I found parallels between this book and Jane Austen's Persuasion except that the roles are slightly reversed.

The novel focuses on Beth Allen and her former love Jack Thornfield who broke her heart eight years ago. Both were on a trekking adventure in Corsica when he proposed but mysteriously disappeared without a word. It took years for her to get over the hurt and pain caused by Jack's action. They meet again in London when she is looking for a job at Big Outdoors, a travel company offering specialist adventure tours. Unbeknownst to her, Jack is the newly appointed CEO of Big Outdoors when he came across her résumé on his desk. He arranged to interview her but she was so shocked that immediately she left his office without a thought. After thinking it over as she desperately need this job to help out her family's finances, she decided to accept the offer of working in Big Outdoors for the next six months with the condition that he treats her as an employee and not discuss about the past.

Beth has clearly move on and currently is in a long-distance relationship with her old schoolmate Marcus Frayle back at home in the Lake District. Meanwhile Jack has a new arm candy in the form of Camilla Reed, a journalist for a leading travel magazine. However the more they see each other at work, the more they are reminded of the past. Can both of them really let bygones be bygones or will their feelings for each other threaten to interfere with their love lives? And why did Jack leave her eight years ago?

Wish You Were Here is a light romance that is suitable to be read at anytime and anywhere. I really enjoyed reading Beth's story and her love of touring exotic countries and gaining experiences from it to offer as a package for specialist tours. How I wish I could have a job like hers and travel around Europe to find a niche market for the company. Her interactions with her family were also sweet and endearing especially with her dad, younger sister Louisa and Freya, her assistant. On the other hand we only get to know Jack's history through snippets of information delivered throughout the novel until the big ending where he reveals his reasons for leaving Beth all those years ago. I confess that I lightly go through this part beforehand to know what had actually happened to Jack. It gives me new insight into his actions when I read back and closely follow the plot.

The novel is littered with quite a number of memorable supporting characters. Louisa is just like a typical younger sister, slightly rebellious and likes to have her own way but at times sensible. Her father Steve is caring and compassionate towards his two daughters and likes to call Beth 'lass' (colloquial term for girl). Freya has eclectic taste and loves to tease Beth all the time. Martha is an efficient PA to Jack who knows how to cheer her boss with snacks. Honor is a family friend who would do anything to help out the family including sending Beth to the train station and cooking for Steve. Camilla is a high-maintenance modern woman who loves to be the centre of attention. However one character I do not like is Marcus with his old-fashioned believes such that his wife should stay at home to care for the household.

Overall, it is a treat to read their love story ending on a high. I was rooting for Beth and Jack to be together and it concluded just like how it is depicted on the cover. Although there are instances of grammatical errors here and there, it did not necessarily distract me from enjoying the smooth flowing narrative. I am confident that anyone who loves a happily ever after romance will likely pick up this book.