Series: Comfort Food Cafe #1
Published by HarperImpulse on April 29, 2016
Format: eARC, Audiobook
Source: Net Galley, Library
Genres: Romance
Pages: 347
Amazon UK
Goodreads
The Comfort Food Cafe is perched on a windswept clifftop at what feels like the edge of the world, serving up the most delicious cream teas; beautifully baked breads, and carefully crafted cupcakes. For tourists and locals alike, the ramshackle cafe overlooking the beach is a beacon of laughter, companionship, and security – a place like no other; a place that offers friendship as a daily special, and where a hearty welcome is always on the menu.
For widowed mum-of-two Laura Walker, the decision to uproot her teenaged children and make the trek from Manchester to Dorset for the summer isn’t one she takes lightly, and it’s certainly not winning her any awards from her kids, Nate and Lizzie.
Even her own parents think she’s gone mad.
But following the death of her beloved husband David two years earlier, Laura knows that it’s time to move on. To find a way to live without him, instead of just surviving. To find her new place in the world, and to fill the gap that he’s left in all their lives.
Her new job at the cafe, and the hilarious people she meets there, give Laura the chance she needs to make new friends; to learn to be herself again, and – just possibly – to learn to love again as well.
For her, the Comfort Food Cafe doesn’t just serve food – it serves a second chance to live her life to the full…
Finally! I got to start this series! I must admit I think I am a little in love. This is a book that ticks so many boxes and has left me smiling, all thanks to a couple of teenagers – who would have thought.
When we meet our MC, Laura, she is a shell of a woman, her husband died 2 years prior and for the Summer she applied for a job in a cafe, many many miles away from home. Her children do not want to go, leaving everyone and everything behind for 6 weeks. What an adventure, no? What I loved about this book is the growth, not just the growth of Laura, but her two children and Matt.
Matt, well he is a welcome surprise with a broken heart. Initially awkward when meeting people, the ice melts when he and Laura inadvertently get set up on a date. So this story has been told many times before, but I love the journey that the character goes on and no characters are ever the same. We see Laura, a shell of a woman, forlorn and lost but by the end, she is the sunshine. She has learned to open herself up and just be again. She is also so brave for uprooting everything for the summer! I love stories like this as it is something I have kind of done, not to the extent of some books, but I get to live vicariously through these wonderful characters. It is this progression I love to see and it is lovely to see when you care about the characters.
This was a lovely and easy read, especially on the dark and gloomy days. It is a charming story and it was a fab introduction to Debbie and her storytelling ways. I am really looking forward to the next book in the series. She has made me care and long for the characters and I always looked forward to jumping back into the book.
My only question is, when can I go to the Comfort Food Cafe?!
Until next time xxx
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
nickimags @ Secret Library Book Blog says
Fab review I’ve got a copy of this one and really should read it! xx
Zoé says
I hope you like it! It is a sweet story x