★★★
“How?” said Chris. “Have you ever gone bankrupt?”
Polly Waterford lived with her partner, Chris, and for the last few years, barely had her head above water.
They had a design business – with her on the business and Chris on the design – but, despite everything, it fell through.
Polly had worked her fingers to the bone. She had never stopped pitching, closing, discounting; doing anything to get sales for her talented other half.”
With no great relief, Polly and Chris are forced to give up…everything. But…she assumed that they would still have each other.
…she’d looked at him, really looked at him, and he’d said grimly, “It’s over.”
Now, with no business, no flat and no boyfriend…Polly is forced to reevaluate everything she thought she knew.
She finds a small apartment in Polbearne – a seaside resort – which promises to be a life completely different from what she knew.
The building looked practically derelict….Downstairs was the black maw of a deserted shop.
There’s only one thing that Polbearne is missing…bread.
Polly was very specific about bread. She loved it….She loved it toasted or as it was; she loved bagels, and cheese on toast, and pain d’epices, and twisted Italian plaits.
It’s going to take one hellova baker to turn this place around.
So.
Overall.
This book wasn’t too bad.
I love Jenny Colgan’s other books – The Bookshop on the Corner and Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe – but this one didn’t hit as well as those ones.
There were certainly elements of the book that I liked.
I loved all of the scenes where she actually baked the bread and thought about bread – it was fun to learn about all the different types and what you need to do to make them.
And I loved how she brought the town out of the dark age.
And the puffin! So cute!!
However, think the author gave the main character too easy of a time.
Sure…Polly had problems and character flaws. Sometimes she tried too much to help people. She cared too much or showed too much forgiveness…honestly.
She couldn’t make a wrong turn if she tried (though if she did, she would have found a charming young man with a plate of cookies at the end).
In all fairness, part of my dislike is due to the audiobook.
That was (quite possibly) the worst American accent on an audiobook that I’ve ever had the displeasure of listening to.
I have no idea where Huckle is from, but it is CERTAINLY not the US. Really threw me out of the book.
Interested in this one from Jenny Colgan? Buy it here: Amazon
Miranda Reads 