Thursday, June 27, 2013

...in books

Review
Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams
by Jenny Colgan

First sentence:
Soor Plooms
This is a Scots term that translates as sour plums, but in its original language imitates exactly the contortions of your mouth as soon as you pop one in.

Summary:
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 coloured sweets.

source: Goodreads

My opinion:
I am a huge fan of books dealing with food in any way – cooking, baking, sweets, chocolate, opening a restaurant, B&B, bakery; you name it I'll read it!
Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams was my third Jenny Colgan book after Meet me at the Cupcake Café and Christmas at the Cupcake Café (read my review here) and it's been sitting on my shelf for months waiting for the perfect moment to devour it.

This book tells the story of Rosie, a Londoner, who has to move to the countryside to take care of her old great-aunt Lilian. Lilian lived in the small village of Lipton all her life and lived through war, loss and heartbreak. She always took care of her family's sweet shop but now she is no longer able to live on her own and Rosie comes with the intention of selling the shop, looking for a good place for her great-aunt to stay and move back to her city-life as quickly as possible.
Rosie never imagined that life outside of the city could be nice too and way more relaxing and soon she discovers the joy of country life.

Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams tells Rosie's dedication to get the sweet shop up and running again to be able to sell it soon for a reasonable price and on the other hand Lilian's story of life; seeing her brothers go to war, seeing her friends leave Lipton to live their lifes, falling in love.

Jenny Colgan created a lovely novel with wonderful characters and a great storyline. Her writing made the village of Lipton come to life before my eyes and I had to laugh out loud more than once while reading it. I am pretty sure I looked a bit like a weirdo sitting on the bus trying hard not to laugh out loud but failing miserably at it.

If you are looking for a wonderful book who's characters will stay with you for a long time then I highly recommend Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams and afterwards I am sure you will feel the urge to check out Jenny's other books too.

For more information about Jenny Colgan visit her Homepage, Facebook and Twitter page.

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