Series: The Little Duck Pond Cafe #2
on June 18 2018
Genres: Chick Lit
Pages: 105
Goodreads
Also by this author: Christmas at The Little Duck Pond Cafe, Snowed in at The Little Duck Pond Cafe, A Bakery at the Little Duck Pond Cafe, Confetti at the Little Duck Pond Cafe, Bonfires & Hot Chocolate at The Little Duck Pond Cafe, Spring at The Little Duck Pond Cafe, A Winter Wedding at the Little Duck Pond Cafe, Lemon Drizzle Mondays at the Little Duck Pond Cafe, A Cornish Summer Holiday, Lucy's Great Escape , Log Fires & Toffee Apple Cake at the Little Duck Pond Cafe, A Kiss in the Snow, A Brambleberry Manor Christmas, Sweet Pasteries and Sourdough, A Summer of Surprises, The Wedding Cake Wish , Snow Falls over Sunnybrook, The Christmas Surprise, Chocolate Cake for Breakfast, Jingle Bells in June, Sun, Sea & Strawberry Shortcake , Clara's Secret Garden, A Winter Wish, Clara's Christmas Magic, Kind Hearts & Carrot Cake, The Lottery Win, A Kiss under the Stars, The Sunshine Sisters: Aurora
Jaz Winters stuck a pin in a map and fled to the village of Sunnybrook, looking for a brand new life - and after a rocky start, it's beginning to look as if she made the right decision. Her blossoming friendship with Ellie and Fen has seen her through some dark times, and she's managed to land two jobs - waitressing at The Little Duck Pond Café and working as a weekend tour guide at Brambleberry Manor, the country house that's been in Fen's family for generations.
Sure, life isn't totally perfect. There's the irritating know-it-all guy who keeps popping up on her manor tours, for a start. He seems determined to get under Jaz's skin whether she likes it or not. But she supposes he's a small price to pay for the relative peace she's found, living in Sunnybrook.
But just as Jaz is beginning to think rosier times are on the horizon, a shock encounter looks set to shatter her fragile happiness.
Will she be forced to flee from Sunnybrook and everyone she's grown so fond of? Or will she find the strength to stand her ground and finally face up to the nightmares of the past?
This book reminds me of a couple of books recently (Dating rules and Crazy in love at the lonely hearts bookshop) in that that a second in the series but you really don’t have to have read the first book in the series. It is the same setting but different characters. But if you are like me, you will want to read the first in the series!
Book one in this series is based on Ellie, and I have a feeling the next book will be Fen. This book it was about Jaz! Lovely Jaz, getting locked out by her douche of a boyfriend Grant on Christmas Eve! Just left her suitcase in the snow with her boots, ignoring the door and shutting the curtains so she can’t get Titch’s attention, his daughter who Jaz adores.
Jaz goes to her best friend Jules, who daughter is Titch’s best friend and spend Xmas there. They then plan a way for Jaz to still see Titch but it means leaving the village, especially as Grant twists everything!
Jaz, whilst dressed in line dancing outfit, travels to another village and discovers the coffee shop from the first book, where Sylvia takes her in and lets her stay in the flat above the shop. Whilst on her journey, she meets Harry, washboard ab Harry whose a photographer. And so it begins. We jump 6 months and find Jaz is flourishing in her new village, making friends and seeing Titch on the down-low.
This book is such a cute little read. I got it finished on my lunch break in the sunshine. You can guess the ending of the story but not the journey. That is what I love is the journey. In this one, we get to briefly see her friend Fen and her mother’s story, and Ellie and her mother Rose who has Alzheimer’s and the support Jaz gives them both. The friendship the three of them have, Jaz, Ellie and Fen, is so lovely and when Jaz finally confesses her story to them they are supportive and help her in ways she didn’t know of at first.
I hope in the next book it really is about Fen because the ending of her story in this book is not what I thought it would be! So I can’t wait to explore it!
This novella is fast-paced filled with some giggles, romance and one woman finding her feet and rebuilding her life again after the awful relationship she has been in. There is so much packed in here, but I don’t feel like anything that been lost from it.
I will be returning for the Christmas one!! And going back to say hello to the old friends in the first book.
*Thank you so much to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources and the author Rosie Green for a copy of this book in return for my honest and unbiased review*
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
[…] at The Little Duck Pond Cafe by Rosie Green Also by this author: Summer at The Little Duck Pond Cafe, Snowed in at The Little Duck Pond Cafe Series: The Little Duck Pond Cafe #3 Published by Published […]