The Cottage by Lisa Stone - Review

For my birthday my friend Leanne sent me this book in a very cute gift box. The book was wrapped, so it was like a 'blind date' book, and in the box was hot chocolate and some self care things, so it was a very cute gift. This was the book inside and I was really intrigued by the premise, so I picked it up in mid February. However, I didn't think it lived up to the premise at all and just got annoyed with it by the end. 

Jan is around thirty years old and she is staying in this isolated cottage. It belongs to Camile, but she's off doing something so she advertised for a lodger and someone to look after her dog, Tinder. Jan lost her boyfriend and her job in the same week so she's decided to take this job to have a bit of a breather and to maybe write. Camile's friend Chris lives close by and keeps dropping in to help Jan. The cottage is on the end of a dense woods and nearish to a village. A village where everyone knows each other. The local shop owner is Chris' sister in law or something. 

Anyway, Jan and Tinder keep getting disturbed every night by someone or something coming into the garden. Jan keeps trying to open the door to see what it is but can't catch proper sight of it. Tinder keeps chasing whatever it is and gets through the hedge and disappears for a couple of hours. Jan is really disturbed, a few nights in a row, but instead of doing the sensible thing and going to stay with a friend, she decides she can't go because Tinder doesn't travel in a car well. I mean fine but I would rather deal with a dog sick in the car that a spooky thing in the garden night after night!

I couldn't decide if this book was going to be supernatural or more basic crime thriller, so that did keep me guessing. But Jan just kept making the most stupid decisions. There's a motion sensor light which Jan turns back on but then Chris and Camile both discourage her from doing it. I guess this is supposed to make you doubt Chris, but it just didn't work for me much. 

And the writing in places is just so stupid. Lisa Stone also writes under the name Cathy Glass, and she's written loads of books, but if they're all as badly written as this I can't understand why she's sold so many. There's so many parts where something is implied... and then it's completely explained as to what the author means. And it's like... let the reader understand your meaning. You don't have to explain it all to me! 

There's a secondary plotline concerning Ian and his wife Emma. Emma is pregnant and gives birth at home in the presence of a midwife called Anne. Baby David is born stillborn, so Anne takes the body away. But a neighbour becomes concerned about the baby and phones the police. The police are mildly involved which I thought would go further... but no. The two plotlines do intersect but in such a ridiculous way. Plus I felt the middle was just too long. The tensions keeps ramping up and so on and so on, but then it just went on and on and I needed there to be a resolution. 

I can't give this any more than two out of five. It's just not good.