Can you see yourself spending years after years in a small beachtown, where everyone knows (almost) everything about the rest of the small world and proudly spreading the news about it? I couldn't and so does the well-natured Marnie Appleton, whose big dream is to see the world. Hopefully, when her job at the family sweet shop will be done. When exactly? Hard to know but she keeps dreaming about those unknown world that her wandering mother told her about when she was not too busy searching for secrets of far away places.
Marnie grew up with her maternal grandparents, that were a substitute for both her unknown father and traveller of a mother. Therefore, when her grandfather, the owner of the popular sweet shop at the beachside died, she abandoned her travel plans and returned to take charge of the business. Not her dreamlife, especially as it meant also to abandon her boyfriend, but the responsibility towards the stable part of her family overpassed her own dreams, wishes and feelings. Marnie is the kind of character you cannot but love her. A good nature, without deep resentments against her mother, wise and romantic by nature.
But the dice are not rolled in her favor, it seems. Although she unexpectedly won a business prize a woman with a blog desperate to catch attention is planning to destroy her business - and the business of all the sweet shops in the ol' England, for the matter. Plus, her ex-beau Alex is back in town from NYC with his new crush and she just can't avoid him.
Isn't it a bit too much, even for someone like Marnie? Will she manage to save the legacy of his granfather and go ahead with her life? And what about the mysterious Josh who entered the beachside sweet shop when a crisis was unfolding?
The story is well written, and keeps you awake until you're done, because it just make you curious and the characters are so humanly depicted that you end up falling in love with them. I particularly loved the smooth dialogue between the three generations of women - Marnie, her brave grandmother, a dog trainer who is trying to build up a new relationship after the death of her husband, and Marnie's mother - overcoming many painful moments, but bravely looking together to the future.
It is the kind of book you need to fill your long winter days, while dreaming about a beachside shop and maybe some sweets too.
Rating: 4 stars
Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
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