I have been looking forward to reading this new book from Jo Thomas. Her stories never fail to pull me in and fire my imagination as I am transported to a new location and usually learn about a craft on the way. This book is set in Wales and, as the title would suggest, taught me something about making ice cream, or, as I learned, gelato.



The narrative centres on Beca Valentino, who is returning to the Welsh seaside town she left over twenty years ago, tired of the gossip following a painful break-up. She has made enough money from her successful business in London to buy the farmhouse that she always dreamed of owning. Her ambition is to settle there and foster children in need of a home. A lot has changed in the town, but most important for her is that her beloved grandparents’ ice cream parlour has been bought by her former boyfriend and turned into an upmarket bistro. Fortunately, her childhood friend Griff is still living in the town and they rekindle their friendship. When her first charges turn up, they are not quite what he had envisaged. Instead of younger children, she is presented with two unrelated teenage boys who have been in the system for some time and each have their own problems. When sorting out some of her grandparents’ possessions, Beca comes across their gelato recipes, giving her the idea of recreating the delicious products they used to sell in their parlour. She, Griff and the boys set out to perfect the gelato and add some interesting new flavours, turning an old boathouse into a pop-up ice cream cafe by the beach. However, it appears that somebody in the town doesn’t want Beca to succeed, and even the weather is against her. Can she and her friends bring the old Valentino’s gelato back to the town against all the odds?



This was a really enjoyable read, filled with interesting characters and situations. Jo Thomas’s wonderful descriptive writing once again captivated me as I was carried off to Beca’s farmhouse where I could hear the sea lapping on the shore but also the whispers of the local people wary of the newcomer and her charges. I felt for the teenagers who turned up at Beca’s door, fearful of being moved on again at a moment’s notice. They were indeed lucky to have landed at a home where they were to be included in a new venture where their input was valued. Of course, as an ice cream lover, I was intrigued to learn about the process of making gelato, and my mouth was watering at the mention of some, but not all, of the flavours. All was not plain sailing for Beca in this book, the twists and turns introduced by the author adding even more interest to the story. I think it is a mark of a really good story when you miss the characters once the book is finished. That is certainly the case here; I would love to know what happened next for Beca, Griff and the boys. This is definitely a book I would recommend, preferably read with ice cream!

With thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Because returns home after 2o years where she established a successful business in London after fleeing the seaside town and its gossip mongers.

She has bought a beautiful big house she dreamed of owning as a youngster much to the chagrin of local business owners and harbours a wish to Foster children.

This was a beautiful book with an eclectic mix of characters.

As delicious as ice cream … sorry becca I mean gelato !

A little bit of blurb :
After a decade of building her career in the city, Beca is ready to escape the humdrum.
When she sees her dream home for sale in her hometown, it starts to seem like fate. But when she arrives and visits her grandparents' ice cream parlour, Beca is horrified to find out that the new owner, her ex-boyfriend Ed, has stripped the heart out of it. Determined to honour her family's legacy, Beca decides to follow in their footsteps and make delicious ice cream with the help of a long-forgotten recipe book and boat house. As a fierce rivalry develops, Beca must rely on her oldest friend, Griff, to help her make the parlour a success. But when disaster strikes, is Beca about to discover that true happiness has been right in front of her the whole time?


This book just gave me all the good feels.
I loved watching the relationships build and grow in front of my eyes and found that I became invested in the characters almost immediately ! It was also really lovely to read a story featuring a woman fostering teenagers.

This heart warming story of second chances and love was exactly the fun escapism I needed to get me through these grey and wind swept days. The only big negative is I spent the whole time reading it craving a gelato and wishing I was on a beach .

This is exactly the kind of novel that this author’s readers long for and love. It is perfect for summer reading. The story is well told and involving with interesting characters and a lovely setting. Readers will want to enjoy some (imaginary) gelato while they spend time with Beca and those around her.

Beca Valentino’s family ran a very popular gelato cafe in Pembrokeshire. Beca, herself, left as a young woman after a romance gone disastrously wrong. She moved to the city, established a business and earned a good living, enough in fact to allow her to move back to the village where she grew up.

