Book Review: Little Beach Street Bakery

Title - Little Beach Street Bakery

Author - Jenny Colgan

Series - Little Beach Street Bakery #1

Genre - Contemporary Chic lit

Published - March 13th 2014

Publisher - Sphere

Format - Kindle

(Goodreads)(Amazon)

Synopsis

Polly Waterford is recovering from a toxic relationship. Unable to afford their flat, she has to move miles away from everyone, to a sleepy little seaside resort in Cornwall, where she lives alone above an abandoned shop. And so Polly takes out her frustrations on her favourite hobby: making bread.

But what was previously a weekend diversion suddenly becomes far more important as she pours her emotions into kneading and pounding the dough, and each loaf becomes better and better. With nuts and seeds, olives and chorizo, with local honey (courtesy of local bee keeper, Huckle), and with reserves of determination and creativity Polly never knew she had, she bakes and bakes and bakes.... And people start to hear about it. Sometimes, bread really is life...and Polly is about to reclaim hers.

Review

Polly knew things weren’t going well after the last year but when she learns the amount of debt and that she will lose her company and home. It’s time to move away to a small town and start over even if she’s lacking money and not sure what she’s going to do. When her only option for a place to live is an island you can only leave based on the tides and an apartment has seen better days. Polly takes it hoping that she will maybe be able to find work on the mainland or maybe on the island. After her first encounter at the only bakery it’s clear that the bread options are lacking but that’s ok she can bake her own.

Polly finds some unlikely friends in the local fishermen who happen to save her book from going over the edge into the water. They also are huge fans of her bread considering what current bakery has to offer. When she saves the bakery owner who also happens to be her landlord when she falls the option to do what she loves comes up. Taking the job as baker while the owner heals after her fall may just be the only job that she can get. When her baking takes off she strikes a deal with the owner to open up the bakery below her apartment. With her new friends she finds more than just friendship but how will it end?

I like Polly she’s had a rough few years with her prior relationship so getting away is exactly what she needs. She finds herself in a small town with intimidating an older woman who doesn’t take kindly to new people in town taking the jobs from the locals. We also have a few potential love interests for Polly as well as some unlikely friendships. My favorite was Neil he made me smile and was exactly what Polly needed at the time.

This is my first book by Jenny Colgan, I’ve wanted to check her out for ages but never seemed to get around to it yet. I found Little Beach Street Bakery to be a cute story about a girl leaving the bad to start over a new life discovering who she wants to be and even finding love. I found the story well written it captures the heart as well as the imagination, drawing the reader in so you can’t put it down. I love a good contemporary romance that has characters you can really connect with and Polly was just so perfect she’s just a sweetheart. My heart went out to her she has an emotional roller-coaster as she progresses through the book that had me laughing and all teary. I really enjoyed the story it’s a fun cute story that was perfect for a lazy afternoon read. I also loved that the end of the book includes many of the recipes that Polly made in the book, and I plan to even try a few. I really enjoyed Little Beach Street Baker exactly what I hoped for. I just wish I had bought the paperback instead of the eBook the cover is cute.