Member Reviews

The Little Bakery on Rosemary Lane is a good fit for people who are in the mood for a heartwarming and lighthearted story about finding love and belonging in a small village community.

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A fun, fluffy read, with entertaining characters and an appealing bakery setting. I enjoyed reading it, although I can't say that it is going to stick in my memory for long.

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Lovely little romance, nice easy happy feeling read. It was nice for the protagonist to be older for a change, the only thing I didn't like was the abrupt ending. I wanted to know more and i know that that will come with other books but i wanted it to end with a little more :)

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Enjoyed this second installment in this series. The first book focuses on Della and her bookshop and this one is about her sister Roxeanne who leaves London and joins her sister Derbyshire for a sabbatical. Her love life is a mess and being away from her partner helps her get things in perspective. I have the last installment waiting on my kindle and will be starting it shortly.

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I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This book was a nice light read that has been checked out a lot at my location.

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I really enjoyed this book because I love authors who create their own settings and through a series of books, the readers are invited to visit and meet new characters within the village. Ellen has created a lovely village, Burley Bridge, and our first visit introduced her to The Bookshop on Rosemary Lane and this again plays a big part in this new book where we meet a rather dishy, newly separated, bakery owner, who along with his two teenage children and dog, are a great addition to the village, opening a bakery and encouraging lots of new visitors to the village.

Roxanne is a great character, who had moved away from the village to work in London, at one of the top fashion magazines. She has carved out a career for herself and is renowned as one of the best stylists, creating superb fashion shoots, however as her bosses look to modernise the magazine she is unsure if her position is safe. I think that this is a very relevant subject with many magazines looking at their online presence and also how their readers shopping habits are changing.

Burley Bridge sounds like a great place to live or visit and I am really enjoying this series of books. They are a great easy read, but I love that a cast of characters are building throughout the books, and even though the books can be read as standalone novels, they are great as a series.

I am already looking forward to book three, which I am hoping will continue where this one finished, the door has been left open for Roxanne to continue to live in Burley Bridge and maybe return to her roots - but will it be with the hunky baker, Michael?

Thank you to the publishers, Avon Books, and the author, Ellen Berry, for sending me the book to review and inviting me onto the blog tour.

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Review: Here is a lovely spring/summer read. Set in a lovely setting, in a bakery full of sweetness and friendship.

This is my first book which I have read by Ellen Berry and I really enjoyed it. This is a story that is about Roxanne who has a life in London and when this life comes crashing down and she needs something new she goes back home and instead of finding that Burley Bridge is boring she finds that actual she may like it here. Especially, when she a certain man in a bakery catches her eye. 

A warm, satisfying, easy read, which you can loose yourself in.

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This is a delightful charming book about a woman daring to start over by returning to a small village where she came.
Roxanne was a high powered fashion editor when she was betrayed by her current beau and escaped to her childhood village to stay with her sister. She is over forty now and has not been home in years. Roxanne had not planned to stay and give up her former life but she soon finds herself welcomed by the townspeople and charmed by small town life. As she fully embraces her new life she finds peace and happiness she never imagined.
This is a fun read that is lighthearted and a happy book. Its a delight to read .
Thank you for the ARC which did not influence my review.

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Ahhh, this is such a lovely book! Beautiful setting, relatable characters and a sweet as sugar cover!

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Unfortunately, this book was archived before I got chance to read it.

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Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I have read a few books by this author and I really like her style of writing. This was a nice easy read with great characters.

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Roxanne is a well-respected magazine fashion director but her new editor Marsha brings in someone to oversee her department. So Roxanne takes a sabbatical to reconsider her career options, heading to a small Yorkshire village where her sister Della runs a bookshop that specialises in cookbooks. There she meets Michael, who has just opened a new bakery – which was his wife’s dream before she ran off with a tradesman.
The second in the Rosemary Lane series, this story focuses more on Roxanne, rather than the bakery, so if someone is picking it up for foodie fiction, they may be a little disappointed. However, I loved that the story focussed on Roxanne’s career and relationship woes and how the forty-something found her feet at a more relaxed pace.

