After reading several (excellent!) thrillers in a row, it was time for a change of pace and a summer feel-good read!
Elle travels to France in search of her birth mother who left her with her father aged just 1 week old. The only clue she has is a postcard wtith a cafe and location on it signed by ‘M’.
During her search, and despite her rather clumsy work in the cafe, Elle also finds time for romance. She feels attracted to Henri, a wealthy fisherman and serial lover, and Charlie the cafe owner’s son who is involved with someone else.
Elle is a warm and likeable character and I was instantly drawn in with her sad story. I really wanted her to get a happy ending, find the answers about her mother and fall in love ready to start a happy future together.
Summer at the Little French Cafe is also a very funny novel. The sibling and best friend relationships that Elle has are so realistic and fun which brings an extra dimension to the book by making Elle a more rounded character.
Karen Clarke’s narrative style is easy to read and makes for a perfect summer book. Now I just need to find myself a beach!
Media Kit:
Title: Summer at the Little French Cafe
Author: Karen Clarke
Publication day: 27/06/19
BUY Links:
Description:
In the beautiful village of Chamillon lies the Café Belle Vie, where you’ll always find croissants and friends when you need them the most – and where Elle is hoping to uncover the truth about her past…
Thirty-year-old Elle Matheson has decided it’s finally time to find the mother who gave her up as a baby. With a faded postcard from the Café Belle Vie in hand – one of the very few things she has from her mother – she heads straight to the Île de Ré to begin her search.
With only the postcard and the ivory shawl she was wrapped in as clues, finding her mum is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, even with the help of friendly – and gorgeous – café-owner Charlie. And since Elle hasn’t exactly told her younger sister what she’s up to, the little white lies about where she is are starting to add up…
But Elle is really starting to feel at home on the beautiful island. The locals are welcoming, the café is homely, and Charlie is always there with a helping hand, a listening ear, and a pain au chocolat.
Is Elle about to discover not just where she came from – but where she belongs?
A hilarious rom com perfect for reading in the sunshine! Fans of Debbie Johnson, Zara Stoneley and Debbie Macomber will love Karen Clarke!
Author Bio:
Karen Clarke writes romantic comedy novels. Her BEACHSIDE series is set in the fictional seaside town of Shipley and features recurring characters, but each book can be read as a standalone. She is currently working on a new, three-book series set in Devon.
Karen has also written three romcoms with a paranormal twist, all available to download
When she’s not working on her novels, Karen writes short stories for women’s magazines and has had over three hundred published globally. Some of them can be read in her short story collection ‘BEHIND CLOSED DOORS…and other Tales with a Twist’
Karen lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband and three grown-up children.
Author Social Media Links:
Day 174: back home from the wedding and I had a little romantic gesture from Chris (also an apology as he’d locked us out of the house!) Note the vase…
Day 175: Matt headed off to Stubbington on a residential trip for the week! My baby!
Day 176: vegan meringues (see the recipe) is totally ok for breakfast, right?!
Day 177: girly pamper time with some makeup. Anya’s getting quite good at applying it
Day 178: good news, the bed guard works. Bad news, we might need 2 to cover the whole bed as someone is quite wriggly. Try to ignore the plastic poo on the floor!
Day 179: he’s home! Matthew had a marvellous week, yay!
Day 180: blimey, it’s hot! Time for a waterfight!
The worst fear for a parent is for their child to go missing, with no idea if they are alive or dead. The worst fear for a single parent is that the child’s other parent snatches them.
Megan found the courage to leave her manipulative and abusive husband Greg and tried to keep things amicable for the sake of their son Daniel. One day she goes to pick Daniel up from school only to be told he has already been collected by his father. They have gone and no contact is made for 6 years.
Megan is obviously devastated but eventually moves on with her life, falling in love, marrying and having a new baby with the lead detective who was investigating Daniel’s abduction.
Suddenly, she receives a phone call from her new husband to say that Daniel has walked into a police station and his father is dead. Daniel returns home but it is not a smooth homecoming as he has spent 6 years having poison dripped into his heart by his bitter father.
The Boy in the Photo is SO SO GOOD! I was completely drawn to Megan’s character and situation which are both heartbreakingly realistic and well described. The emotional element to the book is so powerful and I think every parent would be able to identify with Megan’s mixed feelings.
