I was lured into the synopsis of this book by the words chocolate fudge. Anyone who knows me will know that I always have to buy fudge on any trip to the coast or holiday!
This book wasn’t the first I read by Karen Clarke, and I had already fallen in love with the town of Shipley and it’s residents and I knew about the existence of the sweet shop, but not much about it, I read and reviewed The Beachside Flower Stall which I loved.

The Beachside Sweet Shop was a gem of a book, and I wasn’t disappointed. It had me laughing out loud and smiling right from the start, which was a great bonus as I have read other “romantic comedies” which didn’t actually seem that funny. I felt glad to be “back in Shipley” so to speak, and got through the book in a day.
It focuses on Marnie, who inherited the shop from her grandfather. The shop has been in the family for generations and is in need of a makeover. That’s where Josh steps in. I was rooting for them from the start, and also liked Marnie’s grandmother.

What will happen when new neighbour and blogger, Isobel moves to town? Read this book to find out the sweet shop’s fate!

The pace, language characters and beautiful setting make for a great relaxing read. This also strikes me as being a good option for a book to read during a weekend break or holiday. It’s also perfect escapism and a great feel-good read.

Thank you so much to Karen Clarke and Bookouture for my ARC via NetGalley.

I love generational businesses when they are something fun like this sweet shop with recipies that have been passed along through the family. Marnie is desperately trying to keep her store relevant and updated when outside forces are making it harder than necessary for her. I felt like the characters were fleshed out and interesting. This was a small town that people would actually want to live in with as close and lovely as most of them were. I hate when there's a love triangle and the one I'm rooting for does not get chosen. Thank you to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a lovely heart warming read that I really enjoyed and I loved the characters. The cover definitely draws you in it’s so lovely.

A sweet fun-filled light read. Marnie inherits a sweet shop, queue new characters and some wobbles and sparks and hearts. It is just a good summer or pick-me-up read.

Hooked a great book loved the writing style so easy to read I read in a day loved plot fun read great character I liked then all

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I was first attracted to this book by the cover and the story itself was just as sweet as the cover. Characters were pretty strong and it was a quick read.

Sweet story. I enjoyed this story by Karen Clarke.

I have been to many of these shops in little towns, such as Orchard Bay in Maine. It is very easy to imagine the town and drama and I enjoyed the story that Karen Clarke wrote around such a place.

This book was everything I was looking for. It's a light and an easy book to read, plus it has a lovely story and amazing characters. Definitely a go to when you are feeling a bit down. Highly recommend it to everyone.

The Beachside Sweet Shop has been on my Netgalley list for far too long and I'm so glad I finally got around to reading it. It is such an enjoyable read, with such lovely characters, I couldn't help but find myself captivated by the beautifully written, heart-warming and often quite amusing story.
We meet Marnie Appleton, who is a very likeable 29 year old. She is successfully running a sweet shop, inherited from her late grandfather. Things are ticking along nicely, but it seems that Marnie isn't 100% settled. She has always felt the need to travel, to follow in her mothers footsteps, and she did for a little while with her then boyfriend, Alex, but since then there has always seemed to be something to keep her in Shipley.
When she wins a business award for the sweet shop it spurs her on to give the place a bit of a revamp, but not all of the publicity it leads to is positive. However, she decides to try a new line of home-made, low sugar sweets (to appease the sugar police!) but nothing is ever straight forward!
At the same time she's trying to keep her relationship with her new assistant, Josh, strictly professional and trying not to think about Alex now having a new girlfriend. Also having to contend with her best friends partner not being her biggest fan for some unknown reason and her mother returning from her travels, there is much more to this story than meets the eye.
I loved Marnie's friendship with Beth. They are so amusing together. I also couldn't help but like Marnie's mother, Laura. I pretty much loved all of the character's really. Even Isobel! She would totally do my head in, in real life, but she's a great character to read!
Overall, an uplifting story which made me giggle and brought a tear to my eye. I loved it from the first page to the last. I've already added the second book in the series to my list.
Many thanks to the author and Bookouture for my review copy via Netgalley.

