To celebrate the book’s birthday I’m re-posting my review from its release below, and there’s also a giveaway.
Gordon Slee fears he was never meant to be born. Anxious since childhood after hearing he was an accident, the forty-two-year-old is still struggling to escape the shadow of his high-achieving family.
But a glimmer of hope is on the horizon – a huge promotion within his hotel group is up for grabs, and he is sure that his time has come to make a mark on the world.
However, within his own department, redundancies are afoot. He may lose his job before he gets the chance. Until he learns of a historic covenant that preserves the right for sheep to run through the company’s top London hotel. Could he convince his boss that he’s the man to save the hotel from catastrophe?
Up in Bryn Nefyn, North Wales, live the descendants of the covenant owner. The elderly sheep farmer and his aging hippy brother could use the money the hotel might offer. But along with their strong-willed American shepherdess, they laugh at Gordon’s attempts to negotiate a deal. Surely, they couldn’t use a covenant that’s been forgotten about for over a hundred years.
Or could they?
For lovers of upmarket commercial fiction with a touch of romance and comedy, The Approval of Sheep is an uplifting story about family and love, overcoming adversity and discovering our reason
for our place in this world.
Karen Storey is an award-winning fiction writer, featured on the acclaimed book podcast The Bestseller Experiment. Her short stories have been placed in several international competitions, and her memoir pieces published within The New York Times bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul series.
Originally from New York, Karen lives in Warwickshire and has written articles for American in Britain magazine. She lives with her husband, whose surname Storey was the perfect wedding gift. They share their home with a snarky cat who writes Karen’s monthly author newsletters and a crazy dog who barks at the wind.
The Approval of Sheep, a quirky uplifting book club read, is her first novel. You can find Karen on her website.
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My thoughts: This was very entertaining, and features lots of sheep. Gordon wants to impress his boss and secure a promotion by buying off a Welsh sheep farmer whose family own an ancient right to drive sheep through the hotel where he works. Obviously this is a bit of a peculiar thing, and Gordon heads off to Wales to attempt to do a deal that will satisfy his boss, stop the farmer complaining and secure his future.
While in Wales he gets to know the family, the sheep and the land. He discovers that some things are more important than money and job titles, and that perhaps that world isn’t for him anymore.
I liked Gordon, he’s a pretty nice man and just a bit lost in his own life, his relationships with the Priddys and their sheep, and especially his growing love affair with shepherdess Jenna is a delight and the moment when he bonds with sheep Molly and solves the issue of her head butting is sweet.
It’s a funny, heartwarming book with a sweet romance and a protagonist that deserves nice things.
Giveaway to Win a signed copy of The Approval of Sheep with bookmark (Open INT)
*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the link above. The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
