But I Smile Anyway…

I am delighted to be a part of the blog tour for this book, Prickly Company by Kitty Kohnson.

Frances Mathews doesn’t get out much since her husband died, but her fondness for the hedgehogs who pass through her garden prompts her to start a campaign to create a hedgehog highway in Hilltop Place―feeding stations, holes at the bottoms of gates and fences, and wild garden areas for hibernation. To Frances’s delight, her neighbours are on board. Mostly.

There are Jess and Michael, whose marriage is cracking under the unanticipated strain of a recent adoption. And Ryan, a wounded war reporter struggling to connect with his son after a divorce and forced to return to live with his mother. Then there’s the glamourous Tara and her daughter Hermie, new to the neighbourhood and already ruffling feathers. Finally, there’s Justin and Helen, a houseproud couple who are not keen to upend their picture-perfect garden for prickly nuisances.

Before long, the Hilltop Place hedgehog highway is thriving, and new friendships are springing up all over the neighbourhood. But with new friendships, secrets are revealed. What Frances and her charitable neighbours soon discover about themselves, and each other, is hardly what any of them expected. The peaceful neighbourhood will find itself threatened in ways that affect them all … hedgehogs included.

My review

Prickly Company by Kitty Johnson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which provides some great information about Hedgehogs and how we can help this endangered animal. It also takes us through the rollercoaster lives of the residents of Hilltop Place.
Frances is a widow who isn’t interested in learning how to live in the now, preferring to live in the comfort of the past. She starts the campaign to create a hedgehog highway when the animals she has come to love come to harm.
Then there is Jess and Michael, a couple with their own upsets, trying to complete their family with a difficult adoption.
Tara is a single mum with a bit of a reputation.
Irene lives in the Place and has her son, Ryan, living with her, having come back from a war zone with life-changing injuries.
Then there’s Justin and Helen, the epitome of a perfect couple, hiding their secrets.
There are some real twists and turns through the book, as the residents live entwined with one another, as they also help the hedgehogs along the way.
A real twist at the end, too!
Enjoyed this.

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kitty Johnson is the author of Five Winters. She has an MA in creative writing from the
University of East Anglia and teaches occasional creative writing classes. A nature lover
and artist, Kitty enjoys walking in woodland and on the coast and makes collages and
paitings from the landscape. She loves a challenge and once performed stand-up comedy
as research for a book ― an experience she found very scary but hugely empowering.
Kitty lives in Norwich, Norfolk with her partner and teenage son. For more information,
visit http://www.kittyjohnsonbooks.com.