Snow is beginning to fall around the cosy Castle Teashop, with its toasty log fire, scrumptious mince pies and delicious hot chocolates. Romance is in the air and Lily King is hoping some winter magic will help to make her dreams come true…
Twenty-five-year-old Lily King is wondering when her life is going to start. She adores working at the much-loved Castle Teashop, surrounded by familiar faces and delicious cakes. But she’s stuck in a rut. She’s just been dumped by her boyfriend and her dream job seems to be slipping through her fingers.
When her best friend Emily Campbell needs urgent help to organise her enchanting Christmas wedding, Lily realises it’s finally her moment to shine and reach for the opportunities she’s been wishing for. Can she pull off the biggest celebration Castle Cove has ever seen or will something - or someone - make things more complicated than she imagined?
Rebellious and handsome photographer Josh Havellin-Scott has always felt like an outsider, especially next to his perfect older brother, who is about to get married. At the last minute, Josh finds himself roped into plans for the Big Day, the very last thing he wants to do, until he is meets creative and quirky Lily King…
When Lily and Josh are thrown together, it’s clear they couldn’t be more different. But they begin to realise that opposites can attract – and sometimes when you’re not looking for love, it comes and finds you when you least expect it. With some festive magic, will they manage to work together and save the day?
And could they discover a winter romance of their very own along the way?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Little Christmas Teashop of Second Chances to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Little Christmas Teashop of Second Chances is my second visit to Castle Cove this year and again Donna Ashcroft has written a wonderful book, this time with the theme of second chances and finding happiness at its centre. This book has a gorgeous, colourful cover which draws you in and makes you keen to discover Lily King's story.
Lily works in the Castle teashop but she has a long held ambition to become a chef which would allow her to indulge her passion for food and cooking. Several times a week she also works as a waitress at the Castle Cove restaurant and this is as near to achieving her dream as she has gotten. Lily was a lovable character right from the very beginning, she knew she had flaws and wasn't afraid to admit them. OK maybe she didn't shout them from the rooftops but she knew she needed to fix a few things in her life before she could take the next step forward. But she is kind, good natured and has a heart of gold and would do anything to help a friend or family member in their time of need whenever and whatever that may be.
When it comes to love Lily can't say that she has been that fortunate and contented as she has recently been dumped by Rogan Kelly. 'Lily was unlucky in love and her heart had been broken a few times now- so many that she wondered if it was even worth giving romance another try'. I think romance is always worth a try for if you don't explore and get out there and look for that special someone you really don't know what you could be missing out on. The very person you are meant to spend the rest of your life with could be right there under your nose. For Lily the Castle Tea Shop is a home from home but one can become stuck in a rut and routine and although she loves her job and enjoys meeting lots of different people now is the time she needs to take a risk and follow her dreams. She is in danger of settling on a lonely path and she needs to change this attitude. 'The time had come for new challenges if she was ever going to be happy'. Yes this was a terrifying prospect for Lily to step out of her comfort zone but also the fact she was attempting to adopt this new found attitude and outlook on life was inspiring at the same time.
I think Lily's family history had a profound impact on why she was often so tentative when it came to finding love and happiness. Her family run the local brewery and it was her father and brothers who brought her up when her mother left when she was just a baby. Not having a mother figure in her life didn't damage Lily but yet it did have a significant impact on her. So when a letter arrives out of the blue from her mother Aubrey the cat is set amongst the pigeons. Why is she making contact after so many years of silence and nothing at all? Should Lily take the risks she so often talks about and go and meet Aubrey? Should she tell her father and brothers about this unexpected event? Or would that cause too much heartbreak?
