Wednesday 18 October 2017

Book Review - Coming Home to the Comfort Food Cafe by Debbie Johnson

Amazon UK
Title: Coming Home to the Comfort Food Cafe
Author: Debbie Johnson
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Harper Impulse
Publication Date: 8th October 2017
Rating: 5 Stars


Welcome to the cosy Comfort Food Café, where there's kindness in every cup of hot chocolate and the menu is sprinkled with love and happiness…

Moving to the little village of Budbury, Zoe hopes the crisp Dorset sea breeze and gentle pace of life will be a fresh start for her and her goddaughter, Martha.

Luckily for them both, the friendly community at the café provide listening ears, sage advice, shoulders to cry on, and some truly excellent carrot cake. And when Martha's enigmatic, absent father suddenly turns up, confusing not only Martha but Zoe too, the love and support of their new-found friends is the best present they could ask for.

Have Zoe and Martha truly found their home at the Comfort Food Café?

Just how good was it to be back in Budbury, Dorset and the Comfort Food Cafe? Well let met tell you it was fantastic, just to be able to catch up with all the cafe regulars in this all new standalone story. 

Before we even get to Budbury we meet Zoe and Martha. The opening of the book is fairly emotional, and there is a fair amount of emotion present throughout the story.  Martha is 16 and is grieving for her mother, and has never known her father. She is living with Zoe who was Kate (Martha's mum)'s best friend and is now her legal guardian. 

Martha is pushing every boundary, and Zoe makes the tough decision to move them to Budbury even just for a few months so they aren't showered with memories everywhere they look.  

There are all manner of secrets and plot turns in this book which is split into four parts, to help with the passing of time.  I really enjoyed seeing the affect that The Comfort Food Cafe has on Zoe and Martha over time, and seeing how they interacted with everyone . 

Fans of the previous two books will love getting the latest from Laura, Becca, Cheri, Willow and Edie, in this small town of lost souls who become like your family. If you are new to the comfort food cafe, then it can easily be read as a standalone, and I urge you to pull up a chair, grab a bowl of your own comfort food and sit back and relax with a wonderful story. 

Although Zoe and Martha are going through a tough time, there are plenty of light hearted moments too, the talent show on Christmas Day has some interesting acts, there is a moment of high drama in the cafe quite early in the book, and Martha has the biggest surprise of all. There are so many threads and bits of story that mesh really well culminating in ok an ending I may have been predicting but only from about half way through the book, and even then wasn't completely sure of! 

I am already eager to return to The Comfort Food Cafe and hope this is a series that can run and run, as more characters get added to the rather quirky Budbury cafe family! 

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Harper Impulse for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...