Rating: 3 Stars
Source:NetGalley
Description:
In present day Rosie Hopkins leaves her life in London to go help her great-aunt Lillian run her sweet shop after Lillain's hip replacement. When Rosie discovers that the sweetshop is in fact long closed and in need of a great deal of work before it can be sold she realizes she will be staying in the tiny village of Lipton for much longer than anticipated.
Genre: Romance
Why I Picked This Book: It's a sweetshop in a little village in England.
My Impression:
Pros: The small village in England setting was very clearly done. I got a very nice picture of a small town full of helpful but also sometimes gossip-y people. Rosie is very nice and hardworking and a little lost. She's very easy to relate too with trying to help but occasionally losing her temper or having a lot of self doubt at times. Lillian is definitely the crabby spinster with the hidden soft spot. It was fun watching her and Rosie's relationship develop. The parts where she's helping with the shop by offering commentary through a baby monitor is pretty funny. I also was pleased that while Gerald, Rosie's long time boyfriend, is lazy and incredibly dependent on other people to take care of him he isn't all bad. We can see why Rosie fell in love with him and why they're still together.
Cons: This was fairly slow paced and took me awhile to get caught up in. There were a number of times that I wanted Rosie to have a bit more spine. The majority of the flashbacks to the 1940s didn't do much for me. It was hard to see the shy dowdy Lillian becoming the glamorous young woman in the photos that Rosie references. We don't really see that development.
Overall: This is a sweet story of some not always sweet characters. I wish it had been a faster read and that Rosie had had a bit more spine but overall I enjoyed this one.
Would I Read More of this Series/Author?: Yes
Would I Recommend this Book?: Maybe, I wasn't blown away by this one but it was a nice read.
"It's a sweetshop in a little village in England."
ReplyDeleteAw, this sounds like a winner from that little description. Is this is a series? Because I have another book by her, haven't read it yet, with a similar title and cover.
I don't think it's a series but I'm not sure. From what I saw on amazon I think most of her covers just look similar.
DeleteThis sounds appealing, but may be a little too "sweet" for me.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this is one that would work for you either JoAnn. It's definitely on the sweeter side.
DeleteIt's too bad the flashback scenes weren't better-those are often my favorite part of novels that use that format. It sounds good though, even if a little slower than you'd like. One for my maybe list.
ReplyDeleteIt was a fun sweet read. Maybe a little too British for my American reading brain? The flashbacks were disappointing. I think I was expecting something along the lines of Wiggs' flashbacks in The Beekeeper's Ball and it definitely wasn't that.
DeleteTo bad it wasn't what you were expecting. The synopsis totally makes it sound like a super cute chic lit read. But if it was a slow read that's not really something I'd pick up.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review!
Happy reading!
Brittany @ This is the Story of My(Reading) Life
It was paced a bit slower than I expected and that could have been part of the problem. It wasn't quite what I was expecting so that interfered with my liking it?
DeleteI might give this a try even though you weren't totally thrilled, because I love small English villages. (Then again, who am I kidding -- I have way too many books on the TBR list as it is.)
ReplyDeleteIt very well could have been that my mood wasn't right for this one. I didn't dislike it it just didn't click. Those TBR piles are on the scary side though!
DeleteThe setting would have drawn me right in too Katherine. I am sorry some of the writing style didn't work well, like the flash-backs and slow bits. Aspects do intrigue me though!
ReplyDeleteThe setting was wonderful and very well done. I don't know if it was a mood problem or what but while I enjoyed it it just didn't quite click for me.
DeleteThis sounds cute! I especially like that it's set in a small town in England, that sounds lovely!
ReplyDeleteIt's really cute and Colgan does a fantastic job with the setting. I'm definitely going to try more of her books!
DeleteThe blurb is appealing but based on what you said, I'll skip this one.
ReplyDeleteIt just didn't click with me. I'm going to try more of her books as it could have just been the mood I was in.
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