Summer at the French Café by Sue Moorcroft | Publication Day Book Review | Romantic Fiction | #SummerAtTheFrenchCafé

As soon as Kat Jenson set foot in the idyllic French village of Kirchhoffen, she knew she’d found her home. Now she has a dreamy boyfriend, a delightful dog and the perfect job managing a bustling book café in the vibrant Parc Lemmel.

But when she learns her boyfriend isn’t all he seems, it’s the start of a difficult summer for Kat. Vindictive troublemakers, work woes and family heartache follow, and the clear blue sky that was her life suddenly seems full of clouds.

Then she gets to know the mysterious Noah, and her sun begins to shine brighter than ever. But Noah has problems of his own – ones that could scupper their new-found happiness. Together, can they overcome their many obstacles, and find love again?

MY THOUGHTS

It’s publication day for Summer at the French Café and congratulations to Sue Moorcroft for another fabulous read. Sue is no stranger to this blog, both she and her books have featured many times (a list of previous reviews and posts is below). I do love the cover for this one, it’s relevant to the story and just so eye catching – and yellow is my favourite colour.

Set in the French region of Alsace, the centrepiece of the story features a delightful sounding bookstore cafe, Livres et Café located in Parc Lemmel – a large leisure and waterpark area which sounds wonderful.

There are quite a few characters to get to know, the main ones being Kat (along with her gorgeous dog, Angelique – I love that name), who is the manager of Livres et Café, her half brother Solly, his fellow Parc Lemmel workmate/stablemate Noah and a supporting cast including family and friends. Kat hasn’t had the best experience in love and also has a troubled family background as we find out.

With themes which include betrayal, illness, and revenge, not to mention complex blended family relationships, the pretty yellow summery cover belies the sometimes darker storyline contained within. Of course primarily this is meant to be a romance and that element is well in evidence as the author is exceptional at creating chemistry between her leading characters and the spark between Kat and Noah was 🔥.

The book just fills you with that summer feeling and I envied those tourists and locals being able to sit outside the Café with a pastry and coffee and enjoy the sun. The location and its surrounding area are vividly described and populated with characters that felt real – some were easy to like – especially Kat, Solly, Noah and young Clémence, whilst there were others who were the cause of much angst and unhappiness. The more serious part of the story features controlling behaviour within relationships, I felt this was sensitively handled within the confines of the story and enabled the characters involved to show the different facets of their personalties.

Kat was such a capable and engaging character but she was unable to shake off the shadows from her past and her vulnerability came through clearly. It made me mad on her behalf when others betrayed her and took advantage. All I can say is she was more forgiving than me.

Summer at the French Café is a fantastic engaging and entertaining summer read; it had enough drama to keep me invested, character development along the way, and of course romance. I loved it.

If you wanted to read another of Sue Moorcroft’s books set in Alsace, then let me direct you to one of my favourites, Just For the Holidays.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR



Award-winning author Sue Moorcroft writes contemporary women’s fiction with occasionally unexpected themes.

The daughter of two soldiers, Sue was born in Germany and went on to spend much of her childhood in Malta and Cyprus. She likes reading, Zumba, FitStep, yoga, and watching Formula 1.

Follow the author:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Bookshop.org | Amazon UK

Other blog reviews:

Under The Mistletoe (2021)
Under the Italian Sun (2021)
Christmas Wishes (2020)
Summer on a Sunny Island (2020) | Guest Post by Sue Moorcroft – Five Places in Summer on a Summer Island – Now and Then (2020)
A Summer to RememberGuest Post by Sue Moorcroft (2019)
A Christmas Gift (2018)
One Summer in Italy (2018)
The Little Village Christmas (2017)
Just For the Holidays (2017) | Guest Post by Sue Moorcroft – A Holiday in France – with Added Challenges (2017)
The Christmas Promise (2016)

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2 thoughts on “Summer at the French Café by Sue Moorcroft | Publication Day Book Review | Romantic Fiction | #SummerAtTheFrenchCafé”

  • Thanks so much for such an insightful and positive review, Karen! That’s painted a big smile on my face. I’m so glad you enjoyed spending summer with Kat and Noah. And thank you for all your support, always. xx

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