The book jumps around chronologically so that we see what Megan and Daniel experienced during their separation. The insidious ways that Greg treats Daniel showcase his hatred for Megan in a disturbing way and as a parent is was difficult to read of a parent mistreating their child in this way. We then see in the present day how these lies manifest themselves in Daniel’s behaviour and destroy Megan’s happioness.
There were several twists or revelations which I did guess but were superbly written. I was hooked from start to finish, just as I was with Nicole Trope’s previous book My Daughter’s Secret.
The Boy in the Photo by Nicole Trope
She becomes aware of the silence at the other end of the line. A prickling sensation crawls up her arms. Her heart speeds up. ‘Found who?’ she asks, slowly, carefully, deliberately.
‘They found Daniel.’
Six years ago Megan waits at the school gates for her six-year-old son, Daniel. As the playground empties, panic bubbles inside her. Daniel is nowhere to be found. Her darling son is missing.
Six years later
After years of sleepless nights and endless days of missing her son, Megan finally gets the call she has been dreaming about. Daniel has walked into a police station in a remote town just a few miles away.
Megan is overjoyed – her son is finally coming home. She has kept Daniel’s room, with his Cookie Monster poster on the wall and a stack of Lego under the bed, in perfect shape to welcome him back. But when he returns, there is something different about Daniel…
According to the police, Daniel was kidnapped by his father. After hisdad died in a fire, Daniel was finally able to escape. Desperate to find out the truth, Megan tries to talk to her little boy – but he barely answers her questions. Longing to help him heal, Megan tries everything – his favourite chocolate milkshake, a reunion with his best friend, a present for every birthday missed – but still, Daniel is distant.
And as they struggle to connect, Megan begins to suspect that there is more to the story. Soon, she fears that her son is hiding a secret. A secret that could destroy her family…
A heartbreaking, emotional and poignant drama about a family in turmoil. Fans of Jodi Picoult, Liane Moriarty and Linda Green – this moving and stirring novel is for you.
About the author:
Nicole Trope went to university to study Law but realised the error of her ways when she did very badly on her first law essay because-as her professor pointed out- ‘It’s not meant to be a story.’ She studied teaching instead and used her holidays to work on her writing career and complete a Masters’ degree in Children’s Literature. After the birth of her first child she stayed home full time to write and raise children, renovate houses and build a business with her husband.
The idea for her first published novel, The Boy under the Table, was so scary that it took a year for her to find the courage to write the emotional story. Her second novel, Three Hours Late, was voted one of Fifty Books you can’t put down in 2013 and her third novel, The Secrets in Silence, was The Australian Woman’s Weekly Book of the month for June 2014.
She lives in Sydney with her husband and three children.
I have not made meringues many times in my life (maybe as many as 10 times if you include the topping for lemon meringue pie) but I have eaten hundreds!
Unable to find vegan ones in the shop, I started experimenting with my own after previous successes with aquafaba which is the usually discarded liquid from canned chickpeas. These meringues are really light and airy with a crisp shell and taste like the real thing!
Ingredients
The aquafaba (water) from 1 400g can of chickpeas (around 140ml)
100g caster sugar
Instructions
Preheat oven to GM1 and line baking trays with greaseproof paper
Whisk the aquafaba for 5-7 minutes. I advise using a stand mixer or your arms will ache!
When it sits in peaks (like egg whites!), add the sugar slowly whilst still mixing.
Whisk for another 3-5 minutes until glossy and thick.
Spoon or pipe into nests or pavlova: this made a lot of meringue! Leave spaces between the meringues as it will spread out as it cooks
Bake for 90 minutes then turn off the oven and allow the meringue to dry out and cool
Remove from oven and enjoy or keep in an airtight container.
If you don’t remove from the greaseproof paper after cooling then it will stick: perfect for eton mess…
I made a quick fruit compote using 50g each of frozen raspberries and cherries and 2 tablespoons of water.
Heat the fruit and water in a small pan and simmer for 5-10 minutes to soften the fruit skin until it breaks down.
You could blend or strain the finished sauce but I liked mine with texture.
Serve with the crushed meringues and some vegan whipped cream