Can you see yourself spending years after years in a small beachtown, where everyone knows (almost) everything about the rest of the small world and proudly spreading the news about it? I couldn't and so does the well-natured Marnie Appleton, whose big dream is to see the world. Hopefully, when her job at the family sweet shop will be done. When exactly? Hard to know but she keeps dreaming about those unknown world that her wandering mother told her about when she was not too busy searching for secrets of far away places.
Marnie grew up with her maternal grandparents, that were a substitute for both her unknown father and traveller of a mother. Therefore, when her grandfather, the owner of the popular sweet shop at the beachside died, she abandoned her travel plans and returned to take charge of the business. Not her dreamlife, especially as it meant also to abandon her boyfriend, but the responsibility towards the stable part of her family overpassed her own dreams, wishes and feelings. Marnie is the kind of character you cannot but love her. A good nature, without deep resentments against her mother, wise and romantic by nature.
But the dice are not rolled in her favor, it seems. Although she unexpectedly won a business prize a woman with a blog desperate to catch attention is planning to destroy her business - and the business of all the sweet shops in the ol' England, for the matter. Plus, her ex-beau Alex is back in town from NYC with his new crush and she just can't avoid him.
Isn't it a bit too much, even for someone like Marnie? Will she manage to save the legacy of his granfather and go ahead with her life? And what about the mysterious Josh who entered the beachside sweet shop when a crisis was unfolding?
The story is well written, and keeps you awake until you're done, because it just make you curious and the characters are so humanly depicted that you end up falling in love with them. I particularly loved the smooth dialogue between the three generations of women - Marnie, her brave grandmother, a dog trainer who is trying to build up a new relationship after the death of her husband, and Marnie's mother - overcoming many painful moments, but bravely looking together to the future.
It is the kind of book you need to fill your long winter days, while dreaming about a beachside shop and maybe some sweets too.

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

3.5

The Beachside Sweet Shop is a cute book which is perfect for the beach.

I enjoyed the story around the shop and the people of Beachside with their different lifes.
The atmosphere of the little town was pretty nice but there could have been a little more world-building.

The love story came a little bit short as well. I hoped there would have been more emotions and romance.

The book had me well entertained and I am looking forward to return to Beachside.

After reading lots of crime and psychological thrillers I felt it was time for a nice cosy read . So I picked this sweet book and I am so glad I did . I adored everything about it; the characters , description of the lovely seaside town and of course the sweets ! This is a lovely easy read , perfect for these winter nights or even summer holiday read.

*I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

BEWARE: This book made me crave sweets so hard!

I do this to myself every time. I keep saying I'll stop reading these types of books, but then I'll read a synopsis of one that sounds really cute and funny, so I can't stop myself from requesting it... I must stop.

This book is.... good. Ugh, I was bored the whole time! I only kept it up because by the time I realized I didn't care anymore I had an hour or so until bed and didn't want to start a new book. Then in the morning I was 5% from being done so I had to see how it would end!
The humor was a bit stupid really. Someone says something, ask if it is relating to something mentioned before, then no duh of course not! At first some of these were funny, but then I was like 'wow.... is she just stupid??'
Then all the talk about her fringe!! In a romantic setting staring into someone's eyes, are you telling me you are going to look into their eyes and <b> look at your fringe?! and then comment on it internally while having a tense moment?!</b>
Seriously, it seemed like everything that Marnie did annoyed me.

I really liked Josh... he and Beth were probably my favorite characters. A little nutty in their own ways, but interesting and levelheaded in a way.
<hl>
At this point you must we wondering why I gave this 3 stars instead of something lower... well, it is because... *sigh* in the end it really isn't a <i> bad</i> book. This is one I'm sure other people could get into, but it just turned out to be my own thing.

Certainly far from the type of books I usually read but being a small batch, natural sweetie maker I had to request this title on Netgalley.
A, enjoyable, light-hearted, fun and incredibly sweet read but I still can't work out why Marnie could possibly need an oven to make any kind of sweet.....

Marnie has inherited a sweet shop from her grandpa that has been in her family for generations. It is outdated and she wonders if it can possibly survive. It's definitely in need up updates. She hires Josh (who immediately improves the looks of the shop LOL) to help with renovations. Her neighbor, Isobel, is a blogger who is anti-sugar and you can imagine how that goes. In the midst of all this, Marnie's ex returns to complicate things.

This book was a sweet little romcom that would make for a great beach read! The cover of the book is adorable, the setting is charming, the writing was full of humor, and the story was endearing. Definitely a great "summer" read!

I would like to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Who could resist that cover? Full of colour, summer and sweets – my idea of perfection!!