I never liked Aubrey as a character at all. I thought from the moment we met her that she had ulterior motives. Why would she just contact Lily so suddenly unless she wanted something? Aubrey just waltzed back into Lily's life after an absence of so many years and then arrived with preconceived notions, ideas and expectations of how she wanted Lily to change to her own standards and way of thinking. I felt Lily deep down knew that what Aubrey was doing was wrong and therefore she didn't tell anyone about her mother making contact. Yes Lily wanted to make changes in her life and find her confidence again but I don't think establishing a relationship with Aubrey was the way to go. I wouldn't normally say that when it comes to a mother/daughter relationship in books but here it felt there was more bad than good and ulterior motives were behind everything rather than genuine love and affection.
Reconnecting with Aubrey was just one strand to the story and I thought the author gave us just the right amount of this balanced nicely alongside the challenge Lily has to arrange her best friends wedding. Aubrey presented the more serious side to the story whereas planning Emily's wedding, as she was away and wouldn't arrive back until her wedding at Christmas, gave us plenty of fun, humour and laugh out loud moments. Lily thought this would be plain sailing, not so when Emily's soon to be brother in law-Josh-is tasked with helping Lily with the arrangements. Josh is a photographer recently moved from London and working on his next exhibition. He was a brooding character who I felt at times just wanted to be left alone to get on with his passion but he has his own family pressures as his mother is constantly at him to become a doctor. Lily instantly feels something for Josh but she can't measure or quantify what it is. She needs time to sit back and assess things.
Whereas I thought - Lily you wanted to grab new opportunities and go for them so why are you being so tentative around Josh? It was like they circled each other and sparred off each other when it came to selecting things for the wedding. At times they very much rubbed each other up the wrong way but this was more like a smoke screen or a resistance to how they were perhaps feeling deep down. Lily always has a smart answer or rebuke for Josh and I loved seeing this develop between the pair and go back and forth. 'Perhaps it was a defence mechanism because she liked him more than she should and while she found him attractive, his irresponsible, rebellious attitude to life proved he wasn't the man for her'. I get Lily wanted someone in her life that she could rely on but really she wasted so much time and energy keeping everything locked inside and not just going for it and seeing where the wind would take her. She's not truly honest with herself or anyone else.
I think Josh saw this aspect to her character and he wanted to break it down. He was a man who did what he wanted regardless and maybe Lily should adopt that stance with regard to life as well. I loved Josh and deep down I knew he was in pain because he couldn't fully commit to what he wanted to do due to external pressures. I thought himself and Lily were so compatible and their romance was ripe for development, the question remained who would be prepared to make the first move? I thought the scenes where Lily and Josh have to come together to organise things for the wedding provided alot of light relief and laugh out loud moments going from test driving suitable wedding cars, to trying on the brides dress to tasting food for the reception, the pair were covering all angles and in doing so I fervently hoped it would bring the pair closer together.
Really reflecting on everything Lily and Josh were as bad as each other not wanting to make the leap. Even though they both had feelings for each other Josh was afraid of failure and of getting hurt. I think we all feel that way but unless you try you'll never know and you'll never realise what joy you could be missing out on. 'That was why he didn't let people close - the reason relationships of any kind were a bad idea. He didn't live up to expectations, he hurt people without meaning to and he'd do well to remember it. Which was yet another reason why he was determined to keep his distance from Lily'. Yet with the wedding preparations forcing them to come together maybe this solemn and defeatist attitude from Josh might very well change. I for one really hoped it would.
Lily needs to find out who she truly is. Can Josh help her do this? Can they have the perfect wedding ready for Emily and Paul as Christmas approaches? Will Lily fulfil her dream and become a chef and as an aside will herself and Josh push things to one side and take the plunge? All these questions arced through my mind as I flew through the final satisfying chapters in what proved to be a delightful read and a welcome return to the characters and setting of Castle Cove. It's a lovely read for this time of year- entertaining, uplifting, cosy and with plenty of drama and romance thrown in as Lily and Josh learn some truthful, honest and intense life lessons. Donna's new book will be with us in March, The Little Guesthouse of New Beginnings has a stunning cover and it's certainly on my radar as a book to look forward to in 2019.
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