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Found this one hard to get into, I usually love this authors books - never mind I would still continue to buy her books

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Loved this charming little book and the characters. Sometimes we need a little push to move our lives in a different direction, as is the case with Roxanne, who leaves London behind and finds a whole different world in Yorkshire, proving you CAN go home again, and find love at any age.

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So lovely to read a book that isn't about twentysomething who is single and looking for love! This book is a breath of fresh air! Roxanne is a 47 year old (yay for the over 40's!) who has a glamorous job in the fashion industry and a lovely boyfriend Sean- life seems to be going well or so she thinks until her job is under threat so she goes on a sabbatical for a couple of months to visit her sister Della who owns a bookshop in a small village in Yorkshire. Here she starts to question whether she is really happy with her life and meets Michael who owns the bakery. I didn't realise this was the 2nd in a series of books about Rosemary Lane but you can definitely read this as a stand alone book - it ended with me wanting more and I hope there is another one!! Lovely book .

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I enjoyed the second half of this book more than I enjoyed the first half. I think the book would have done better having a more condensed version of why Roxanne ends up going back home to visit her sister because that's where the heart of the story is. A cute, fast read.

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A story about the growth and changes of Roxanne, a late 40-something single woman that loves her job as a Fashion Director, is hoping for more from her photographer-boyfriend Sean, and now is faced with major changes at work. Leaving the small Yorkshire town at 18, to work her dream job: things have settled in for her professionally, even as she wonders if her personal life will ever move into that next step. But, a big shake up at work, followed by a rather disastrous 50th birthday party for Sean lead to her taking a sabbatical (she planned to quit) and she’s off to visit her sister Della and her little specialty bookshop.

From the earliest moments, Roxanne is a bit ditzy but brilliantly creative, with a large streak of insecurity about her own capabilities outside of fashion. What saves her from being annoying is the intention: she wants to see everyone in the best light possible, she wants to cheer on other people’s success, she wants to be accepted and encouraged and find her place. But, she’s frustrated with people’s tendency to see her as ‘full of London airs’, assuming her days are spent in fashion houses with lattes and late nights. Uncomfortable with her own ability to make things work, a belief reinforced by her sister’s behavior and seeing her as her little sister, not a grown woman, it takes Roxanne a bit to find a comfortable place for herself back home. With a nudge toward a man in Michael, the owner of the new bakery, she’s still mindful of the presence of Sean in her life, even if that presence is mostly ill-timed telephone calls and late night visits.

This was an escape and get away read about a woman who has escaped home again to find her new direction. Many different scenes allow Roxanne to use her own particular brand of creative problem solving to create a result, and her own discoveries about herself, her relationship with her sister, and even the relationship with Sean. Each new discovery seems to lighten the weight on her heart: while she’s solidly aware that her love of fashion is frivolous and that the effort she feels is needed to exist in that world is responsible for countless hours of primping, preening and polish, she does have a knack for visualizing the pretty, a knack that many could use. With her disappointment in Sean’s behavior and the new friendship with Michael, though she’s managed to survive as a singleton for years, the opportunity for a relationship that she’s longed for may be harkening. Even as the story ended without a final defined ‘this is what happens” for Roxanne, and the moments about the bakery were minimal – and perhaps the story should have been retitled, this was a clever, well-developed and beautifully character driven story, full of heart and those questions we all face at different points in our lives.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” http://wp.me/p3OmRo-9o3/” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

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Fantastic read, great reading this second book in the series. Dipped in and out over a day and loved it. Shame it came to an end

