Book Review / The Little Bakery on Rosemary Lane by Ellen Berry

**Take a trip to the Yorkshire village of Burley Bridge, where a new arrival is going to shake things up…**

Growing up in a quiet Yorkshire village, Roxanne couldn’t wait to escape and find her place in the world in London. As a high-powered fashion editor she lives a glamorous life of perennial singlehood – or so it seems to her sister Della. But when Roxanne gets her heart broken by a fashion photographer, she runs away, back to Della’s welcoming home above her bookshop in Burley Bridge.
But Burley Bridge, Roxanne discovers, is even quieter than she remembered. There’s nothing to do, so Roxanne agrees to walk Della’s dog Stanley. It’s on these walks that Roxanne makes a startling discovery: the people who live in Burley Bridge are, well, just people – different from the fashion set she’s used to, but kind and even interesting. Michael, a widower trying to make a go of a small bakery, particularly so. Little by little, cupcake by cupcake, Roxanne and Michael fall into a comforting friendship.

Could there be a life for Roxanne after all, in the place she’s spent 46 years trying to escape?


Published:     7th September 2017
Publisher:  HarperCollins
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

MY REVIEW

This book was so much fun.  I had previously read this author's first book, The Bookshop on Rosemary Lane, and loved it!  I couldn't wait to dig into this one.  Although it does not look like it has been marketed as a series, I would recommend reading The Bookshop on Rosemary Lane first mainly because a lot of the characters in that are in that book feature in this one.  You don't have to, the second book can be read as a stand-alone but you would get so much more out of this book if you read both.

Although predictable, this was a fun read with a bit of romance mixed in. 

Blog Tour Book Review / The Bookshop on Rosemary Lane by Ellen Berry

**Take a trip to the Yorkshire village of Burley Bridge, where a very special little cookbook shop is about to open its doors…**

In the beginning…

Kitty Cartwright has always solved her problems in the kitchen. Her cookbooks are her life, and there isn’t an issue that ‘Cooking with Aspic’ can’t fix. Her only wish is that she had a book entitled ‘Rustling Up Dinner When Your Husband Has Left You’.

Forty years later…

On Rosemary Lane, Della Cartwright plans to open a very special little bookshop. Not knowing what to do with the hundreds of cookbooks her mother left her, she now wants to share their recipes with the world – and no amount of aspic will stand in her way.

But with her family convinced it’s a hare-brained scheme, Della starts to wonder if she’s made a terrible decision. One thing’s for sure: she’s about to find out…

Published:     14th July 2016
Publisher:  Avon
Goodreads :  Click here 
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand Alone
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

MY REVIEW

What I loved about this story...
The best part of this story for me was the character of Della.  We see her at the beginning of the story having lost her mum and dealing with the aftermath, including inheriting her mother's cookbook collection (900 + of them) (at her choice) and deciding what to do next.   The more the story goes on the more I watched Della become her own person, finding happiness that had seemed to have eluded her in recent years.  This is definately one of those 'feel good' reads that you can definately take down to the beach or pool or whever you fancy.  Just sit back, relax and enjoy the story - I certainly did!

What I didn't like about this story...
Now,  this is not a reflection on the writing or the author or anything of that sort  I really did enjoy the story.  It was just that there were a few characters that I really disliked and really 'rubbed me the wrong way' so to speak.  One in particular was Della's husband who always seemed a bit shify , never supprtive, mostly always negative and seemed to always want to have things his way.  A few other characters that I really didn't like were Della's family, in particular her brother and sister-in-law. I really did feel sorry for Della having to deal with them.