Guest Review: Summer at the French Bakery by Jo Thomas

A new adventure is on the menu . . .

Juliet has learnt that life is too short not to chase your dreams. But when she buys an old watermill in France, her tranquil new start is quickly kneaded into something far more ambitious when the local mayor offers her a deal she can’t refuse: reopen the village’s derelict boulangerie.

With a formidable rival – the owner of the local bread vending machine – determined to crush her, Juliet faces disgruntled villagers, her own lack of baking skills, and hidden secrets within the mill itself.

But with help from her outspoken neighbour and the charming Tabac owner, Juliet battles to bring back the aroma of freshly baked bread – and with it, the heart of the community.

Can she prove that even the biggest dreams start with just a little pinch of courage?

Review: I do love Jo Thomas’s books. They always whisk me off to captivating locations where there are interesting characters and always plenty of delicious food. I was attracted by the sound of a French bakery and could almost smell the bread cooking as I opened the book.

This story centres on forty-eight year old Juliet, who has recovered from a battle with illness and decides that life is too short not to follow your dreams. She returns to a village in Brittany where she spent a holiday with her husband and buys the old deserted watermill intending to turn it into a cafe, or salon de thé. However, her plans are blocked by the mayor, who offers her an alternative deal. She can open her tea shop if first she renovates the derelict boulangerie and starts to produce bread once more for the village. She has no choice but to agree, but is then faced with an uphill battle. There is competition from the owner of the bread vending machines situated in every local village, as well as opposition from the suspicious villagers, the large stumbling block of her lack of bread-making skills and difficulties in sourcing the necessary materials and good quality ingredients. Finally, she is able to enlist the help of a once hostile neighbour and local tabac owner, Laurent. Can she start to produce the baguettes that will appeal to the local people and break through the barriers to her success in starting a new life in this community?

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Brittany and I am currently longing for a nice fresh baguette. This was a charming story of a woman stepping out of her comfort zone and going for what she wanted, showing determination and courage in the face of adversity from every direction. Juliet surprised everyone by her actions, but her serious health problems had been a real wake up call and she was no longer happy to settle into a quiet retirement. I loved the way in which she dealt with all the setbacks that came her way, not least the difficulties in making an acceptable baguette, until the once unhelpful and unfriendly Laurent stepped up to help her. The setting for the story was lovely. I could easily imagine the quiet little village with the menfolk sitting around chatting in the sun when their wives sent them out for the morning. The description of the watermill and the lake beside it made it sound quite idyllic. I think this would make a great summer read and would recommend it. Thanks to the author for the French onion soup recipe at the end of the book.

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Top 10 Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2026

 

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Book Review: Hit or Miss by Elle Kelk

Ethan Taylor is unbeatable on and off the field. Being the star of the Marshall College soccer team – and hot as hell – has its perks. But when tragedy strikes, Ethan flies straight out of South Carolina and to the intimidating halls of Hemden University, where even his Southern charm can’t melt the stiff British upper lips…

Mia Meyers has never had much luck with people. Having always been a bookish wallflower, junior year abroad could be her one chance to step into the spotlight. So, when Mia realises that she’s not the only student from Marshall across the pond this year, she is determined that no one will get in the way of her new life – not even Ethan Taylor.

But why is it that Ethan’s infuriatingly sexy green eyes can’t stop staring at her, and why doesn’t she want him to look away? They may be far from friends at home, but under the spires of Hemden, could this striker score her heart?

Hit or Miss was such an enjoyable read that completely swept me up in Mia and Ethan's story. Mia was such a relatable protagonist, and I found myself rooting for her from the very first page. I also loved Ethan, and watching the two of them navigate university life 4,000 miles from home made their journey feel even more significant. Moving so far away from everything familiar must have been such a pivotal experience for both of them, and it added an extra emotional depth to their relationship as they found themselves together in a completely new environment.

