Little Beach Street Bakery
Jenny Colgan
William Morrow Paperback
March 31, 2015
Blurb from Goodreads:
For fans of Sophie Kinsella, Jojo Moyes, and Jennifer Weiner, a moving, laugh-out-loud novel—with recipes!—about a young woman who begins her life anew as a baker in Cornwall.
Amid the ruins of her latest relationship, Polly Waterford moves far away to the sleepy seaside resort of Polbearne, where she lives in a small, lonely flat above an abandoned shop.
To distract her from her troubles, Polly throws herself into her favorite hobby: making bread. But her relaxing weekend diversion quickly develops into a passion. As she pours her emotions into kneading and pounding the dough, each loaf becomes better than the last. Soon, Polly is working her magic with nuts and seeds, olives and chorizo, and the local honey-courtesy of a handsome local beekeeper. Drawing on reserves of determination and creativity Polly never knew she had, she bakes and bakes . . . and discovers a bright new life where she least expected it.
SASCHA DARLINGTON’S REVIEWSo a couple of weeks ago I told you about my “reader’s block” and thanks to my astute readers, you helped me pinpoint its cause—the quality of the books that I had been reading. As such, I’ve gotten back into reading and am going to be far more prudent about the books I take on. I’m going to read books that make me happy (obviously no guarantees here) and not reading for any other misguided reasons. Thank to those of you who helped me when I couldn’t see the forest for the trees!
Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan made me happy. Like other Jenny Colgan novels I’ve read, Little Beach Street Bakery is about a woman reinventing herself. Polly is average and extremely likable and she falls in love with quaint Polbearne, an area that’s seen better days, or hasn’t. That’s hard to tell.
For much of the beginning of Little Beach Street Bakery, I literally laughed out loud. The lightheartedness is infectious. As the novel progresses though and Polly becomes more invested in her new life, other emotions begin to take over. There are bittersweet scenes that tug on your heartstrings and sad scenes that will leave you with tears running down your cheeks. All the while, you’ll be rooting for Polly to get all of the happiness she deserves.
Polbearne is populated with wonderful characters. Colgan doesn’t really write stereotypes. Even the characters who give Polly trouble are fully painted so that you see everyone has situations that make them who they are.
Also, Colgan presents her novels so that you don’t always know the outcome. She throws wrenches in the works and because I didn’t read the blurb before reading the book, I really didn’t know for sure how it would all turn out.
Because of my book commitments, I have not binged on all of Colgan’s books, which normally I would have done. I still feel like restraining myself because books like this are really to be savored.
Well-written, magical, and satisfying, Little Beach Street Bakery is a novel I highly recommend. It’s a true delight.
My genre classification would be women’s lit or chick lit. Yes, there is romance. Oddly Amazon has it listed as a cookbook?! There are about seven or so recipes at the end.
Source: the library. The library! I haven’t read a library book in soooooooo long. I love my library’s overdrive electronic book system!
rating: 
5 out of 5 butterflies
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