Title: Little Beach Street Bakery
Author: Jenny Colgan
Genre: Fiction/ Romance
Source: Kindle
Rating: 4/5

Favourite Quote: ‘..in no time at all, he was nearly as drenched as she was. The huge black brolly hovered uselessly between them, Polly refusing to take it, Huckle refusing to stop offering it to her. Suddenly a great gust of wind snatched it, lifting it high above them over the moor, where it danced and tossed on the air. Huckle and Polly glanced at each other wordlessly, then both of them dived after it’ 

I’ve really gotten into Jenny Colgan recently. ‘The Little Shop of Happy Ever After’, ‘Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe’, and now the ‘Little Beach Street Bakery’. I’m enjoying the female protagonist who has the opportunity of their dreams put in-front of them and their fight to make sure it works out. It’s a lovely easy read that you can sit down on an evening and read through into the night to finish. The type of book that makes you want to keep reading even at 1 o’clock in the morning and you’ve got to get up for work in a few hours. A lovely little escape from reality that will make you dream again.

The story begins with Polly Waterford struggling with bankruptcy from a company she built up with her boyfriend Chris. When it’s clear that they are about to lose everything, they decide to go separate ways to deal with their new shameful situation. Polly can’t afford anything in Plymouth on her own so she begins to look elsewhere, which is when she discovers the little quiet seaside resort of Polbearne roughly an hour away. Her friends think she’s crazy to rent a shabby deteriorated flat above an abandoned shop on what is essentially an island that can only be accessed depending on the tide, but Polly see’s something else – a place to recover on her own.

She makes a home for herself on Polbearne and finds that her temporary accommodation means alot more to her than she realises. With the freedom to bake bread again, for the first time in a long time, she’s happy. Polly makes great friends along the way from the local fishermen outside her door, the shop keeper to the local American beekeeper, Huckle, on the mainland. They all soon discover she has a talent for baking, but unfortunately for her, her new landlord Mrs Manse is the only ‘baker’ on the island who owns the shop up the road. All of the residents are afraid of her old temperament for change, but they all soon start smuggling Polly’s baked goods for the taste of good bread again.

When it’s clear that the horrible Mrs Manse can no longer manage her shop on her own, Polly agrees to help out which leads her into using the shop below her flat to sell her baked goods. A dream come true! You get to see how Polly goes from being a self employed modern business woman in Plymouth, to this carefree baker in a place she finally calls home.

The best character is definitely Neil the little puffin who flies through her window at night resulting in a damaged wing. Neil becomes Polly’s best friend in her little flat and follows Polly wherever she goes, whether it’s to eat bread with the fishermen on the dock or buying honey on the mainland. Even when Polly takes Neil to the bird sanctuary to be with other puffins, Neil comes back. It’s absolutely adorable.

A lovely read for anyone who is looking for a bit of colour back into their lives. Don’t forget to read her other two books Summer at the Little Beach Street Bakery and also Christmas at the Little Beach Street Bakery. It’s one great little trilogy.

Goodreads Review:
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.