Twenty years ago, Dani fled Appledore with a broken-heart and a suitcase full of shattered dreams. Only now is she brave enough to put her past behind her and return for a summer selling homemade ice-cream and getting fit by doing sit-ups by the sea.
But the new-look cafe is filled with old memories of Jude, her teenage sweetheart-turned-sour. She thinks of him every time she swirls warm sauce onto a “chocolate-bockaglory” and even with the help of Chris, her gorgeous personal trainer, the urge to break her diet is everywhere she turns.
When Jude makes an appearance at the cafe on the eve of Dani’s birthday party, history threatens to repeat itself. Is Dani strong enough to say no? And is the love she’s been longing for much closer than she thinks?
A truly delicious, laugh out loud beach read that’s guaranteed to melt your heart.
Review: This is the second book in a series about The Ice Cream Cafe, an ice cream parlour in the seaside Devon village of Appledore. I really enjoyed the first book (Ella's Ice Cream Summer), and was looking forward to returning to the cafe and its characters. Although part of a series, either of these books could easily be read as a standalone story.
In this book, we meet a few new characters in addition to renewing our acquaintance with others. The central person here is Dani, who, like Ella in the first book, is returning to Appledore after a long absence. There is a mystery to Dani's sudden departure from the village twenty years before that unravels as the story proceeds. Dani has returned to take up the position of assistant manager of the ice cream cafe, an unfortunate job I thought for someone who is constantly trying to lose weight. The 16 chapters of the book are named after diets that Dani has tried, usually in an effort to catch the eye of or hold on to a member of the opposite sex. However, when she decides to lose weight for her own satisfaction, she turns to exercise and we meet lovely gym owner Mike and follow the trials and tribulations of Dani's task.
I think many readers would recognise Dani's problem of trying one diet after another, returning to bad eating habits as each one fails to have the desired effect. You certainly couldn't criticise Dani's perseverance and determination, but I found her a little annoying at times. Having said that, she is also the source of a great deal of humour, as are a couple of the others working in the cafe.
I would have to say that I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first in the series. However, on its own it lives up to its subtitle - a feel-good holiday romance, and, as such, a good one to pack away for holiday reading.
nice post
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Delete