Book Review: Sweetshop of Dreams

Author: Jenny Colgan

Publication Date: August 5, 2014

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

Series: Rosie Hopkins’ Sweet Shop # 1

Were you a sherbet lemon or chocolate lime fan? Soft chewy ones or hard boiled sweeties (you do get more for your money that way)? The jangle of your pocket money… the rustle of the pink and green striped paper bag…

Rosie Hopkins thinks leaving her busy London life, and her boyfriend Gerard, to sort out her elderly Aunt Lilian s sweetshop in a small country village is going to be dull. Boy, is she wrong.

Lilian Hopkins has spent her life running Lipton s sweetshop, through wartime and family feuds. As she struggles with the idea that it might finally be time to settle up, she also wrestles with the secret history hidden behind the jars of beautifully colored sweets.

Welcome to Rosie Hopkins Sweetshop of Dreams, a novel, with recipes.

“I think love is caramel. Sweet and fragrant; always welcome. It is the gentle golden color of a setting harvest sun; the warmth of a squeezed embrace; the easy melting of two souls into one and a taste that lingers even when everything else has melted away. Once tasted it is never forgotten.” 

“That didn't sound much like a date, Rosie thought. Useful wasn't a word you used about a date. It was a word you used about a stapler.” 

Piñatas on the other hand are heathen monstrosities and have no place in a civilized society.” 

My sweet tooth led me to this book. No, really it did. I find myself diving into books with recipes all the time and to be honest there could be nothing cozier to me than to read a charming book that revolves around food, especially sweets. Jenny Colgan brings a story in which adventures ensue and dreams come true. Rosie is charged with the task of helping her ailing aunt save her once flourishing sweet shop. Rosie leaves a lot behind, including a dull and mundane relationship with her longtime boyfriend in order to help her aunt get back on her feet again. She discovers more about herself on this adventure than she could have every hoped to, but she realizes that some changes must be made for the better in her own life!

The storyline moves at such a gentle pace and the writing is very lyrical and detailed. We get alternate viewpoints between Rosie and her Aunt Lilian that also alternate between the past and the present. Rosie’s journey is highly enjoyable and really inspirational. She reminds me so much of Bridget Jones with her quirky, funny actions. She is unhappy in many stations in her life. In fact, she has reached somewhat of a standstill in her love life, work life, and just her overall happiness. It was so nice to see Rosie grow and change. She is such a loveable and she really will grow on you the more time you devote to her story, just like Bridget Jones.

The sweetshop of dreams is nothing if not an inspirational book in which you will walk away with more wisdom than you had before you started reading it. Lilian is such a remarkable secondary character who really points Rosie in the right direction and offers some amazing advice for readers as well. This book is a wonderful treat for a hot summer afternoon and would definitely be the perfect beach read as well. There is a little something for everyone wrapped up in its pages and it will help us all see that everyone needs a little help once in a while!

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Sourcebooks Landmark in exchange for my honest review***

Book Review: Beautiful Addictions

Author: Season Vining

Publication Date: June 10, 2014

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Josie Banks is a girl without a past.  After being found unconscious with no memory, she was shuffled in and out of foster homes where she suffered years of abuse. An experience that left her broken, damaged, and clinging to drugs and meaningless hook-ups to numb her pain.

When Josie disappeared years ago, she took a piece of Tristan with her.  She’s the girl he thought he lost forever—the one he’s never been able to forget.  Now a twist of fate has brought them back together, and he never wants to let her out of his inked arms again.  But Tristan is haunted by a dark past of his own.  On the run from ruthless criminals that shattered Josie’s world years ago, reentering her life puts them both in danger.

As Josie and Tristan’s lives become tangled once again, they find themselves unwilling and unable to escape the relentless pull that draws them together.  But in Season Vining's Beautiful Addictions, will the past leave their love in ruins—or bind them together for a lifetime?

"I want you. All of you. I want to possess you. I want to love you and protect you." 

"The magic of first love is our ignorance that it can ever end." 

“My past is not mine. I don’t want it.”

The New Adult genre has really enraptured me this year and I am constantly looking for more of these books to add my shelf. Beautiful Addictions is a bit darker and more twisted than any other book that I have read in this genre so far. Josie Banks doesn’t know a lot about her past or who she really is for that matter. She was found as a young child after her father was murdered and quickly processed through the foster system. Josie is thrown into the world and becomes defensive and easily hurt. She discovers a profound interest in art and begins to create her own graffiti art that is rather extraordinary. Josie becomes enamored with a local tattooed bartender named Tristan and something about him seems oddly familiar. Tristan knows exactly who Josie is and he remembers their childhood very vividly. He has loved her all his life and thought he would never find her again.