Beca moves into a big and beautiful home. Her goal is to care for the cows and to become a foster mum. The story of the two kids who come to her gives readers the chance to meet Joe and Blake. They are memorable. While I do think that things go somewhat miraculously for Beca as a carer, the author does raise the issue of the foster care system and the kids who are in need. Based on my professional experience, I do think things went a bit too smoothly but this is fiction after all.

Also in the town are two men who were/are important to Beca. Ed/Eddie was a youthful love while Griff has been a friend for years. Will Beca find romance with one of them? Readers will certainly hope so and will be rooting for one of these more than the other.

Beca faces some challenges in life, relationships and in her efforts to open her gelato cafe. Will she triumph? The answer to that question may be obvious but there is just such a good read along the way.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for this title. All opinions are my own.

Jo Thomas gets me every time with her books. You start off and think this is a nice story, with an interesting but not earth shattering premise or character. Before long she has me totally hooked and desperately needing to read on and caring passionately about the people in her stories.

In this one Beca returns to her childhood village after many years away, and finds the place has changed. Will she be happy here setting up a home for respite care for children in local authority care? Will she be any good at it? How will her former best friend and a former boyfriend relate to her? The story unfolds in front of your eyes.

I really fell in love with the characters, the place and the story in this one, and just didn’t want to put this book down. At times it had me feeling every emotion imaginable and yes at points it had me crying, especially the ending! I was almost shouting at Beca telling her what she needed to do. A truly engaging and uplifting story.

This was a five star read for me and I do strongly recommend it. Jo Thomas has really become one of my favourite authors, especially in this genre, and I cannot wait for her next book. A great book to read during the Summer ahead.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Absolutely brilliant.
The story is based around Beca Valentino, who returns home to her seaside village after two decades of living and working in London. Using the proceeds from the sale of her cleaning business she buys a big beautiful farm house (with cows) which she always dreamed of owning as a child. Here she wants to foster and let the children experience the joy of living on a farm next to the sea.
Having only just moved in she intends to redecorate and renovate first however, when an emergency arises to look after a ten year old and a fourteen year old for the weekend she agrees. These two amazing boys have lived in many places. They are funny, interesting and have a lot to teach Beca. When the weekend is extended and the milk delivery cancelled she starts to teach them how to make her grandmas famous gelato and they start to work together as a team.
Old friends, facing up to the past and learning how to parent keep Beca far busier than she expected after selling her business.
After reading this I wanted to learn how to make my own gelato and was really rooting for the boys to have a better ever after. A fantastic summer read.

The word heart-warming was made for this book. In fact it doesn't do it justice!

I can't quite explain how much I loved this story. It was such an uplifting book to read, with so many moments that had me smiling and wiping away happy tears. Of course it had it's sad moments too, and moments where I wanted to grab Beca and talk some sense into her.

The supporting cast were brilliant, especially the two teenage boys who came to stay. Watching them come out of their shells was a joy to read. And I love how Griff, Beca's best friend from childhood, is always there to lend hand, a shoulder to cry on, anything that Beca needs.

I think this has to be one of my top favourite Jo Thomas books. Give it a read, I'm sure you will love it too.

A lovely story of friendship, homecoming and romance with added gelato. What more could you ask for in a summer read.

This is a real feel-good read. Evoking happy childhood memories of seaside visits it's a lovely happy story. Beca decides to return to her childhood home after having moved away some years ago trying to find a place where she would be happy and away from all the small town gossip. Sometimes though you learn that the grass isn't always greener on the other side and your happy place is often much closer to home. Great read.

I'm craving an ice-cream, sorry Beca, I definitely mean a gelato! I'm rather envious of all the delicious sounding gelatos that were present in this story.

For the queen of the foodie romance is back with another hit book, that I devoured in about a day. I was finding any excuse to pick up my kindle to keep reading this story. I was hooked.

And what a fabulous book this is and I especially loved getting to know the two children Beca is respite fostering, Blake and Joe. As their placement went on, seeing them come into their own, was just a lovely thing to experience and be able to watch.

This is a gorgeous summery read, that had me longing for days by the sea, and walking along the beach with an ice-cream. The town just sounded so idyllic, give or take the fact that Beca is struggling to find her place in her hometown, as she is no longer regarded as a local, she's not a second homer, or a tourist, but is back for good, with intentions that it takes a while to win others over with.

