Sunday 16 April 2017

Rosie's Little Cafe on the Riviera by Jennifer Bohnet (Romance, 10E/10E)

 
March 2017, HarperCollins UK, 384 pages, Ebook, Review copy from NetGalley

Summary from HarperCollins
A summer of taking chances!

Rosie Hewitt’s dream of opening a little French café on the Riviera is finally coming true. She’s giving up on love and instead chasing her own perfect recipe for happiness…

Only, she never expected the oh-so-sexy, award-winning chef, Sebastian Groc, to set up a rival restaurant next door – or for his freshly-baked croissants to smell quite so delicious.

But with just a few days until she opens her doors and all her sugar-coated dreams crumbling around her, Rosie isn’t prepared to give up without a fight!


Nayu's thoughts 
At the end of the book there's a sample for another of Jennifer's books, described as a 'sparklingly brilliant romance'. Sparkling fits Rosie's story perfectly. It has all the elements of the kind of read like this that I enjoy. There's an issue with two sweet little girls, unrelated but each with their own issues which makes their moments of joy precious. So much seems to go wrong for Rosie around the same time, but slowly life detangles and for a while it can be said she is happy. The next disruption is huge and one I didn't see coming, but has me hoping wistfully for a sequel. 

There's just so much more to be explored, because whereas most of the easy romances involving a shop focus on one character, Rosie's tale focuses on several. For once I didn't find this confusing! Even though I ended up taking a few weeks break part way through the novel (not intentionally, life happened) I remembered what was going on when I picked it up. I loved how empowering GeeGee's story plot is, like Rosie she faces enormous life hurdles which test her to the limits. Thankfully she too pulls through and gets a happy ending. 

There is a good mix of parts that made me smile and teary. A big pull of the book was the fact Rosie has her own cafe - I love stories like because it sounds like a rewarding occupation, various aspects of owning a cafe crop up (including disgruntled customers) which made me content. The romance itself was sweet, not too heavy, and accurately portrayed the different types of relationships people have these days, such as those with a child from a previous relationship. not with the person they end up with.  I can't think of anything I'd want to change which is why this gets a perfect grade. Grief, loss, unexpected events, friendship, family, and much more are in this wonderful read! 

Find out more on Jennifer's website

Suggested read

2 comments:

Jennifer Bohnet said...

Thank you Nayu for a wonderful review. I'm so pleased you enjoyed Rosie.

Nayuleska said...

You're most welcome! It's a fun read. ^o^