Book 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!
My Thoughts:
I didn’t know whether Elle was just mad or very brave to go to a different country where she knows very little of the language to try and find her biological mother with very little to go by. I mean a postcard and the first letter of her mother’s name, it really is a huge risk and I had my doubts that there would be any sort of happy ending.
There are a couple of love interests for Ellie which I loved. Who doesn’t dream of having a choice of men to choose from? Especially as they are as dishy as they are in this story. Elle isn’t looking for love though having been left hurt from her previous relationship. I so enjoyed some of the tricky situations she gets herself into though which really made for some fun reading.
As well as the promise of romance, there is a lot of heart in this story. With so many great characters to make this such a homely read, you can’t help but kept swept away in Elle’s quest. The added aspect of it all being set in France was just the icing on the top of an already scrumptious story.
Summer at the Little French Café is a wonderful and entertaining read. I love the French way of life and the people and just the overall setting of the story. It feels like a home from home and the fabulous characters and the authors writing, really draws you right into this story and makes you not want to leave. Definitely a book to escape into.
My thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in anyway.
Summer at the Little French Café is available to purchase from Amazon. (Please note that link used is an affiliate link).
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:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karen.clarke.5682
Twitter: https://twitter.com/karenclarke123
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard
bytheletterbookreviews 
Great review Sarah.
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Thanks Yvonne x
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Aww this sounds good… I need this lovely review
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