The New Beginnings Coffee Club by Samantha Tonge

Blurb

Everyone deserves a second chance…don’t they?

Jenny Masters finds herself living the modern dream. Wife to a millionaire, living in a mansion and mother to Kardashian-obsessed ten-year-old April, there isn’t anything missing. Until, her whole world comes crashing down, forcing Jenny and April to leave behind their glittering life and start over with nothing.

With village gossip following her wherever she goes, she finds refuge and a job in the new coffee shop in town. As the days pass Jenny fears she doesn’t have what it takes to pick herself back up and give April the life she always wanted to. But with the help of enigmatic new boss Noah, and housemate Elle, Jenny realises it’s never too late to become the woman life really intended you to be!

Review

For a while I didn’t feel this book was especially chick-lit ish, despite the cover and the blurb. I can’t put my finger on why, but maybe it lacked a certain ‘cosiness’ which many books of this genre display. Gradually, thought, the tone and feel of the book changed for me, until, at the end, I felt the book reflected the cover and my expectations.

Reading about how Jenny discovered her real self was lovely and encouraging, and the message throughout the story (and emphasised at the end) was especially relevant I thought, when all of us are faced with pressures to conform and fit in. Ms Tonge deals with several issues (I’m not going to go into details because I HATE spoilers) with sensitivity and compassion.

Most of the characters develop throughout the course of the story, and discover things about themselves, and learn self-acceptance and acceptance of others.

The New Beginnings Coffee club is a tale of hope and of searching out the good things even when surrounded by the bad.

It also reaffirms the belief that money can’t buy happiness and that some things, like love, are priceless.

About the Author

Samantha lives in Cheshire with her lovely family and a cat that thinks it's a dog. Along with writing, her days are spent cycling, willing cakes to rise and avoiding housework. A love of fiction developed as a child, when she was known for reading Enid Blyton books in the bath. A desire to write bubbled away in the background whilst she pursued other careers, including a fun stint working at Disneyland Paris. Formally trained as a linguist, Samantha now likes nothing more than holing herself up in the spare room, in front of the keyboard. Writing romantic comedy novels is her passion.

Samantha has sold over 80 short stories to mainstream women's magazines. Her debut romantic comedy novel from HarperCollins (CarinaUK), bestselling "Doubting Abbey", was shortlisted for the Festival of Romantic Fiction Best Romantic Ebook award, 2014. The bestselling summer novel, Game of Scones, won the Love Stories Awards 2015 Best Romantic Ebook category. Her new novel, Breakfast under a Cornish Sun, is out now!