The Presence of Love

Here we go again, the woman staying with a man she only met recently... however... let's start at the beginning

Joss is working hard on a paper in order to get tenure at a university. Her mother, who has passed away, left her for her birthday a trip to the farm she grew up in England. There she meets Daniel, his daughter and his mom who own and live in said farm.

I like that it tackled serious issues like anxiety, dyslexia, abandonment, a failed marriage, struggles with money and not your typical "I don't have a boyfriend for my ex's wedding so let's pretend you are it (I do love a pretend relationship but you understand my point). Hallmark movies and mysteries tend to go the extra mile and this was no exception.

The scenery was beautiful, the cast was great specially the actress playing little Tegan, she was adorable. They all had great chemistry. I also liked that they kind of left the ending hanging for you to figure out what will happen. We all knew what was going to happen though, right?

Which leads to me to the point of Joss leaving behind her life to be with a guy she barely knew. I understand why she gave up tenure and I really hope she spent the following months travelling through Europe and then chose to come back to Daniel and his family.

Yep, that's definitely what happened.

I like the cast. They do a good job.

Eloise Mumford is not your average "peppy - happy", fake, blonde lead, which is great. What I like about her is that she is "real" and she has this fragility about her - in this case - perfect for the anxious Joss.

Male lead, supporting mum and daughter are good. There is chemistry between all of them.

The storyline, although predictable, is more original than most romance films.

The scenery of course, is gorgeous.

My only, big, problem is with the sound. I struggled to understand what they were saying, most of the time. You have lead actors who are soft spoken, a lot of outdoor scenes and, instead of making sure the dialogue is audible, you add music. This had a huge impact on my enjoyment of this film.

This was an absolutely beautiful movie and the best I have seen in some time. The acting was superb and the sweet little girl stole the show. The story of love, loss, and struggle is one that we can all identify with and the true emotions expressed came through so well. The attraction and connection between the two leads was real and not forced or silly as in many of the Hallmark movies. And the scenery of Cornwall was not only stunning, but also provided the metaphor of standing on a cliff trying to summon the courage to move away and move on. Having also lost a mother much too soon, the scene of Joss finally letting go near the end was just so very touching. I wish this movie had been longer. I did not want it to end. Let's have more movies like this with a wonderful story and strong characters that move us to tears and allow us to smile.

What a wonderful change of pace! This movie had depth, understanding, a steady pace and excellent acting. Such a relief from the annoyingly formulaic movies usually presented. No old boyfriend, no high heels, no saving the old bakery, festival, tree... here we had a lovely background, intertwining stories and themes, well developed characters, and a movie that was complex yet simple. It stays with me and I'll think about this one for a long time.

I enjoyed this film tremendously, more than I have enjoyed a Hallmark film in awhile...and it had a few things working against it...like a mental health story and a dyslexia side story, but the overall story and chemistry made those minor dislikes insignificant.

The story is about an American college professor of literature, Joss, who I think is trying to get tenure and has two weeks to turn in her research paper post revisions. She receives a gift of a trip from her deceased mom who passed away just a year ago and from which Joss hasn't really recovered...she still feels like she is missing a piece of herself.

"Loss is a terrible thing, it never completely goes away."

Joss suffers from severe anxiety stemming from the car accident that took her father's life when she was a child. She makes the trip to Cornwall, staying at a sheep farm that her mom grew up on and her grandparents owned...but now she is a guest staying in the old mill house. The current owners are a single father and his mother. His daughter is struggling a bit in school...but is the most precious thing in the movie! She is a real scene stealer and I could listen to her for hours. Her grandmother is a bit cantankerous and is fighting a battle with her son over updating the farm. The son is the love interest who has wonderful chemistry with our lead actress. These two make a wonderfully soft spoken and lovely couple.

My three favorite things about this film were 1) the battle over the proper way to do tea 2) the scenery-which was truly beautiful and 3) the literary references from Oscar Wilde to William Wordsworth!

"It's what you read when you don't have to that determines who you'll be when you can't help it."-Oscar Wilde.

My favorite was the reading of the Wordsworth poem "I wandered lonely as a cloud", the description of daffodils was perfectly suited for the timing here in the Pacific Northwest where the daffodils are dancing in the wind so cheerfully this time of year.

Thank you for this breath of spring and sharing beautiful literature in this romance.

Highly recommend...you will not be sorry if you are a romantic.

"You know how scary that would be?"-Joss "I know, but you'd have the best wingman."-Daniel.