Season Vining does a wonderful job with Josie. She was my favorite character and I was so compelled and emotionally connected to her. She seemed so lost and alone and of course I was constantly rooting for her and hoped that she would find her own happy ending. When Tristan entered onto the scene I found myself liking Josie all the more. They had such a bonding chemistry because both of their pasts are full of pain, loss, and loneliness. It was really easy for me to picture both of these characters in my mind. The descriptions were very vivid and really drew me into the story.

I felt that the beginning of this book was extremely fast-paced and I really loved it. Once I got about halfway through things started to slow down a little bit for me and I ran across a few things that I didn’t like, but the things that I loved about this book seemed to balance it out for me. The book is told in multiple POV’s and I would have like it so much better if only the two main characters were the ones contributing to the storyline instead of some of the secondary characters as well. It felt a little chaotic at times, but it was a great start, as it was a debut novel, for Vining. The things I did not enjoy so much would not keep me from picking up another book written by this author.

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at St. Martin’s Griffin in exchange for my honest review***

Blog Tour Book Review: The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla

Author: Lauren Willig
Publication Date: August 5, 2014
Publisher: NAL Trade
Series: Pink Carnation # 11

In the latest Pink Carnation novel from national bestselling author Lauren Willig, rumors spreading among the ton turn deadly as a young couple unites to solve a mystery....

In October of 1806, the Little Season is in full swing, and Sally Fitzhugh has had enough of the endless parties and balls. With a rampant vampire craze sparked by the novel The Convent of Orsino, it seems no one can speak of anything else. But when Sally hears a rumor that the reclusive Duke of Belliston is an actual vampire, she cannot resist the challenge of proving such nonsense false. At a ball in Belliston Square, she ventures across the gardens and encounters the mysterious Duke.

Lucien, Duke of Belliston, is well versed in the trouble gossip can bring. He’s returned home to dispel the rumors of scandal surrounding his parents’ deaths, which hint at everything from treason to dark sorcery. While he searches for the truth, he welcomes his fearsome reputation—until a woman is found dead in Richmond. Her blood drained from her throat.

Lucien and Sally join forces to stop the so-called vampire from killing again. Someone managed to get away with killing the last Duke of Belliston. But they won’t kill this duke—not if Sally has anything to say about it.

For all the rumors, up close, there was nothing the least bit incorporeal about the duke.

What manner of a man cloistered himself away from the world in a garden such as this?

In the hollow between the lace ruffle of her dress and the dark fall of her hair, the woman’s skin was a clear, pale white. Aside from the two red marks of her throat.

I have only been following this series for the past few years and this is only the third one that I have read. They are each, so far, just as intriguing as the last and the best part is that they all offer a little humor as well. This story is a little disconnected from the Pink Carnation spy plot that is the norm. In this installment a recent vampire craze is sparked when a book called The Convent of Orsino becomes suddenly popular alerting people to the mythical creature known as vampires. Sally Fitzhugh, our leading lady, is not riding the bandwagon on this latest outbreak. In fact, it is her ultimate mission to prove that Lucien, the Duke of Belliston, is not the vampire that he is rumored to be. After she meets him there is a murder and Lucien becomes the prime suspect. They must work together to prove that he is neither a vampire nor a murderer!

This book is full of humor and there is a little bit on every page. This is the most I have ever laughed at a book in the historical genre in my life. Lauren Willig really is a fantastic author and the best part is that she is able to have fun with her books. When I was first recommended this series that was one of the primary reasons that I decided to pick it up because I was promised that I would have a good laugh. The story just feels cozy and Sally and her two best friends are hoot when they are altogether. Lauren not only gives you plenty to laugh at but she also keeps the pace move quickly as well. There is plenty of action and adventure in this story!

Lauren’s books serve not only as humorous, witty, historical novels but as eerie mysteries as well. This would be a perfect book to read around Halloween because of the sheer spookiness it provides. These stories literally have something for everyone. The mysteries always make me think, nothing is handed to you and it is always fun trying to solve them before the main characters do. I read somewhere that the book that will release next year, The Lure of the Moonflower, will be the last in this series. I feel that Lauren’s writing gets better and better with each book and I do not want to see them end!

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at NAL Trade in exchange for my honest review***

Follow Me Friday (17)

Question of the Week: What is the biggest city you live near (or interesting landmark)? Show us a postcard picture.

My answer: The beautiful Asheville, NC! I loved growing up in the mountains. Once you see some of the pictures below you will understand why. It was an amazing experience and it is something that I cannot wait for my future children to experience!

Biltmore Estate

Chimney Rock State Park


This is my view every Fall!


Blue Ridge Mountains


Pearson's Falls

I am so anxious to see everyone else’s posts as well!