BLOG TOUR: The Sunflower Cottage Breakfast Club by Lynsey James

synopsis
Emily Reed is having a bad day. Devastated at losing her hard-earned promotion to the ditz who’s sleeping with the boss, her mother drops a devastating bombshell—the dad she’s known and loved for twenty-five years isn’t her biological father.

Now Emily needs answers and a month in Luna Bay should give her the time she needs to find her father, and land the difficult client at the Sunflower Cottage B&B which should put her back in the running for her coveted promotion.

Setting up the Sunflower Cottage breakfast club should be a great way to meet the locals and maybe even find out who her father is! The only problem is that brooding and insanely gorgeous, Noah, is determined to make Emily’s stay perfectly uncomfortable.

Finding out the truth was never going to be simple, but she never thought her heart would get in the way…

When I was offered the chance to read this book I was glad to read something a bit more lighthearted for a change – for the past couple of weeks my reading list has been a bit dark! I didn’t know what to make of this book though because it’s not the genre I usually read – it’s a bit more chick-litty than I’m used to. However it was a quick, easy feel-good read that, as the book description suggests, is “the perfect summer romance for a sunny afternoon and a picnic in the park”.

Although I enjoyed the story for its simplicity and its feel-good factor, I did have a few issues with it that sometimes made me roll my eyes. The first issue that I found was that I just didn’t really find either of the main characters, Emily and Noah, particularly likeable. Emily is made out to be an uptight, far-beyond-her-years workaholic, and a some ways very cosmopolitan (the kind that has a tendency to get on my nerves) – she only drinks ‘green smoothies’, refuses to eat fried food and can’t stand the thought of having to go somewhere that isn’t a big city. Noah, when we first met him, was rude and a bit ignorant and I wondered how on earth romance could blossom between them both (it was kind of hinted in the blurb that that would be the case). I must say though that the characters both improved as the book progressed, as they learned their mistakes and turned into slightly better and slightly less annoying people.

Another thing that bugged me was the way in which there were so many pieces of dialogue that read like theatrical monologues or cheesy pieces from a soap opera. Maybe I’m just not into this kind of dramatic dialogue, but I found it a bit too much – I couldn’t believe that any person would speak like that outside of a melodramatic TV show. It was the same with the pace at which the relationships between characters. It went from hating each other to being desperately and madly in love in about five minutes flat, and it was the same with the sudden change of opinion of the Luna Bay residents against Emily; they could change their opinions of her within four seconds and I was left a bit astounded by how quickly they could change their minds about someone.

All of the negative things aside though – I really did enjoy this book for what it was: a lighthearted summer read that doesn’t involve much thought or concentration. For the whole time you’re reading, you’re carried away to the sunny beaches of Luna Bay, where the residents are a friendly community and the Sunflower Cottage B&B is an idyllic place to go and spend your time doing absolutely nothing but admiring the sea views. It truly made me long to live in a place like Luna Bay, and the descriptions of the quaint cafes and the warm, interior of the B&B made me want to pack a bag and head straight there.

Okay, I didn’t particular like the characters very much and some of the monologues were a bit cheesy, but sometimes a book like this is all you need to lift your spirits and let you escape to somewhere sunny for a little while. Maybe I’m just not a chick-lit fan as such; but it was a sunny, enjoyable read all the same.