The romance tropes were riding strong in this one, and without giving away any spoilers, they were executed brilliantly. The chemistry between Mia and Ethan was undeniable, with the sexual tension building beautifully throughout the story. The supporting cast was fantastic too. Oliver was the perfect villain that you simply love to hate, while Alice was an absolute standout as the ultimate best friend, giving me Jenny Lopez-calibre loyalty and support. I also loved spotting the little Easter eggs sprinkled throughout the book for Lindsey Kelk fans-they were a lovely touch that made the story even more fun.

The romance scenes definitely delivered on the spice, and Elle Kelk knows exactly how to write sizzling chemistry. My only complaint is that I wanted more! The sexual tension was so high that I would happily have read a few extra bedroom scenes because the payoff was just that good. Overall, Hit or Miss is a funny, heartfelt, and incredibly romantic read with memorable characters, brilliant banter, and just the right amount of steam. If you're looking for a university romance packed with emotion, humour, and irresistible chemistry, this is definitely one to pick up.

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Guest Review: The Clockmaker’s Cottage by Christie Barlow

Can love begin before time runs out?

Pippa Bell never expected to flee her own wedding — or to end up stranded on Puffin Island at the beautifully ramshackle Clockmaker’s Cottage, the perfect place to get away from it all for the summer.

Her stay gets off to a rocky start when she discovers she’s sharing with her old university nemesis, Theo Blake. But, faced with a ferocious summer storm and trapped inside the tiny house, they end up working together to discover long-buried secrets about the cottage’s original owners.

As the storm rages outside and the cottage works its magic, Pippa discovers that sometimes the best shelter is found in the most unexpected arms…

This is the latest book in the Puffin Island series from Christie Barlow. This place is a fictional island sitting off the north east coast of England and accessible via a causeway at certain states of the tide. Books in this series generally focus on particular residents or visitors to the island, and often a particular building. There are always recurring characters, but each book is complete in itself.

This story sees the island hosting a horologists’ convention. It is an appropriate location since two brothers famous internationally for clock design and production once lived there. Having run away from her own wedding, leaving a stunned groom at the altar and still in her wedding dress, clock restorer Pippa Bell travels to Puffin Island, a place she has long dreamed of visiting. However, when she arrives at her accommodation, Clockmaker’s Cottage, she is dismayed to find that she is sharing it with Theo Blake, a rival from university days. Unfortunately, the weather is absolutely atrocious and the island is soon completely cut off, forcing the pair to get along. Practically trapped inside the lovely old cottage, they begin to work together to solve an old mystery concerning the clockmaking brothers. While they are doing that, they also explore how they came to be rivals at university and make some startling discoveries about themselves.

This story had me hooked from the very start and kept me engaged right to the last page. I think it is certainly the best in this series so far and I highly recommend it. It has lots going for it - a wonderful location, even in a horrific summer storm, a long-standing mystery, some wonderful food and a growing romance. There is even a sighting of the eponymous puffins.

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Guest Review: Storm Clouds Ahead for the Village Midwife by Tilly Tennant

As the sun crests the indigo Lake District hills and blossom froths in the trees, midwife Zoe Padbury reaches for her boyfriend’s hand. Her life, at this moment, feels perfect. She has no idea of the storm clouds that lie ahead…

The villagers of Thimblebury know that midwife Zoe Padbury loves babies and now that she’s settled at Hilltop Farm with her boyfriend Alex, they can’t resist wondering when she’s going to start a family of her own. Yet it doesn’t feel like quite the right time. Alex is so busy and Zoe has her hands full with all her new mums to look after. Still, she has hopes for the future…

But what she doesn’t expect is to walk into her cosy kitchen and find Alex’s glamorous ex-girlfriend sitting at the scrubbed pine kitchen table. Virginia claims to be helping Alex with work but as she looks Zoe up and down and offers her a perfectly manicured hand to shake, Zoe can’t ignore a shiver of foreboding. What will this mean for her and Alex?

