Celebrating 4 years of Hedgehog Hollow

Hello there and welcome to a special blog post in celebration of all things Hedgehog Hollow because today – 2nd July 2024 – marks four years since the hedgehogs first went out into the world with the publication of Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow. I can’t believe it was quite so long ago.

A particularly warm welcome to newsletter subscribers as a celebratory newsletter will be issued early this evening and readers directed to this blog post for additional content. If this is your first time visiting my blog, please feel welcome to follow it for future blog posts to land in your inbox.

On this anniversary, I’d like to start by shining a light on each of the books before sharing some of the achievements of this fan-favourite series. Please note there will be some small spoilers ahead as I explain how each book came to life and some of the challenges I faced writing each one. I haven’t shared anything that you wouldn’t pick up from the blurbs, but if you haven’t yet read the series and don’t want to know any details, please jump ahead to the ‘End of Spoilers’.

*START OF SPOILERS*

Book 1 – Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow – released 2nd July 2020

Two things triggered the creation of Hedgehog Hollow. My auntie had rescued hedgehogs on a small scale for about 40 years and I wanted to write a novel featuring a hedgehog rescuer as the work rescuers do in helping such a vulnerable creature is amazing. While I was brewing how this would work – who the main character was and what their story would be – I was studying a Masters in Creative Writing. One of the exercises was to put a character in an uncomfortable situation. I imagined a bridesmaid at a wedding being secretly in love with the groom – awkward! Would the bride be her best friend? Sister? Cousin seemed less clichéd while giving more opportunity for a family divide when the truth emerged. Samantha, Chloe and James came to life and I realised that I had my perfect hedgehog rescuer in Samantha. The wedding scene I used for my assignment became the starting point for this book.

I originally anticipated this being a standalone book but Samantha’s backstory was so rich and the family dynamics so involved that I couldn’t rush through them. Thomas, the elderly owner of Hedgehog Hollow, was also such a fascinating character and I wanted to do justice to the relationship that developed between Samantha and him which ultimately led to her becoming the owner of Hedgehog Hollow. As a result, the rescue centre was only just up and running by the end of the book so there needed to be a sequel to include lots of hedgehog rescues…

Book 2 – New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow – released 7th January 2021

I initially struggled to write this book because I wanted to focus on Josh’s backstory, how he’d become estranged from his father and what happened when their paths crossed again. The only way I could do this was by having Samantha with him anytime he spent time with either of his parents. This felt ridiculously contrived so I proposed to my editor, Nia, that I write the book as a dual-perspective. I’d done that once before with All You Need is Love and had really enjoyed writing that way. Nia agreed it was the best way forward and this became the model for the rest of the books – the story belonging to someone closely connected to Samantha running alongside hers.

New Arrivals introduced Fizz who became a main character across the rest of the books. She was only meant to bring some hoglets to the rescue centre one evening but the moment she stepped out of her electric-blue Mini Cooper wearing a sparkly unicorn T-shirt with her pink hair in two messy buns, I knew she was a leading lady rather than an extra.

I was really immersed in this world and the characters felt so real to me that I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to them. I felt like there were more stories to tell so, before I submitted New Arrivals to Nia, I mooted the idea of a third book telling Chloe’s story. Samantha hadn’t had the easiest of friendships with her cousin and I wanted to explain why Chloe was the way she was. Nia agreed another book would be great. I wasn’t sure what Chloe’s story was going to be but, as I finished writing book 2, I had a sudden vision of her racing up the track in her car and telling Sammie she’d just left James. Plot twist!

Book 3 – Family Secrets at Hedgehog Hollow – released 4th May 2021

The problem with being a pantser (someone who flies by the seat of their pants with their writing, not planning it out first) is that you can dig yourself some big holes that you need to get out of and the end of New Arrivals was absolutely one of those! Why had Chloe left James? I knew it had to be connected to her past, but how?

I absolutely loved writing this book, trying to work out what had happened to Chloe in the past and how it had caught up with her, making her run. This revelation was a major breakthrough for Chloe and a shock for Samantha. It also led to a shift in Sam’s broken relationship with her mum – a recurring theme across the series so far.

