Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan + a Giveaway

Good morning, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Jenny Colgan's Little Beach Street Bakery.

Down and out doesn't begin to describe Polly's current life situation. After pooling her savings into her boyfriend's business, the company has gone belly up and declared bankruptcy. Gone are the nice car, executive flat, and even the boyfriend. With little cash and no job prospects, Polly has to find a place to live and a place to work, but everything is just out of her budget or too questionable to consider. Until she finds the flat on Mount Polbearne. 

Mount Polbearne is a tidal island, which means that when the tide comes in the town is cut off. The flat itself is in terrible shape, but the calm the sea air and the view provide are enough to win Polly over. Sadly her heat-of-the-moment decision to rent might be the worst choice ever. The tide means she can't get on and off the island for a regular job, plus she's got no car to get off the island with. To quash her growing concerns she begins to bake, bringing down the wrath of the town's only baker - her landlord. 

Oh, this is such a cute book! By the time the town's bakery mob boss begins harassing Polly I was rolling with laughter! Plus, A PUFFIN!

This isn't my first time reading Colgan - she wrote one of the recent Doctor Who titles and a Doctor Who Time Trips novella - but with the exception of the humor, Polly and her story are a far cry from the Gallifreyan Time Lord. I didn't really know what to expect just based on what I had read by her, but I figured it would be good. And it came with blurbs from Jojo Moyes and Sophie Kinsella for crying out loud.

Good doesn't begin to describe it!

Bread moratoriums aside, Polly's tale is packed with great characters and tug at your heartstrings moments. Polly is just plain lovable. She quickly wins over the locals with her tasty treats - a vast improvement over what the bakery is offering - but has to do it on the sly. Everyone keeps saying the bakery owner, Mrs. Manse, has had it tough, but Polly has no idea what they mean until circumstances force the two women together.

Honestly, this book hit all the right notes for me. I've been in the midst of some heavy reading of late, so some lighter fare was definitely on order. I did have to curb some serious bread cravings while reading it, but that's the only negative I can find with Little Beach Street Bakery.

Rating: 5/5

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Jenny Colgan and her work, you can visit her website here. You can also like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

And now for the giveaway: I have an extra copy of Little Beach Street Bakery to give away to one of you lucky readers! To enter simply fill out the Rafflecopter below before Monday, April 13. US only.

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