Zoe tries to quash the pangs of jealousy that wash over her, but with Virginia around what feels like all hours of the day, she and Alex end up in a devastating argument. And when she receives some news that changes everything, she doesn’t know if she can share her troubles… Can they find their way back to each other? Or will these storm clouds break their bond forever?

Review: This is the fourth book in a series of stories featuring Zoe Padbury, a midwife who is attached to the medical practice in the small Lake District village of Thimblebury, having moved there from Manchester. She lives with her partner, Alex, and his daughter and baby granddaughter in a farm outside the village. The books in this series feature lots of recurring characters and references to previous stories set in Thimblebury, but I feel that this book, like the others, can be read as a standalone.

As this story begins, Zoe is feeling happy with her life. Her relationship with Alex is going well, she is getting closer to his daughter and his business is finally getting off the ground. She has no inkling of the troubled times ahead. Nobody could have predicted how many problems were going to come along and disturb her life. On top of helping Alex when serious difficulties arise in his business, there is an outbreak of a virus affecting many of the Thimblebury residents, the arrival on the scene of Alex’s glamorous ex, problems with Zoe’s mothers and babies, friction within the medical practice and, most devastating, bad news for her that she is unable to share with anyone else. Everything seems the be conspiring to put a strain on Zoe and her home life. Can her relationship with Alex weather the storm?

This was yet another dramatic instalment in this series. I began to wonder what was going to happen next as Zoe’s problems heaped up on top of her. I like Zoe as a character; she’s very level headed thankfully. I didn’t like Alex so much in this story; he was being uncharacteristically selfish a lot of the time. On the other hand, his daughter is much more likeable as she matures. As with the other books in the series, this one had plenty of glimpses of typical village life where news travels fast and rumour abounds. I am looking forward to the next book in this series, where the village will come alive with Christmas festivities.

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Guest Review: Brave New Summer by Sarah Morgan

Evie is the acting general manager of The Alexandra hotel in picturesque Cornwall, but she feels trapped in a life defined by others’ expectations. Just as she contemplates a fresh start, Abby arrives, sent undercover by the hotel’s owner to assess the staff and operations. But Abby is navigating her own struggles and longs to break free from the shadow of her mother.

As the two women forge an unexpected friendship, they confront their fears and the threat of change looming over them. With the help of a charming chef and a gruff pub owner, they begin to embrace their true selves and the bonds that unite them. Will they find the strength to reshape their futures, or will the weight of the past hold them back?

Review: I am a huge fan of Sarah Morgan’s books and would never miss a new release. Each time I sit down to read one of her books I find myself lost in the story in no time at all. This was again the case with this summer read; the setting, the characters and the storyline had me engrossed within a few pages. This was truly a book that I couldn’t put down.

The central characters in this story are three women, all linked by one Cornish seaside hotel. Alexandra is the successful business woman at the head of the privately-run company owning the Alexandra Hotel, Abby is her daughter who is high up in management of the hotel group and is expected to one day succeed her mother, while Evie is currently standing in as manager of the hotel. Evie is worried about the financial state of the hotel and feels sure that the company will soon put it up for sale. She is pleased when, instead of announcing closure of the property, the company sends someone to help out. That someone is Abby, reluctantly acting undercover as a general helping hand without revealing her true position in the company. Both Abby and Evie would like to change their circumstances, Evie keen for more freedom to change things in the hotel and Abby wanting to escape from her mother’s control. The pair find they have a lot in common and forge a friendship. With encouragement from the hotel’s Michelin starred chef, who would like to date Evie, and the local pub landlord who is drawn to Abby, they begin to make some changes at the hotel. However, can they take things further and make real changes for their own futures?

