The Cornish Cream Tea Bookshop by Cressida McLaughlin

 

The Cornish Cream Tea Bookshop by Cressida McLaughlin.

Published 10th November 2022 by Harper Collins.

From the cover of the book:

Ollie Spencer has started a new life in the idyllic Cornish seaside town of Port Karadow. Throwing herself into her job at the town’s bookshop, A New Chapter, is one way to make friends. 

The shop is glitzing up for first Christmas and Ollie hopes her inspired ideas will give the shop the edge it needs to dazzle the town.

But far from being the Sugar Plum fairy the place needs, Ollie is fast becoming its Christmas pudding. With the bookshop’s success at stake, Ollie turns to twinkly-eyed café owner Max for help. 

Can he help Ollie to turn the page, and put the sparkle back into her Cornish dream?

***********

Ollie Spencer is ready for a change. Ollie's London life has come to a bit of an ignominious end after an unfortunate accident with a scaffolding pole, that badly injured her, provoked her less than supportive boss to unfairly sideline her at the bookshop where she worked, and exposed the hitherto unforeseen shortcomings in her boyfriend. 

Fortunately, Ollie now has the means to make a fresh start in the idyllic Cornish seaside town of Port Karadow, and she begins by throwing herself into her new job at the town's bookshop, A New Chapter. Ollie finds herself falling for Port Karadow and its little community, especially the very handsome cafe owner Max, and there is something magical about the folklore tales that tell of its exciting history. Not everyone is quite as keen on her ideas to drum up trade as she would like, but hopefully the events she has planned in the run up to Christmas will do the trick.

Just as things seem to be coming together, her hopes are suddenly put in jeopardy. Can Ollie pull off a Christmas miracle and keep her Cornish dream alive?

New beginnings always make for a great rom-com adventure, and this book runs with the idea of Ollie's fresh start in suitably winning style, combining a community of great characters, a bookshop setting, and picturesque surroundings - with the added sparkle of some Christmas magic!

Ollie throws herself into her new life with enthusiasm that does not necessarily win over everyone in Port Karadow at first sight, but the swoon-worthy Max certainly helps things along. As expected, the course of a new start, and true love, do not always run smooth, and there are mishaps and misunderstandings to be navigated before the threads all wrap up nicely. McLaughlin also throws in a charming extra dimension with a bit of a mystery story around the identity of an author who wrote gripping tales about Port Karadow some years ago, which allows her to make the entertaining best of tales of legend and folklore that go hand in hand with a Cornish setting - and which she weaves beautifully into the delightful ending in a way that made my heart sing.

Although this is the seventh book in the Cornish Cream Tea series, and some of the characters here do appear in earlier stories (which I have not read), this tale is contained and can easily be read as a standalone. I will however, definitely be picking up the earlier books (especially Book Six, which is also set in Port Karadow), as I loved everything about this from start to finish. Who does not love a bookshop/books, romance, mystery, AND Christmas combo? I know I do!

My heartstrings have been plucked, and my love of a story that is flooded with Christmas magic has been indulged to the max. The perfect choice for snuggling up on the sofa with a cuppa and a mince pie to get in the festive mood!

The Cornish Cream Tea Bookshop is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Harper Collins for sending me a paperback copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Cressy was born in South East London surrounded by books and with a cat named after Lawrence of Arabia. 

She studied English at the University of East Anglia and now lives in Norwich with her husband David. 

When she isn’t writing, Cressy spends her spare time reading, returning to London or exploring the beautiful Norfolk coastline.