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Roxanne Cartwright, 47, is Fashion Director for YourStyle magazine.  A 30-year veteran in the magazine industry, she’s an ace at what she does and enjoys putting together glamorous fashion shoots for the magazine.  So when she’s told by her new boss that the magazine is being taken in a new direction to cheap, figure-fixing pieces, Roxanne is shocked to learn that her position will be replaced by the new fashion-director-in-chief, Tina Court, who will oversee the transformation. Wary of her imminent dismissal, Roxanne uses her temporary time off from work to escape from London and retreat to her sister’s home in the small village of Burley Bridge in Yorkshire, where they grew up.  After their mother’s death two years before, Della used her mum’s collection of cookbooks to open a cookbook bookshop and effectively changed the Burley Bridge landscape as Roxanne remembered it.  The success of the bookshop has necessitated an expansion, and Roxanne heads to the village to help her sister with the finishing touches before the upcoming party and unveiling of the expanded space.  At first reluctant to relinquish certain duties to her domestically impaired sister, in time Della realizes Roxanne’s effectiveness in handling matters in her absence and the two women become a great team.
Meanwhile, Roxanne is confused about her fashion photographer boyfriend back in London, Sean, who didn’t seem particularly displeased that she’d be leaving for two months.  Sean is the first responsible boyfriend Roxanne’s ever had. Prior relationships consisted of a host of losers, and until Sean she wasn’t much concerned about having a stable relationship with anyone. The idea of a responsible, reliable man who fussed over her and could provide security seemed boring to Roxanne.  But ever since she started dating Sean, suddenly she’s craving commitment.  Nevertheless, something is off-putting about him. She’s heard rumors of his being a philanderer, but she can’t seem to resist his good looks and impish charm.  She believes she’s in love with him, although his odd behavior, particularly that of chiding her for inconsequential incidents, is starting to get on her nerves. Roxanne finds herself continually making allowances for Sean's bad behavior whenever he apologizes, and she feels conflicted in her emotions about him. Especially since she’s met the owner of the Bakery on Rosemary Lane, Michael.  He’s handsome, talented, available, and he seems to be interested in her.  Suddenly, Sean doesn’t dominate her every thought.  But then Sean shows up and surprises her in Burley Bridge while in Michael’s company, rendering her noticeably flustered. What will Roxanne do?
I really enjoyed this book.  I loved reading about Roxanne’s life both in London and then Burley Bridge.  I appreciated that she was a middle-aged woman, as most female protagonists I read about are much younger.  I could easily relate to some of the witty references with regard to her age, and how it sometimes made her feel in the fashion world.  And yet, this book could be read by persons young and old.  Roxanne was a very chic, hip character, and didn’t come across as dowdy in any way.  The relationship she shared with her sister, and that which she developed with Michael's daughter, Elsa, was endearing and added to my enjoyment of the book.  I was interested to know how she would resolve her relationship issues, but events that transpired in the book ultimately dictated her decision, and I was happy about her choice.  The only negatives I have about this book are that I’m not sure why it’s called The Little Bakery on Rosemary Lane since the Bakery in the story is not center stage.  It’s more in the background, so I found that a little misleading.  Also, I’m not sure how to categorize it.  Although it reads somewhat like a romance book, there wasn’t very much romance in it.  At least not enough leading up to the outcome of the story, in my humble opinion.  There was sort of a few themes going on too.  I would have liked to have seen a little more fulfilling wrap-up of everyone and everything at the end.  Aside from that it was a very good read.  It kept me interested and I would read another book by Ellen Berry in the future.
I received an E-ARC of this book from the publisher via netgalley.  All of the opinions stated in this review are my own.

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Katelyn finds out her husband is leaving her after she raised their twins and he moved his mother into their home. The twins are leaving for college, and Katelyn decides to visit her Mom in Texas, when her mother-in-law, Shirley, a snotty, uptight pain in the neck, decides to accompany her. The dialogue between Katelyn and Shirley is filled with humor, and as Katelyn is trying not to relive her past to create a new future, Shirley benefits too. This story of family, finding yourself and reigniting what is your passion, is an entertaining read. Recommended.

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