And she of course has run ins with her old boyfriend, but also reconnects with her best friend. What is clear from the story is that things never stay the same, as is evidenced by what became of Valentino's which was her family gelateria.

There is just so much to love with this book, and Jo Thomas was come up trumps with this novel. It's deliciously fantastic, and it even made me want to visit Wales, which given I tend to prefer a foreign holiday, is a feat in itself.

Just brilliant.

Thank you to Transworld and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

I have never read a novel by Jo Thomas but had heard lots about her books by a few of my friends so I couldn’t wait to get stuck in.
The story focuses on Beca and her move back to West Wales from London now that all her family have gone. I loved the setting of the book and the subtle Welsh words dotted through the book. Beca was a lovely character who you just wanted to be happy and fulfilled. Once I started reading this I couldn’t put it down and even shed a tear or two.
I thought the cover of the book was lovely, very bright, summery and would get my attention and make me stop to buy this if I saw this in a shop.
I would definitely recommend buying this book as it’s a lovely summer read and I can’t wait to read all of Jo’s other books.
Thank you to Netgalley, Random House UK, Transworld publishers and Jo Thomas for an early copy in exchange for an unbiased and honest review.

I finished this book in 2 days and absolutely adored it! So beautifully written and the perfect summery setting. The bond between Beca and the 2 boys that come into her care, Joe and Blake, had me in tears numerous times. Absolute perfection. I’ll be recommending this book to everyone.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.
Set in a beautiful setting and filled with believable, fully-formed characters involved in an interesting storyline filled with friendships and finding romance while finding your true self. This is such a lovely, feel-good story, it is a perfect summer read.

I've read most of this author's recent work and, in my opinion, this is by far and away the best writing. I felt like I lived in the book, the characters were my friends and the location was gorgeous. I would have quite happily kept reading and was disappointed when the book finished, always a sign of a good read! Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early copy of the book in return for an honest review.

Really enjoyed this book. A great holiday read by the beach. Lovely setting and great characters all intertwinned within friendship, family and community. Loved the outdoors element. Would definitely recommend. Great read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and Jo Thomas for this ARC!

This book felt like a warm blanket in the coldest day of Winter! Such a delightful and heart-warming story! I love a second chance story and this one made me feel all the feelings alongside the characters. It has that pursuit of inner light and spark that we’re all looking for and the way Jo Thomas describes everything in the book has me mouth-watering to say the least! I was totally immersed in the story from start to finish, just as I like, and in their lives. This is a story about love, friendship and community. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

When Beca returns to Swn Y Mor, buying the family home she has only 2 things on her mind. The first is Valentino's gelato and the second is the fostering she has decided is the job for the next part of her life.
When Ed, the reason Beca left in the first place, shows what he has done to the cafe, and when the fostering is less of a success than she had hoped, Beca has to question her decisions.
In the end " the best revenge you can have I life is to be happy" is the advice she chooses to listen to.
A good book that I just wish had been longer.

Beca wants to start fresh and finds she ends up back in her hometown but things are not as they were when she left. Her grandparents Ice Cream shop has had a complete overhaul by the new owner (being her ex-boyfriend). So what is a girl to do but start making ice cream, to an old recipe, and compete with the ex-boyfriend!

And this is the start of a fun, light-hearted yet interesting read covering many aspects of life. It is a wonderful read, one that flows well and is easy to read and follow. The setting is so real, like you are there in Wales with Beca. All the descriptions make it real too and this I do love about a well written book.

I really enjoyed this one and would recommend as an easy to read but fun book.

There's so much to love about this book. Warm and full of summery beach vibes with strong messages about family, community and the restorative power of being outdoors. I really enjoyed reading every page.

Even if you don't feel like reading, pick up a Jo Thomas book and you will instantly be encapsulated in love, warmth and brilliant story telling. The characters were amazing, you are instantly drawn to them all, the setting sounded wonderful and described with just the right amount of detail. Yes is was obviously she was going to make gelato but the doesn't matter as you were rooting for Beca to do it. Thank you netgalley for the advanced copy