It was fascinating seeing reader reactions to the announcement of book 3 being Chloe’s story, especially when some readers even declared they wouldn’t read it because they hated her! Eek! Once the book was out, it was also fascinating seeing the reactions in reviews. I didn’t set out to turn all the Chloe-haters into Chloe-lovers (even though someone accused me of doing that as though they knew me and what I was thinking!) but I did want them to understand her. Whether they loved her, liked her or still hated her by the end of Family Secrets was completely up to them. If I’ve made someone feel something about my characters – no matter how positive or negative that emotion is – then I’ve done my job!

Nia and I had been exploring a possibility of a fourth book and you know that hole I mentioned earlier? Well, I dug the deepest one ever at the end of book 3 because, just when things seemed to be going well, Samantha logged onto the rescue centre’s banking app…

Book 4 – A Wedding at Hedgehog Hollow – released 6th January 2022

There’d been a cliffhanger at the end of New Arrivals and it gathered a few negative comments - mainly about book 3 being Chloe's story. There were a few grumbles about not liking cliffhangers but there was mainly intrigue and excitement. Therefore nothing prepared me for the backlash I received from the cliffhanger at the end of Family Secrets. My goodness, some readers really don’t like cliffhangers. And by ‘don’t like’, I really mean ‘abhor’! You’d think I’d kidnapped a small child’s fluffy bunny the way some readers reacted. I had several 5-star reviews reduced to a 1-star one purely on the reaction to a few hundred words at the end. I had readers say they’d never read anything by me again. I was accused of cheating them and applying dirty tactics to sell books. Ouch!

I really don’t understand this sort of reaction. Of course an author wants readers to buy their books. Writing is our job and (hopefully) a source of income and therefore the means for paying the bills. When an author writes a series, of course they hope the reader will fall in love with the characters/ setting/ stories and read the whole series – it’s kind of the purpose of writing a series. A cliffhanger is a legitimate way to conclude a book partway through a series and the purpose is to evoke excitement and connect a couple of books. I never deliberately set out to include a cliffhanger in any of my books, I only use it where the story warrants one and I always make sure the main story being told is already wrapped up which it was in Family Secrets. But those negative reactions…! I still get palpitations thinking about them now!

That said, I had a lot of support too and I’m so grateful to the readers who loved the ending and couldn’t wait for the next in the series, which was what I'd expected when I wrote the ending. The admin team of Facebook group The Friendly Book Community made me laugh, christening me Mother of Hedgehogs and Queen of Cliffhangers. I was very happy to wear both those crowns.

I had a lot of work to do in A Wedding to resolve the situation that Samantha had uncovered and the story took me in directions I hadn’t expected. One of those was a character who, a bit like Fizz, appeared on the page and stole my heart but, unlike Fizz, wasn’t even meant to be an extra. I hadn’t intended to create her at all but Phoebe returned to her house one day and, to my surprise, a six-year-old holding a soft toy unicorn was sitting on the doorstep. Who are you? I challenged. You’re not meant to be here! But Darcie refused to go away so I wrote her into the story and she rapidly became one of my favourite characters. The inclusion of Darcie alongside Phoebe’s already challenging backstory added a darker side to the book. It was tough to write at times but I thought the juxtaposition of this and the happiness of Samantha and Josh’s wedding worked really well.

Book 5 – Chasing Dreams at Hedgehog Hollow – released 28th June 2022

Nia and I had agreed on two more books. The original plan was for book 5 to be either Lauren’s story (Josh’s auntie who we’d met back in book 1 when she was Samantha’s new boss) or Jonathan’s (Samantha’s dad). Whichever one I didn’t cover would be book 6’s story but I soon decided that wouldn’t work. They were good friends, Jonathan was renting a room in Lauren’s home, and I’d been hinting for a while at a will they/won’t they situation between them. Their lives therefore felt too intertwined to have a book devoted to each. I decided that readers already knew a lot of Jonathan’s backstory through Samantha’s relationship with her mum, Debs, so it made most sense to focus on Lauren.

