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The Little Shop in Cornwall by Helen Pollard
Blurb
Claudia thought she knew how this summer was going to go. Turns out, she didn’t have a clue…
It’s been two years since Claudia arrived on the beautifully rugged Cornish coast with nothing but a suitcase to her name. She’d walked out on the husband who had never loved her, ditched the corporate job she’d never wanted and vowed that no gym membership card would come within ten feet of her ever again.
Swapping boardrooms and cocktails for a little shop right at the end of the beach road should have been a bit of a shock. But from the moment she first laid eyes on the empty, run-down store, Claudia knew this was where she was meant to be all along.
After all that upheaval, Claudia was looking forward to a quiet summer, full of the usual holiday makers and long walks along the clifftops. But life in her patch of paradise is about to change in more ways than one.
Enter recently widowed Jason, dragging his sullen teenage daughter Millie in tow. Millie and Claudia immediately hit it off. And while Millie loves everything about Claudia’s free-spirited way of life, practical architect Jason is less than thrilled about his daughter’s new interests. He doesn’t shy away from telling Claudia exactly what he thinks and sparks fly every time they meet.
But as circumstances throw Claudia into Jason’s path in increasingly unexpected ways, she begins to glimpse what lies beneath his fiery temper and sharp tongue. Claudia was sure her new life was perfect in every way. But was there something missing after all?
Review
I loved learning more about crystals and Wicca, and the way it was explained was sympathetic and responsible, and extremely intriguing.
Claudia was a lovey character and I was rooting for her all the way. Millie was portrayed in such a way which showed that the author had a good understanding of teenagers! Jason was moody, quick to jump to conclusions, and rather irritating. But there is no accounting for attraction or chemistry, and the relationship between Claudia and him was the on-off slow-burning variety.
This is a story of miscommunication, misunderstandings and eavesdropping, and all three drive the plot, along with a side-order of bigotry and intolerance.
I would have loved to have have found out if Hecate's Cauldron made a go of things, and whether Claudia got her ultimate wish in the end, though.
About the Author
As a child, Helen had a vivid imagination fuelled by her love of reading, so she started to create her own stories in a notebook.
She still prefers fictional worlds to real life, believes characterisation is the key to a successful book, and enjoys infusing her writing with humor and heart.
Helen is a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association and The Society of Authors.
You can find her online at:
http://facebook.com/HelenPollardWrites
http://twitter.com/helenpollard147
