Rosie’s great aunt Lilian has spent her life running the village of Lipton’s sweetshop. But after she falls and injures herself, Rosie is persuaded by her mother to go out to the country to help Lilian recuperate. Rosie thinks she’s there to help her aunt get back on her feet and to get the sweetshop and Lilian’s house ready to sell. But after Rosie is inspired to reopen the sweetshop and as she becomes friends with everyone in town, she wonders if this country life is what she has been missing all along.
First off, I have to say that I loved all the descriptions of the sweets and candy. There were a lot of candy names that I didn’t recognize but everything sounded so delicious and yummy. I definitely want to visit a sweetshop now.
I thought, from the synopsis, that this would be a cute small-town romance but I’m not sure what I would categorize this book as. In my opinion, there’s not a lot of romance in the book. Rosie takes way too long to realize that her boyfriend is a dud. The book takes too long to introduce and develop her new romance – I was at least halfway through the book when I found myself not even knowing who Rosie’s new potential love interest was. How am I supposed to root for a love story when I don’t know who one of the players is? I guess this book could be called women’s fiction. There were some funny parts but not enough that I would call this a rom-com.
The book is told in two different timelines – one in the present where Rosie is taking care of Lilian and reopening the sweetshop, and flashbacks from when Lilian was 17, working in the sweetshop and falling in love with a boy from the village. From the reviews I’ve read, this might be an unpopular opinion but I actually like the flashback scenes more. For some reason I felt like Lilian’s story was more entertaining. Maybe that’s because I did not know where Rosie’s story was going or who she would end up with.
I really enjoyed the relationship between Rosie and Lilian. They are both grumpy at the beginning with each being forced to do something they don’t want to – Rosie being forced to come to the village and Lilian being forced to have someone look after her. But as the story goes on they start to care for each other very much and realize they are more alike than they think.
Definitely read this book if you like sweets but know that the romance is a long time coming.
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