I read this book a little while ago, it’s written by the queen of chick-lit Jenny Colgan and it’s a super lovely girlie read. I read this because I loved her Cupcake Cafe books so much.
Heres the synopsis…
Were you a sherbet lemon or chocolate lime fan? Penny chews or hard boiled sweeties (you do get more for your money that way)? The jangle of your pocket money . . . the rustle of the pink and green striped paper bag . . .
Rosie Hopkins thinks leaving her busy London life, and her boyfriend Gerard, to sort out her elderly Aunt Lilian’s sweetshop in a small country village is going to be dull. Boy, is she wrong.
Lilian Hopkins has spent her life running Lipton’s sweetshop, through wartime and family feuds. As she struggles with the idea that it might finally be time to settle up, she also wrestles with the secret history hidden behind the jars of beautifully coloured sweets.
Welcome to Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop of Dreams – a novel – with recipes.
The book is as sweet as the content’s of Lilian’s shop. It is completely charming. Rosie is a normal girl and so likeable. The love interest is not obvious at first, the pages just turn with more lovely delicious story line on every page.
From a vintage point of view the fact that the modern story of Rosie runs alongside the 1940s story of Lilian gives the story far more meaning. It is at times sad reading about the young Lilian and then the old. The inevitability of age is an ever-present theme within the book. And I have never read a book based in war-time england that has summed up the pure misery of the era.
The book also features a recipe at the start of each chapter, similar to the Cupcake cafe books. This really adds to the charm along with a witty commentary on sweets from Lilian.
I love the picture of rural life painted in the book, with a mixture of drama and comedy the characters are all complex and interesting.
This is a top quality book and I couldn’t recommend it enough. It will put a big smile on your face but also make you cry (a lot) so hankies at the ready!
Jenny Colgan is currently writing the sequel to this which makes me super happy as I lovede thecharacters so much I would have been disapointed not to know more!
Welcome to Rosie Hopkin’s Sweetshop of Dreams is Puplished by Sphere
You can buy the book from Amazon here
If you like this review take a look at some of my others, just click on the images below to read what I thought…
1 Comment
Book Review – Christmas at Rosie Hopkins Sweet Shop | vintagefrills
December 5, 2013 at 2:53 pm[…] year I wrote a review for Welcome to Rosie Hopkins’ Sweet Shop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan. I read a lot of vintage books but when I fancy a bit of chick lit, Jenny Colgan is […]