I like to keep an eye on my reviews. It’s lovely to read kind comments and I like to celebrate milestones like reaching 500 or 1,000 reviews although I still remain astonished that my books have received those sorts of volumes.

This evening, something unexpected happened with the hedgehogs. I’d seen the potential for it happening over the past couple of weeks but wondered if it really would. And it has.

The first book in the Hedgehog Hollow series – Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow – has been really popular and has gathered an amazing number of reviews/ratings (nearly 1,400 now). It was released in July last year. The second book – New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow – has blown me away. Released in January this year, it had already received a whopping 1,000 reviews/ratings on its 2-month anniversary.

And now that second set of hedgehogs have done something else unexpected by overtaking the first set of hedgehogs with their number of reviews.

I’d wondered if this might happen because New Arrivals seemed to be gathering reviews so much quicker than Finding Love. This evening, I noticed there were only 2 reviews in it…

Then only 1…

And then New Arrivals edged ahead!

I hadn’t expected the second book in the series to sell quicker and have more reviews than the first and this certainly isn’t my experience with the Welcome to Whitsborough Bay series where book 1, Making Wishes at Bay View, has the most reviews/ratings out of the four. But the hedgehogs have achieved it.

I find myself wondering why this is the case. It’s doesn’t appear be because readers love New Arrivals more than Finding Love because they both have a 4.7 rating average and the percentage difference is negligible. All I can think is that more readers have dipped in at book 2 and the ‘story so far’ recap at the start has given them sufficient detail about the back story that they haven’t felt the need to go back to the start.

If you can think of another reason why this might have happened, I’d love to hear it!

Well done hedgehogs! If anyone hasn’t yet checked out the series, Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow is still in Prime Reading and both books are 99p but that price won’t last.

Despite the recap in book 2, I do urge readers to start at the beginning as the actions/reactions of the characters in book 2 make so much more sense after meeting them in book 1. Book 3 – Family Secrets at Hedgehog Hollow – is out on 4th May and available for pre-order now and I definitely wouldn’t recommend that readers dive straight in with that book because they miss out on so much if they do.

Thank you to everyone who has bought/borrowed these books and shared the love. Another month and they should be both past 1,500 reviews. Eek!

Big hugs
Jessica xx