by Jenny Colgan
My Rating:
Rosie Hopkins is looking forward to Christmas in the little Derbyshire village of Lipton, buried under a thick blanket of snow. Her sweetshop is festooned with striped candy canes, large tempting piles of Turkish Delight, crinkling selection boxes and happy, sticky children. She's going to be spending it with her boyfriend, Stephen, and her family, flying in from Australia. She can't wait.
But when a tragedy strikes at the heart of their little community, all of Rosie's plans for the future seem to be blown apart. Can she build a life in Lipton? And is what's best for the sweetshop also what's best for Rosie?
But when a tragedy strikes at the heart of their little community, all of Rosie's plans for the future seem to be blown apart. Can she build a life in Lipton? And is what's best for the sweetshop also what's best for Rosie?
I really enjoyed Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams, in fact I enjoyed it a lot more than I initially thought I was going to, so while I was certain a Christmassy sequel would be sweet (see what I did there?) I didn't get my hopes up too high. And you know what? I loved this book.
It was a pure delight to read from start to finish. Lilian has fast become probably my favourite elderly lady in fiction; some of the things she comes out with are just fantastic, and she could make me tear up just as easily as she could make me laugh. The storyline involving Lilian in the first book broke my heart, but the storyline involving Lilian in this book shattered it into tiny little pieces. I love her.
While I enjoyed the first book, I felt a lot more connected to Rosie and Stephen in this book. As much as I love stories about the 'will they, won't they?' of romance, it's often even more rewarding to read about people who are already together, where the challenge is to make sure the relationship works rather than to see if a relationship is possible in the first place. Throw in Christmas and I'm a happy reader.
But you don't have to have read the first book to enjoy it - though I recommend you do! - because Colgan summarises it at the beginning for readers out there who simply want to enjoy a nice Christmas story, although I do think you'll feel a lot more connected to the characters if you do read the first book.
Frankly I have nothing bad to say about this book. It was just what I needed, and a brilliant read for the festive season!
Oh, that sounds like the perfect thing to read this time of year! Glad you enjoyed it, =)
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