Book Review: “A Summer Escape and Strawberry Cake at the Cosy Kettle” by Liz Eeles

Title: A Summer Escape and Strawberry Cake at the Cosy Kettle
Author: Liz Eeles
Genre: Contemporary romance
Target audience: Adult
Date Read: 14/06/19 – 16/06/19
Rating: ★★★☆

Review:

This book was sweet and cosy, just like the title suggests. This was exactly what

When Flora discovers her restauranteur husband in a passionate embrace with one of his waitresses, her world starts to fall apart. She turns to the bookshop and cafe she manages in the village of Honeyford, including a New Age eccentric called Luna, and Luna’s son Daniel and grandson, Caleb. At first, things seem to be getting off on the wrong foot, but soon Flora finds that she is discovering sides to herself that she never knew existed.

This did take a little while to get going. For the first third of the book, the conflict was all a bit superficial. Malcolm, Flora’s husband, showed up a few times and made things awkward or difficult, and quite a lot of the conflict in the book was “Oh, I don’t know whether to leave Malcolm for good or not!” which became a bit repetitive after a while.

There is a bookish mystery going on through a lot of the book as well (again, this got a little repetitive, particularly as I had predicted the outcome pretty early on). I have to say I did find this whole plotline a little unlikely – the idea that a self-published book that seemingly was just thrown onto the Internet in its first draft form could be so perfect and universally adored by every woman in town… hmm.

Some of the characters did seem a bit over-the-top, such as Stanely, who at 80 has decided to live life to the fullest, and embrace extreme sports. But I did like some of the other characters, such as Luna. Yes, she aws a bit of a hippy, but she meant well and really looked after Flora.

I enjoyed how Flora came to care for Caleb, despite not being a kids person. I thought the misunderstandings between her and Daniel, particularly when it came to Caleb, were quite well done. She didn’t know what she was doing and made some mistakes, but Daniel was able to see that Caleb did care for Flora as well. I have to admit I didn’t really feel like there were ever sparks flying between Flora and Daniel. Obviously, I could see the direction the book was going to take, but their feelings developed maybe a little too slowly/subtly.

Still, this story of finding love and finding yourself in a small town community was a fun read, and sometimes that’s just what you need.

---

(Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for a free copy of this book  in exchange for an honest review)

Find me on:
GoodReads | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Advertisement