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A review by amandacole
The Little Teashop of Broken Hearts by Jennifer Joyce
4.0
Originally published at Desert Island Book Reviews
What do you get when you combine speed dating and cake? Apparently, a wildly successful formula for saving your teashop. At least, that was Maddie’s experience in A Little Teashop of Broken Hearts. While I don’t buy that this would have worked in real life, it made for a great story here, and since I also enjoyed the development of the characters’ relationships, I gave this book four stars.
The first bit of the book reads more like standard chick lit than romance. It’s about a struggling teashop and its newly(ish) single owner, Maddie. There’s a lot of dwelling on her failed past relationship and the financial issues of the shop. This helps us get to know Maddie, though, and to understand her better. I didn’t mind it since this backstory wasn’t presented through careful introspection, but rather flashback scenes. I liked getting to know Maddie’s friends in this part, too, and I think that focusing on something other than romance really helps make this story compelling.
Later on, though, the slow-to-start relationships between Maddie and Caleb and also Mags and Owen are believable and appropriately paced, something that’s missing in many romance novels. I liked that the characters didn’t fall in love at first sight and decide to get married after what seemed like five minutes.
This book was a light read and it definitely satisfied the urge to read something romantic, but it had a real story besides the romance, which is one of the things that made it particularly enjoyable. Even if you don’t like romance novels, you might like this, since it’s more chick lit than romance for the most part.
As for me, I definitely enjoyed reading this and I’m glad I was able to read it in between some heavier books. I recommend giving it a try if you like chick lit and/or romance.
*ARC from HQ Digital via NetGalley
What do you get when you combine speed dating and cake? Apparently, a wildly successful formula for saving your teashop. At least, that was Maddie’s experience in A Little Teashop of Broken Hearts. While I don’t buy that this would have worked in real life, it made for a great story here, and since I also enjoyed the development of the characters’ relationships, I gave this book four stars.
The first bit of the book reads more like standard chick lit than romance. It’s about a struggling teashop and its newly(ish) single owner, Maddie. There’s a lot of dwelling on her failed past relationship and the financial issues of the shop. This helps us get to know Maddie, though, and to understand her better. I didn’t mind it since this backstory wasn’t presented through careful introspection, but rather flashback scenes. I liked getting to know Maddie’s friends in this part, too, and I think that focusing on something other than romance really helps make this story compelling.
Later on, though, the slow-to-start relationships between Maddie and Caleb and also Mags and Owen are believable and appropriately paced, something that’s missing in many romance novels. I liked that the characters didn’t fall in love at first sight and decide to get married after what seemed like five minutes.
This book was a light read and it definitely satisfied the urge to read something romantic, but it had a real story besides the romance, which is one of the things that made it particularly enjoyable. Even if you don’t like romance novels, you might like this, since it’s more chick lit than romance for the most part.
As for me, I definitely enjoyed reading this and I’m glad I was able to read it in between some heavier books. I recommend giving it a try if you like chick lit and/or romance.
*ARC from HQ Digital via NetGalley