Readers had speculated there’d be a book in the mix about Debs but this wouldn’t have worked. So much of her past had come out across the series and a book focusing on her would not have revealed new information. I could already see the reviews if I released one: Too repetitive. Nothing New. Should have left the series at the last book.

2022 was a big year for Hedgehog Hollow with three out of my four releases that year set at the rescue centre. Chasing Dreams was probably the hardest of all of them to write because it needed to pick up where book 4 had ended with Samantha and Josh’s wedding, but that meant the happy couple would be on their honeymoon and not at Hedgehog Hollow. As Lauren didn’t live at Hedgehog Hollow, it was looking like it would be Chasing Dreams away from Hedgehog Hollow! That didn’t feel right to me so I dug deep with the story until I found strong, logical ways to connect the characters back to the rescue centre even when they weren’t there, keeping the hedgehogs a key focus of the story.

Some readers have expressed discomfort with one of the plot points in this book and others have accused me of preaching and/or having an agenda as if they know me and my inner thoughts. The stories I write are true and authentic to the characters I create. They tell me what’s going on and I tell the reader. Occasionally the story they present to me will touch on something very ‘current’ but that’s coincidence and not about me attempting to preach or tick boxes. Although I wish I could, I need to keep reminding myself I can't please all of the people all of the time and those who are displeased will usually shout pretty loudly about it.

Conversely, I’ve had lovely messages from readers who have loved this storyline and have thanked me for including it. I stand by this story as being the one that needed to be told.

Book 6 – Christmas Miracles at Hedgehog Hollow – released 6th September 2022

And so to the series finale and, even though I’d never planned to tell her story – especially when she was created as an extra – Fizz took centre stage. I didn’t know what her story would be and, like book 4, I was taken in an unexpected direction when Fizz shared a long-hidden secret with me. It shocked and upset me and I did hesitate for a while but her story needed to be told as it is an important one.

Samantha’s story which ran alongside Fizz’s, as those who read the acknowledgements will know, was inspired by my own difficult story of my daughter’s birth. I still carried the scars fifteen years on so it was cathartic to write about it.

As Christmas Miracles was the series finale, there were many threads to pull together for the cast of characters who readers had grown to (mainly) love. In a perfect world, I’d have tied a neat bow on everyone’s happy ever after but life isn’t like that so I tied some bows but left some possibilities where the readers could imagine what might happen next as they said goodbye to Hedgehog Hollow.

And that was it! Although there had been an idea floating around my mind for a while about a farmer clashing with one of the crew involved in a television show being filmed on his farm. Fizz’s brother Barney ran Bumblebee Barn, the family farm. Could he be that farmer? Perhaps it was time he told his story… 

*END OF SPOILERS*

The End of an Era

The first and last book in the Hedgehog Hollow series were released a little over two years apart and written across a 2.5 year period during which another six titles were released – the first three books in the Christmas on Castle Street series, All You Need is Love and the first two books in The Starfish Café series. That’s a lot of writing in a short space of time!

From the release of Family Secrets, I was clear with readers that the series would be coming to an end and with the release of A Wedding, I was transparent about the ending being book six. The outpouring of disappointment from readers was flattering but also surprising. In their droves, readers really didn’t want Hedgehog Hollow to end and begged me to keep going, but it didn’t feel right to do so. On publication day for Chasing Dreams at Hedgehog Hollow (which was also the cover reveal for Christmas Miracles), I wrote a blog post explaining why the series needed to end. You can read it here.

For those not ready to let go, readers are treated to more insights into life at Hedgehog Hollow in The Bumblebee Barn Collection – the spin-off series starting with Fizz’s brother Barney’s story. I've seen a few readers mention that they haven't read the first book – Healing Hearts at Bumblebee Barn – because it's set in the world of reality TV and they're not a fan. I'm not either! Please, please don't let this put you off. A reality television show is the event that brings the characters together but this is still a book set in the countryside (on the farm) and is my usual type of story about love, friendship, family and community. I haven't suddenly changed genre.

