Summer at the Cosy Cottage Cafe by Rachel Griffiths #amreading @authorRG

About this book…

Allie Jones loves her cosy cottage café in the picturesque village of Heatherlea. She has her independence, two grown-up children and two cute cats. Life is settled and she thinks she’s happy.

Author Chris Monroe has it all. Critical success, a luxurious London apartment, and the kind of jet-set lifestyle most people dream of. But something’s missing.

When a family bereavement throws these two old friends together, they begin to question the true meaning of happiness.

Love is in the air, but do Allie and Chris have room in their hands-on lives for more than a summer fling?
This is the first of four short stories in The Cosy Cottage Café series.

Coming soon:

Autumn at The Cosy Cottage Café
Winter at The Cosy Cottage Café
Spring at The Cosy Cottage Café

My review…

I must start by saying that this book has totally ruined my diet! I had been doing so well but the mention of all the delicious cakes and pastries throughout this storyline had me heading straight for the kitchen to make (and eat!!) my favourite carrot cake. But Summer at The Cosy Cottage Cafe is such a wonderfully warm and enticing book that I can forgive author Rachel Griffiths just about anything as I loved this book so much! EVERYTHING in it worked like a dream for me, the second chance storyline, the well drawn and instantly recognisable characters and that perfect setting. I mean who wouldn’t want to live and work in a stunning thatched cottage, surrounded by tea and cakes and the best friends a girl could have. I say girl, but one of the main reasons I adored this book so much was Allie, who was a mature and relatable woman in her 40s and I’m really loving the move towards celebrating older women in romantic fiction at the moment! 

Enticed into this novella by the most gorgeously designed cover, I found myself totally engrossed in Allies life very quickly indeed. Her marriage to Roger ended with his death 6 years ago and since then she has thrown herself into the business that she started after selling the family home. We get hints that all was possibly not well in their relationship but it’s not until the arrival of old friend Chris that we begin to find out more. Now I practically melted into my memory foam mattress when Chris arrived in the village, a gorgeous man in his 40s…….who was also an author!!! Cue lots of old fashioned swooning from me and another case of “fictional character crush”. You don’t get men like this in my local Costa! There were some awkward moments for the two of them once they meet again after so many years of not being in each other’s lives but also plenty of humour too. The scene in the pub with the reading glasses was hilarious and it was so easy to imagine it actually happening in real life as well.

Aside from Allies friends, the other characters that I fell madly in love with were her parents! What a wonderful relationship they had, both with each other and with their daughter. I want my marriage to be just like theirs when my husband and I get to their age (this is obviously dependant on me not looking for gorgeous man in their 40s in my local Costa as mentioned above!)

Rachel Griffiths has now shot onto my favourite author list and I am desperate to read Autumn at the Cosy Cottage Cafe, the next novella in the series. If it’s up to the same standard as this book I will be a very happy incurable romantic indeed. If you want a feel good story that will leave you with a silly smile (and plenty of crumbs!) on your face for the rest of the day, then this is the series for you. Highly recommended by me!

Many thanks to the author for my review copy of Summer at The Cosy Cottage Cafe: A feel good second-chance romance which is available to purchase now.