Sunday 13 November 2016

Book Review - The Cosy Christmas Tea Shop by Caroline Roberts

Amazon UK
Title: The Cosy Christmas Tea Shop
Author: Caroline Roberts
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Harper Impulse
Publication Date: 14th October 2016
Rating: 5 Stars


From sleigh bells to wedding bells . . .

After a rocky start, Ellie Hall baked her way into everyone’s hearts at Claverham Castle – even the miserly Lord Henry was won over – and the run-down teashop regained its old sparkle.

Now Ellie has upgraded cupcakes for fairytale masterpieces as the proud caterer for an ever-growing list of weddings at the castle. The teashop team love baking to the tune of happy ever afters, but can they pull together when a certain bridezilla pushes them all to boiling point?

Christmas is just around the corner, and a last minute booking threatens to snow the team under. Ellie and her hunky hubby Joe have their own Christmas dreams to chase, but they’re determined to pull through and give this special couple the winter wonderland wedding they deserve.

Will Christmas at the Cosy Teashop be a showstopper to remember?

The Cosy Tea Shop gets even better in this festive sequel. Set 5 years after the first book, Claverham Castle are now offering weddings, and Ellie is starting to cater for some of them, as well as be a wedding organiser. She and Joe are also really hoping to hear the sound of tiny feet in the near future, but that side of things aren't going as smoothly. 

Food is a big part of this book, from the delicious cakes in the tea shop, to the main courses being created for some of the wedding parties. However the cakes that really stick in my mind are two very specific wedding cakes. One of them was for a bridezilla who was very hard to please, and with very little time left to the wedding demanded a change of cake, and rainbow layered cake just sounds incredibly colourful. 

The other cake featured towards the end, in a wedding that had me in tears of happiness, as we have got to know the couple getting married throughout the book, and they are down to earth lovely people, and the cake was just exquisite. 

In both cases the writing had me being able to vividly see the cakes in my imagination, and could almost taste them, which is a sign of just how good the descriptions were in this book. In fact all of the story, not just the edible side of it, was  treated to the same level of details, and I felt as thought I really got to know the castle and Ellie and Joe even better with this book. 

If you haven't read the first book, besides missing out on a fabulous story, you will still be able to read The Cosy Christmas Tea Shop, as the timeline has jumped so much, there are things referenced from the first book and I do think it should be enough for you to read as a standalone. 

For a book filled with Christmas cheer, a Christmas fayre, a few weddings including the over the top hilarious bridezilla - seriously just look out for how they deal with the request for a mythical creature, an unexpected Father Christmas, and some heartache and emotional ups and downs, and you have a simply marvellous book. 

The Cosy Christmas Tea Shop is a very easy to read book, and I found time melting away as I was absorbed in the story, and just enjoyed it from cover to cover. 

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Harper Impulse for my copy of the book. This was my honest opinion. 

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