3.5 Star
Rose is about to get a taste of the sweet life
Rosie Hopkins's life is...comfortable. She has a steady nursing job, a nice apartment, and Gerard, her loyal (if a bit boring) boyfriend. And even though she might like to pursue a more rewarding career, and Gerard doesn't seem to have any plans to propose, Rosie's not complaining. Things could be worse. Right?
Life gets a bit more interesting when Rosie's mother sends her out to the country to care for her ailing great aunt Lilian, who owns an old-fashioned sweetshop. But as Rosie gets Lilian back on her feet, breathes a new life into the candy shop, and gets to know the mysterious and solitary Stephen whose family seems to own the entire town she starts to think that settling for what's comfortable might not be so great after all.
Kathryn - 3.5 Star
Sweetshop of Dreams is a lovely little tale full of sugary treats and sweet relationships and is a good book to curl up with and while away an afternoon.
My first impression of Rosie was probably what we were supposed to feel -I wanted to kick her up the backside and send her on a life changing quest away from her mundane life. We can all get on board with a life changing story and this one showed Rosie the path to a more fulfilling life she wasn’t at all expecting.
When she’s told by her absent mother (absent because she lives in Australia- not absent in that she doesn’t get thoroughly involved in Rosie’s existence!) that she needs to take her qualifications as a nurse down to tend to her elderly great aunt in the middle of nowhere Rosie isn’t too thrilled about the sudden demand. However, she goes along with the plan because she really can’t think of a good reason to object- which sums Rosie up completely. I liked Rosie and could understand her feeling to not want to rock the boat with her current partner- it’s just that she actually kept telling us that she was sitting on the fence with him. When the heroine freely admits to the reader that she’s a bit stuck then it’s virtually impossible to think she should stick around. So off she goes to the countryside and meets a relative she hasn’t seen since she was a child.
Lilian is perfect for her role in Rosie’s life. Curmudgeonly and sarcastic she makes sure Rosie opens herself up to new beginnings. Jenny Colgan created a vivid character in Lilian who lives in a village full of personalities that came to life on the page, not one of them was out of place or unimaginative and I was pulled into the story completely.
I enjoyed Sweetshop of Dreams, and am not going to give the game away of course, but I would suspect that most won’t find a great many surprises in the plot. However, it’s the way it is delivered that will satisfy your reading needs.
Thank you to Sourcebooks for our review copy. All opinions are our own.
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