Although the series is strongly connected to Hedgehog Hollow, those who haven’t read the Hedgehog Hollow series can still enjoy The Bumblebee Barn Collection. Healing Hearts at Bumblebee Barn andA New Dawn at Owl’s Lodgeare out now and I’m writing the final book in the series at the moment. It will be my January 2025 release.

The ‘real’ Hedgehog Hollow

Hedgehog Hollow is in a real place – the Yorkshire Wolds – but the farm, rescue centre and surrounding villages are completely from my imagination. My original intention had been to model the villages on real villages in the Wolds and see if readers familiar with the area recognised them, but I finished writing Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow while we were in lockdown and travel wasn’t an option. I could have spent hours online exploring the different Wolds villages but decided instead to keep them purely fictional. I knew the area well enough to give a feel for a typical Wolds village and the rolling countryside in-between.

I spent time with my Auntie Gwen before I started writing the first book, tapping into her wealth of knowledge as a hedgehog rescuer and I’ve visited/asked questions on several occasions since. It was only right that I named Thomas’s late wife Gwendoline – a passionate rescuer of hedgehogs – after my auntie (although my auntie’s given name is actually Gwen rather than the full version).

Once the world opened up again, I found a wonderful hedgehog rescue centre in the Yorkshire Wolds – Wolds Hedgehog Rescue – and was invited to the hoghouse at owner Ann Day’s home. Over the years, Ann and Angela Jennison (hoglets nanny) have been such an invaluable source of support. Thanks to them, I was able to add authenticity to the various hedgehog rescues across the series. A couple of really special moments were holding a hedgehog while it was being given medication and hand-feeding a hoglet.

Although the series is fictional, the information about hedgehogs is factual so I’ve been able to educate as well as tell a story. It makes my heart sing when readers get in touch letting me know that they’ve spotted a hedgehog or hoglets in trouble when they wouldn’t have previously known that was the case, and have got them to their local rescue centre for attention. Other readers have started volunteering at their local rescue centre and I even have a couple of readers who are now trained to rescue hogs themselves.

Ann and Angela kindly joined me for two Facebook Lives. They’re well worth a watch as the pair of them together are a comedy double-act!You can watch our first video in celebration of the release of A Wedding at Hedgehog Hollow here.

You can watch our second video in celebration of the end of the series here, which includes the appearance of some hoglets in Angela’s care.

Hedgehog Hollow in the Wild

Five of the six books in the series have been stocked by The Works which is amazing. I get so excited when I hear that any of my titles are going into The Works. They’re such a supportive retailer and I love how many readers have discovered my work by taking advantage of a 3 for £6 purchase in there. A special thank you goes to Jamie, James, Emily and the rest of the team at my local branch in Scarborough who always welcome me with such enthusiasm.

Chasing Dreams hasn’t been in The Works which will have been down to timing – A Wedding went in last spring and they stocked Christmas Miracles last winter which didn’t allow for time to squeeze book 5 in.

Those hedgehogs have been popular in Europe. The full series has been translated into Swedish. Book 1-5 are being translated into Danish, books 1 and 2 into Dutch and book 1 into French, Hungarian and Serbian. Keep scampering across Europe, hedgehogs!

It’s really interesting seeing the covers for foreign versions and I love how my Swedish publisher has kept the colour and concept of the English books but has put their own special spin on it. The final part will be out later this year but the cover has been revealed and I can’t wait to add the physical book to my collection.

Hedgehog Hollow in the Charts

Hedgehog Hollow is my bestselling series so far. Just before Christmas last year, I had the amazing news that the October sales figures were in and Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow was the first of my books to reach 100,000 sales and join the 100,000 Club at Boldwood Books.

At the time of writing this, I’ve just had my sales figures through up until end April 2024 and the whole series has sold a little over 433,000 copies so far which blows my mind.

