The Lemon Tree Cafe by Cathy Bramley

When Rosie Featherstone finds herself unexpectedly jobless, the offer to help her beloved Italian grandmother out at the Lemon Tree Café a little slice of Italy nestled in the rolling hills of Derbyshire – feels like the perfect way to keep busy.

Surrounded by the rich scent of espresso, delicious biscotti and juicy village gossip, Rosie soon finds herself falling for her new way of life. But she is haunted by a terrible secret, one that even the appearance of a handsome new face can't quite help her move on from.

Then disaster looms and the café fortunes are threatened . . . and Rosie discovers that her nonna has been hiding a dark past of her own. With surprises, betrayal and more than one secret brewing, can she find a way to save the Lemon Tree Café and help both herself and Nonna achieve the happy endings they deserve?

When it came to spending my Christmas book vouchers the first book that jumped out at me was The lemon Tree Café by Cathy Bramley, although I hadn’t heard much about this book I have previously enjoyed a number of this authors books so I was looking forward to reading this one.

Rosie finds herself jobless after sticking to her morals which is something that had me backing her character from the first chapter. Not wanting a gap on her C.V she decides to help out in her Nonna’s café whilst she looks for another job but before long she soon learns that the café is in trouble and she is desperate to help her Nonna but her help is not wanted. How will Rosie save the café when her Nonna is so reluctant to let anyone help?

Another book by Cathy Bramley that captures your heart and keeps you engrossed from start to finish. Rosie was a very strong and determined young woman who was hiding a secret that is holding her back from finding love even when it was staring her in the face in form of the delightful Gabe. I saw many similarities between Rosie and her Nonna Marie and I think this was why the two were so close and why they were both so fiercely independent.

Like Cathy Bramley’s previous books there is a strong sense of community spirit flowing through the book which I love along with the book being based around the café an independent family business which are always favourites of mine. The storyline is an enjoyable light read but it does have a number of difficult topics such as abuse and grief but as devastating as these topics are it didn’t dampen the spirit of the storyline it just made us warm to the characters even more and give the storyline more depth.

This was a wonderful read, it doesn’t quite hit the Ivy Lane spot but it is a close second for me.

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