Binge Worthy Foodie Reads

Summer at the Comfort Food Cafe

I’m a sucker for light fiction set in English cafes or tea shops or bakeries.  I recently read these two fun romances that are perfect for Foodies Read.

Laura Walker has been a widow for two years and is just starting to emerge from the fog that she has been in.  She needs a job and she wants to give her children a vacation this year.  She combines the two into working for the summer at a cafe near a beach in Dorset.

This isn’t just any cafe.  It stocks the favorite comfort foods of the regulars to make them feel at home.

Laura, her kids, and her dog Jimbo settle into the community.  They are starting to make new good memories for the first time since the accident that took her husband’s life.  This book is full of quirky characters.  It also feels like it is really set in the present.  Lizzie is documenting her summer on Instagram.  Other people use Skype.  So many of these books tend to ignore any technological details so that was a touch of realism that I appreciated.

The love interest’s name was Matt and he is a veterinarian.  Now you know I’m gonna have to comment on this, right?  Ok, two things.  Of course he is described as being muscular and gorgeous.  He has to be.  That’s in the contract for romance book heroes.  But, I know A LOT of vets.  I don’t know any who fit the bill.  (Send pictures if you know one.)  We tend towards the nerdy side.  I particularly don’t know any who are built like that and never work out.  I’m not sure where his muscles come from.  He never lifts a weight.  Number two, he never really seems to go to work either.  He’s always around.  It is mentioned vaguely that he is “at work” a few times but it doesn’t seem like he is missing from the story very often.  I’d like that schedule.

Anyway, this one is fun and sweet and made me a bit teary in one part that I can’t talk about without being spoilery.

I read this one right after the first one.  This is told in alternating voices of the two main characters.  Amy is the third generation of her family to work in an historic trust building.  She and her grandmother are able to live in the village at reduced rent because a family works at Monkpark.  This wasn’t Amy’s goal in life but she can’t afford to keep her Gran at home any other way.  She’s always been a bit of a doormat for people but figures that is her lot in life.

Josh loves his birds but is very uncomfortable around people.  He doesn’t like to be in enclosed spaces, even inside houses.  He’s never had a relationship with a woman.  He likes Amy though because she seems to see him as a real person and not just that strange guy with the birds.

I liked the story of trying to keep a historic house profitable.  Amy runs the tea shop and Josh does the falconry demonstrations.

This is an unusual romance.  The characters both have back stories that make them think that they are unsuitable for love.  I wish Amy’s had been a little deeper.  I felt like she was written almost as a cliche at times.  I haven’t seen a lot of male romance characters like Josh though.  There was a lot of trauma in his background that made him stay away from people.  Although the term is never used, he felt like a demi romantic/sexual character.  He did not see people as potential love interests at all until he got to know Amy very well.  I’m not sure if that was an innate orientation for him or if it was all secondary to psychological trauma though.  He doesn’t magically overcome his problems just because he meets a love interest either.  He still has issues that drastically affect his life and relationships.  That’s a nice change from books where the hero or heroine’s entire life gets fixed when they get a lover.

I’d recommend both of these for fun reads.  Of the two, the tea shop book is definitely darker.  The Comfort Food Cafe book stays mostly upbeat except for a few emotional parts.  There is a short story sequel to that one that I’ve downloaded already that is set at Christmas.  I’ll report back on it soon.