Five of the six books have entered the Kindle UK Top 50 which is such a thrill and the only one which didn’t make it that high – New Arrivals – still made it into the Top 100 at #77. New Arrivals had a special achievement on Apple UK, though, reaching #2 in the overall chart. This is my highest position (that I’m aware of) for any book of mine in any overall (not category) paid chart. Woo hoo!

The hedgehogs even conquered the USA with Finding Love making it into the Kindle US Top 100 and ticking off an author goal for me in March 2021. Well done those hedgehogs!

All titles except Finding Love have been Top 50 in Audible UK too with Chasing Dreams getting as high as #7. The only reason that Finding Love hasn’t charted as high is that it has been free as part of the Audible Plus catalogue for a few years and it’s non-catalogue downloads which have the big impact on the charts.

Remember I said earlier that some readers had accused me of cliffhangers being a dirty tactic to sell more books. That is absolutely not the reason I’ve used mine but the reality is that cliffhangers DO sell more books quickly. The pre-orders for Family Secrets more than tripled when I had the cliffhanger with Chloe at the end of New Arrivals and they increased again to my biggest ever number after Family Secrets. It’s not why I include cliffhangers … but it is an added bonus! Although the third book in the Escape to the Lakes series, The Best is Yet to Come, might well pass the record set by A Wedding at Hedgehog Hollow. Funnily enough, there’s a cliffhanger at the end of book 2, A Breath of Fresh Air, and lots of readers have been very focal about not liking that one either!

All the Hedgehog Love

I love photos of all the hedgehog merchandise (mugs, soft toys, stationery, garden ornaments etc.) which my readers have bought after falling in love (or more deeply in love) with hedgehogs because of the series. I’ve added a fair few items to my own collection. Here's a few examples but I have loads more, some of which appear in photos earlier in this blog.

Speaking of love, I need to mention the lovely messages and gorgeous reviews. At the time of writing this, I have 30,728 ratings/reviews across the series on Kindle and 29,339 of them – a whopping 95.7% - are positive (4 or 5 star). Blown away!

It seems only yesterday when getting to 100 reviews on any of my books seemed like an impossible achievement so to have heading for 31,000 on this series is astonishing. Book 2 – New Arrivals – has the most with nearly 1,000 more than book 1, Finding Love. I’ve no idea why this is the case, especially when book 1 has outsold book 2 by nearly 20,000 copies, but the world of publishing is full of mysteries!

A huge thank you to anyone who has shared the hedgehog love. If you have reviewed any of my books, I’m extremely grateful. Even though the negative reviews hurt, I still read all of my reviews as I’m so appreciative of any readers taking the time to write such kind words and there’s way more kindness than negativity out there. I’m also grateful to those who leave a rating instead. It can be difficult to summarise how you feel about a book without giving spoilers away and ratings are a great way to share the love without trying to explain why.

And Finally…

This turned out to be a long post but there’s so much to say about this series! I hope you enjoyed reading about the individual books and the amazing achievements of those hedgehogs.

Thank you to all the wonderful readers who have made all of this possible. When I created Hedgehog Hollow, I wasn’t sure if there’d be any interest in a book set in a hedgehog rescue centre and I was also worried that readers might not like the move away from Whitsborough Bay to a new setting. I could never have imagined that it would become a six-book series selling over 433,000 copies with the first book passing 100k sales and being translated into six different languages. Wow! Go, hedgehogs, go!

Out of curiosity, I did a quick poll in Redland’s Readers asking members for their favourite series. They were given 7 options but could only vote for one. I did this deliberately as I knew that many would say they loved them all – something which came across in the comments – and giving an option to choose more than one series would skew the vote. Aren’t I a meanie? Anyway, Hedgehog Hollow was the strong ‘winner’ with 43% of the votes at the time of writing this. There’s definitely a lot of love out there for Samantha, Josh, the team at the rescue centre and all those hedgehogs.

I'd better say goodbye and crack on with my final proofread on The Best is Yet to Come - the third book in the Escape to the Lakes series out in September.

Big hedge-hugs

Jessica xx