Review: Tea for Two at the Little Cornish Kitchen

Tea for Two at the Little Cornish Kitchen by Jane Linfoot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Am I suddenly in a good mood for 2022? So many books are getting four stars from the queen of the three and a half star review.

Cressida Cupcake has a very popular YouTube channel where she makes gorgeous cakes whilst looking immaculate. Then a slightly underbaked cake on a national TV baking show is presented in the worst possible light. Suddenly Cressida is the butt of many an unkind hashtag, and she's losing her sponsors.

Wanting to (metaphorically) lick her wounds in private, Cressida agrees to cat/ dog-sit for her brother and his wife while they go to Switzerland for IVF treatment (I assume brother and sister-in-law were the subjects of the previous book in the series) at their cottage in St Aidan, Cornwall while she curates a new book on baking.

However, things don't go according to plan. First Cressy loses the publisher for her new book, then she discovers that her brother's best friend, and her first big crush, Ross Bradbury, is temporarily working as a vet locally. They have history, the absolute worst, and she can't imagine anything worse that being forced into regular contact with him in a small village.

Partially because of what happened between Ross and Cressy all those years ago, Cressy has always wanted to be totally self-sufficient (ie not accepting help from anyone, rather than aping The Good Life TV series), something that has been exacerbated by the success of her myriad elder brothers and sisters. At first she resists attempts by the local yummy mummies, who call themselves The Mermaids, to enter into the village social scene. But soon Cressy discovers that resistance is futile. Soon she's teaching piping skills at the old people's home, baking for St Aidan's singles evenings and feeding the livestock for a local farmer who has been forced by ll-health into the old people's home temporarily. And everywhere she goes it seems like Ross pops up, looking more handsome than ever, being reasonable and helpful and charming ... the nerve!

This book should come with the warning that just reading it could make you put on weight as Cressy spends most of her days and nights creating delectable brownies, meringues, and cupcakes.

This is a no-surprises, sweet (literally and figuratively), second-chance romance set in a picturesque Cornish village. Perfect for escapism.

I was offered a free review copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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