The Cornershop In Cockleberry Bay

 

The Cornershop in Cockleberry Bay by Nicola May.

Published 17th June 2018.

From the cover of the book:

Rosa Larkin is down on her luck in London, so when she inherits a near-derelict corner shop in a quaint Devon village, her first thought is to sell it for cash and sort out her life. But nothing is straightforward about this legacy. While the identity of her benefactor remains a mystery, he - or she - has left one important legal proviso: that the shop cannot be sold, only passed on to somebody who really deserves it. 

Rosa makes up her mind to give it a go: to put everything she has into getting the shop up and running again in the small seaside community of Cockleberry Bay. But can she do it all on her own? And if not, who will help her succeed - and who among the following will work secretly to see her fail?

There is a handsome rugby player, a sexy plumber, a charlatan reporter and a selection of meddling locals. Add in a hit and run incident and the disappearance of a valuable engraved necklace – and what you get is a journey of self-discovery and unpredictable events. 

With surprising and heartfelt results, Rosa, accompanied at all times by her little sausage dog Hot, will slowly unravel the shadowy secrets of the inheritance, and also bring her own, long-hidden heritage into the light.

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Rosa Larkin is in a rut. Fired from yet another mundane job, and in a weird friends-with-benefits relationship with her flat-mate Josh, it is time for some changes, but her prospects are slim. Then life takes an unexpected twist. She receives an inheritance from a mysterious benefactor - a cornershop in the Devon village of Cockleberry Bay.

At first, Rosa thinks she might be able to sell the shop and benefit from the cash, but the terms of the legacy make this impossible. So she packs up her little sausage dog companion Hot, and leaves London for the sea-side life.

Rosa has no idea where to begin running a business, but having nothing to lose she gets stuck into her new project with enthusiasm. However, it is not the shop that proves to be the most difficult thing to negotiate in this close-knit community, and not everyone here is quite what they seem. Rosa soon begins to question whether coming to Cockleberry Bay was the right decision after all.

The Cornershop in Cockleberry Bay is part charming story of new beginnings, and part mystery tale rich in intriguing darker themes, which make it a little more complex than your average rom-com novel.

Rosa is a feisty character, with a complicated background, and May cleverly combines her search for answers to the questions she has about her own past with the enigma of her Cockleberry Bay inheritance. As the book progresses Rosa uncovers clues that link her poignant family history with the cornershop, and May ties everything together with underlying themes of betrayal and abandonment.

I will admit to struggling to warm to some of the characters in this story, and the romance element did not quite hit that sweet spot for me, but there is something quite lovely about the way May uses the rotters in the tale to bring together to nicer elements of the community. The darkness does gradually dawn into a warm and hopeful, if bitter-sweet, conclusion by the time all the threads wrap-up at the end. This forms a great base from which May to take the rest of the series about this small seaside community, as there are some rather interesting shared experiences to bond them together. 

If you are a fan of rom-coms with a sense of community, that delve into love, friendship, and overcoming heartbreak, then you will find a lot in this story to please, and it has gone on to spawn a much loved series of three further books for you to explore too - Meet Me in Cockleberry Bay, The Gift of Cockleberry Bay, and Christmas in Cockleberry Bay. And I defy you not to fall immediately in love with Rosa's adorable little canine friend Hot, who really made this story for me.

The Cornershop in Cockleberry Bay is available to buy now in ebook, paperback and audio formats.

Purchase links:      AMAZON UK          AMAZON US

Thank you to Rachel's Random Resources for sending me an ecopy of this book in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog blast.

About the author:

Nicola May is a rom-com superstar. 

She is the author of sixteen romantic comedies, all of which have appeared in the Kindle bestseller charts. The Corner Shop in Cockleberry Bay became the best-selling Kindle book in the UK, across all genres, in January 2019, and was Amazon’s third-bestselling novel in that year.

 It spawned three sequels, followed by the hit Ferry Lane Market trilogy