I was totally captivated by this story of two young women struggling to find their way in the world, both with ambition that was being thwarted. Evie had the hard job of managing a staff many of whom had known her all her life as she had grown up in the hotel. Abby had the problem of gaining the respect of colleagues who looked on her as just the boss’s daughter. I admired the way in which they united to form a strong team. I was also intrigued to find out why Alexandra was keen to retain a hotel which was plainly failing. There was obviously a story there and it eventually emerged. There are many other well-developed characters in the book as well as interesting subplots and a few budding romances. The setting was absolutely lovely and so well described that I could easily envisage the small Cornish village with its steep streets, pretty cottages, busy harbour and lively pub. This is a warm summery read which I can highly recommend.

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Guest Review: A Perfect Summer in Starshine Cove by Debbie Johnson

Suzie has always been the wild one. While her siblings settled happily into village life, she roamed the world – chasing adventures, collecting stories and running from that horrible day, sixteen years ago. But when it's finally time to return to the tiny Dorset village of Starshine Cove, Suzie must face everything – and everyone – she left behind.

There's her dad George, still the beloved heart of the village at almost ninety. Her sister-in-law Connie, who runs the irresistible Cove Café, where the scent of sugar and vanilla drifts on the sea breeze and the red velvet cake is to die for. And then there's Guy, a brooding stranger with secrets of his own who arrives in the village on the very same day…

As the summer unfolds and old wounds begin to heal, Suzie discovers that sometimes the bravest adventure isn't running away – it's finally coming home.

Review: This is the fifth book in the Starshine Cove series from Debbie Johnson, one of my must-read authors. Starshine Cove is a small, practically self-contained, village in Dorset. So small is it that it doesn’t even appear on a map and people often find it by sheer chance or as if pulled there by some kind of magic. It is a truly magical community where people all look out for one another and very rarely want to leave.

The central character in this story, Suzie, is the exception in that she just couldn’t wait to leave the village behind and see the world outside. Having left as a teenager and now in her forties, before this she had returned only for her mother’s funeral and then her sister’s wedding. Although unsure how long she will stay, she has finally felt that she should go back and visit her family, including her father, who will soon be ninety. On the day that she creeps back into the village, she encounters Guy, who is also arriving unexpectedly, looking for his daughter and unsure of his welcome. They seem like opposites to start with, as she flirts with him and he remains introspective. However, as they settle into life in the community, they become close and when Suzie reveals her secret she begins to rely on him and they can both see that perhaps their future is here in Starshine Cove.

This was a wonderful story, filled with drama, humour and also grief. I found myself laughing out loud at some points and sobbing into my tissue at others - typical of a Debbie Johnson book. The characters were absolutely marvellous. Having read the other books in the series, I was familiar with most of them, and I can see that Suzie and Guy will settle nicely into the village. I enjoyed watching as the pair began to change from the people who arrived in the village on that afternoon and relaxed into the atmosphere around them. I can highly recommend this book; it will have you coming back for more each time you put it down and leave you with a warm feeling long after it’s finished.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Handwriting on the Cover

 

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Guest Review: A Wedding Under the Cornish Sky by Phillipa Ashley

Five years ago, Zennor’s perfect Cornish wedding fell apart in the most spectacular style - thanks to Matt Veryan, the man who crashed the celebrations and shattered her happily ever after.

Now a successful business owner in St Ives, Zennor is shocked to discover Matt is not only back in her life- he’s also her new landlord.

As old feelings resurface and long-buried secrets come to light, Zennor must face the truth about her past, her marriage . . . and the man she never truly forgot.

But can Zennor ever forgive Matt? And if she does, could it lead her to a love greater than she ever dared dream possible?

Review: I have been a fan of this author for some time now and always look forward to reading her new releases. As the title suggests, this summer’s book is set in Cornwall, so I was anticipating a romance with some beautiful scenery and seaside activity. I was not disappointed.

