Summer at the Comfort Food Cafe

This is Simply delicious! Full of humour, warmth and new beginnings… it will stay with me for a while… Debbie Johnson is a new author to me but she clearly is an accomplished one. Summer at the Comfort Food Cafe tugged my heartstrings, I laughed out loud, giggled, smiled and cried tears of both joy and sadness. Laura is a Widow who takes her two children and their dog on a summer adventure. Life has been on hold for the past two years since her husband unexpectedly past away as she tries to move on with their lives. Laura applies for a job at this unique café -it was an absolute stroke of genius to start with Laura pouring out her heart in her extremely emotional and heartfelt letter to Cherie Moon, as she applied for a summer job as cook at the Comfort Food Cafe in Dorset. As I read of her love for her husband, David, I knew instantly that Laura was a character that I was going to adore...along with the rest of her family, crazy lazy dog and half of Dorset. Cherie offers Laura the job so the family set off to Dorset for the summer with their flatulent Labrador, Jimbo. I never expected such an abundance of colourful characters. As Laura has to endure many hilarious calamities, it was lovely to see her smiling and laughing, although never forgetting David. I could see her evolving from 'widow' to 'woman' (thanks to hunky vet, Matt) in front of my very eyes, and it was a delight to witness such an uplifting change. I loved the layout of the book, separating the chapters into weeks which gave a glimpse of what was to come in the subsequent chapters. A super fun read with some genuinely sad moments and some absolutely hilarious events, all very much true to life. 5 solid stars.

I loved this tale, you know it's a good one when you hate for it to end!

Great read with lots of love and laughter and friendship. Cried tears as well looking forward to the next one

This is a brilliant book. I loved it. With a heartening romance at the centre (between Laura, our frazzled, slightly nuts but adorable heroine, and gorgeous local vet Matt), it had an amazing backdrop in terms of beautiful Dorset and helped me enjoy the summer months. But it also had a full cast of delightfully rounded characters, all of whom leapt off the page and drew me in. The premise of the book was good too, with Laura transplanting her family from Manchester to Dorset for the summer after losing her husband a few years previously. Laura initially thinks of her plan as crazy, as do her family, but slowly and surely the Dorset coast and the welcoming people start to work their magic... Debbie Johnson writes with a really engaging voice, capturing both the lighter and darker moments of life perfectly. I always know that when I read her books I'm going to laugh out loud but at the same time be emotionally wrung out and taken on the journey with the main character. In that way, her writing reminds me of the fantastic JoJo Moyes. However, overall the book worked best because it was written in a touchingly honest and sensitive way. The core themes were about dealing with grief (candid but not depressing), appreciating the simple things in life such as friends and family, and learning to truly live again after a loss. While this book is a cracking good read, more importantly Debbie helped me see things in a different light... Which is why I was so glad that when I got to the very satisfying end of the book with all the threads knit together so well, I was left with a smile on my face, tears in my eyes and a genuine desire to read another Debbie Johnson book.

Très bon roman pour les vacances ! Simple mais touchant. Emouvant quand on ne s'y attend pas. A lire si vous aimez Jojo Moyes ou Jill Mansell