I am going to come straight out and say it. This was fantastic! I loved it! It is jam packed full of fun, friendship and funny moments. I devoured this book as quickly as I do a chocolate bar! It was impossible to put down.

I love Marnie. She is such a warm character with dreams for her future. She is somewhat trapped after taking over the running of the family sweet shop after her Grandfather dies, and love hasn’t been kind with a pig of an ex, and she harbours a desire for escapism and travel.

The ‘baddie’ in the book is Isobel who moves into town and in a bid to promote herself and her work she wages war against sugar, and sets out to tarnish the reputation and popularity sweet shop. In a really fun way this kick starts a war between the two women who each vie for success. You can’t help but dislike Isobel and this only makes Marnie and her friend Beth even more likeable characters.

The shop is a bit outdated and Marnie decides that it needs a makeover but needs some inspiration – and help. Enter Josh - twit two!! Like any good summer read you need a bit of eye candy, and Josh delivers in bucket loads! Full of charisma, chemistry and oh so likeable, Josh definitely helped peak my interest in the story!

I have to mention the seaside town as well. I adored the idyllic setting, and the characters that lived there. I would happily transport myself there for a holiday (or buy a sweetshop and move there too).

This is the first book I have read by Karen Clarke but I can guarantee it won’t be my last. Her writing flows and the characters and scenery are so brilliantly described you could forget they are fiction, and it was easy to build up a clear image of them.

In a nutshell, reading this book bought me oodles of escapism, fun, laughter and characters who I really felt I gelled with and rooted for. I loved following their story and would love to read more about them. I would definitely grabbing a glass of something, putting everything to one side and escape to the land of the beachside sweet shop!

Here’s one book down on my TBR list, I feel accomplished. Romantic Comedies seem to be what I have been in the mood for lately; they are easy reads, I don’t have to think too much when I read them and most of the time the endings are heartwarming. I wouldn’t consider this a romantic comedy, more like a women trying to find herself and what she really wants. While yes I rated it a two , I still liked the story. Marnie was a good character who just couldn’t see what everyone else already saw. This frustrated me to no end, she just stubbornly refused to believe that refused to believe that she loved this Sweet shop. All her excuses that everyone seemed to point out to her was just her lying to herself. I think she just wanted to feel connected to her mother who was constantly travelling away from Marnie all her life leaving her grandparents to raise her. Her mother was another character who annoyed me, she was just so fickle, and aside from being able to make sweets just couldn’t seemed to be able to do anything. Marnie’s grand mother, Celia on the other hand was great. I loved her and wished that I had a grandmother like her.



The romance angle was lacking. On one hand we have Josh who randomly comes along, like a savior and helps Marnie run the sweet shop. In the other hand we have Alex who is Marnie’s Ex-fiance who has moved to the states for a contracting job. While I did like Josh since there was a lot of him in the book, he was just so immature and obviously hiding something, which ‘Hello Marnie you should have been more suspicious!’ There just was not enough of Alex to warrant him being a contender besides Marnie’s lovesickness of being a part from him. There really should have been way more of him in the book to showcase why Marnie loved him as much as she did. Any information from Marnie seemed biased and too good to be true.



The positive side was that I really disliked Isobel and her stupid, insipid ways. This made me root for Marnie to pull through and put Isobel in her place. I just wish there was a bit more of a consequence for her crusade against Marnie. I feel as if she got off very light.

Clarke’s writing was really good despite those faults. It made me want to check out her other writings so see if maybe I could connect better to her other characters

This was a fun and fast summer read. I read this near the end of spring and it has me looking forward to summer along with some candy. I enjoyed the main character and her development.

I quite enjoyed this book, it's a straightforward story about Marnie who inherits her grandfather's sweet shop which has been in the family for years. Marnie has mostly lived with her grandmother as her mother just likes to travel and see the world. Beth her best friend is her saviour, they work together until Beth is heavily pregnant. Until one day Isobel a fame hungry ex-model who decides to campaign for all sweet shops to be closed down. I love the interaction between the characters although not really Isobel. A light easy read.

This is a light, amusing romp with candy! It's not really chick lit in that there's no real romantic action but it's also fluffy and somewhat predictable, which makes it an easy read. I liked Marnie and the town- I'm assuming that there will be a second installment and wonder where Clarke will take this next. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.