Review: The Little Board Game Cafe

The Little Board Game Cafe by Jennifer Page
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Emily and her mother always dreamed of owning a small café selling good old-fashioned cakes and soup and sandwiches to the local community. When Emily's boss (who also happens to be her fiancé) makes her redundant, she begins to hop to make her dream a reality, even if the only vacant café in her price range is a scruffy, deserted, ugly café in a cul-de-sac away from the main run of shops and cafés.

Initially afraid to take a risk Emily buys a one-year lease on the café and starts about making it her own, but aside from one elderly Polish gentleman who turns up at eleven o'clock every day for a cappuccino and a cake, she has no customers. It appears the vendor may not have been entirely honest about the profitability of the business and Emily risks losing the small inheritance she received from her mother, until local GP Ludek asks if the local Board Games group can use the café one Friday night when the pub they usually use has an event. Suddenly the café is reinvented as the Little Board Game café.

This was a cosy romantic read, very reminiscent of some of Jane Lovering's early Yorkshire romances. There was a bit of angst, but no real villains, a sweet romance and a bit of personal growth. I liked it, but I didn't love it. 2023 the year of three and a half stars continues.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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