The story begins in the Cornish town of St Ives, at the wedding of Zennor to Trev, which is interrupted disastrously by the unwelcome entrance of her ex, Matt, who she has not seen for years. Matt has a lot to say but is too late to stop the ceremony. It then continues 5 years later, when Zennor is no longer married, but is running a successful talent agency in the same Cornish town. Everything is going well in her life when suddenly Matt and then Trev reappear in town. Each has become a wealthy businessman and each is interested in rekindling a relationship with Zennor. Unfortunately, Matt is now landlord of Zennor’s rundown office building, which is awkward as she has not forgiven him for ruining her special day all those years ago but now has to face him almost daily as he makes repairs. However, as time passes, her attitude towards him gradually changes as she finds him helping her out in many ways. When secrets of all kinds begin to reveal themselves in Zennor’s life, she thinks she may have to admit her true feelings to him and to herself.

This was a complicated, if predictable, story full of twists and turns. The setting is, as you would expect of Cornwall, lovely and the characters are, in the main, likeable. I especially liked Zennor, and admired the way she had made a success of things after her marriage ended. She also showed great fortitude in dealing with Matt and Trev when they walked back into her life. She did take her time, however, over whether to forgive Matt. As the secrets began to be revealed towards the end of the story, even I was shocked, never mind Zennor. This escapist book of love and friendship would be good for a summer holiday read.

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Top 10 Tuesday: Books I Can't Believe I Never Read

 

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Guest Review: Daydreaming at the Boathouse Cafe by Alison Sherlock

Can following your dreams lead to happy-ever-after?

After leaving an unhappy relationship, Hannah Jackson has no confidence in herself or love. The only thing she secretly dreams of is her own bakery. But when her brother Ben, the owner of their family run hotel Maple Tree Lodge, asks her to open a cafe in the renovated boathouse on Dragonfly Lake, Hannah is consumed with self-doubt.

Due to an injury, Ben’s best friend and champion triathlete Alex Grant finds himself suddenly at a crossroads in his life and accepts Ben’s offer to recuperate at Maple Tree Lodge. Nursing a secret, longtime crush for Hannah, Alex is hoping that he can find a new future for himself and that it might somehow include Hannah.

Can Hannah overcome her lack of confidence and make the boathouse cafe a success? And can Alex find himself a new path and finally admit to Hannah how he really feels?

Over a magical summer by the lake, and with the help of a stray puppy, Hannah and Alex discover if all of their dreams really can come true.

Review: This is the second book in the Maple Tree Lodge Hotel series. Each book in this series is intended as a standalone read, but I cannot help but recommend you read the first book before this one to give complete enjoyment of the characters and events. Once again, this book has a stunning cover, this time conveying a beautiful summer’s day at the family-run hotel.

This story focuses on Hannah Jackson, sister of Ben, who owns the Maple Tree Lodge Hotel. Hannah has returned home to the lodge having escaped a disastrous relationship which has sapped her confidence. Although she is an accomplished baker, she refuses to accept that she could make a living through her craft. She is even unwilling to help Ben by running a cafe in the lodge’s recently renovated boathouse. When family friend and famous athlete Alex Grant is injured in a race, he is invited to spend the summer recovering at the hotel and gradually helps Hannah to establish and make a success of the new cafe. Alex has always secretly loved Hannah, a feeling that is actually mutual. Working closely together over the summer, can the pair admit their feelings and find happiness?

I loved this second instalment of the story of Maple Tree Lodge Hotel. It was good to catch up with the Jackson family and learn about their achievements since opening the hotel. They are such a close family and it was rewarding to witness the different generations working together with successful results. Hannah had been damaged by her unfortunate experience with a controlling boyfriend. Lucky for her that the strong and handsome Alex turned up to gently restore her confidence. There were some great characters in the story, most of whom I recognised from the first part of the series or some other Alison Sherlock books. I liked the way in which the latter were incorporated into the plot. I can recommend this truly heartwarming romance and wonder what is next for Maple Tree Lodge.

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Top Ten Tuesday: My Favourite Books by My Favourite Authors

 

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.