The Beach Cafe

I have no idea why I decided to buy this book, but buy it I did. Evie Flynn is a bit of a drifter. She has artistic tendencies and wanted to be an actress but has settled for temporary office work. She lives with her boyfriend in Oxford and has two older, prettier, more successful sisters who love to condescend to "poor Evie". When Evie's aunt dies in a car accident she leaves her beach cafe in Cornwall to Evie, her favourite niece. Evie soon discovers that she can't leave the cafe to muddle along by itself, the existing employees aren't capable or reliable. Soon she has to make a hard decision, sell the cafe or move to Cornwall. But can she escape from her daydreams of a bucolic existence wafting around the cafe being glamorous and successful, long enough to actually learn how to use the coffee machine and make a bacon sandwich? This is a lovely feel good story, a triumph of hope over adversity as Evie learns what it takes to run a business and becomes embedded in the local community. I look forward to reading more in the series.

There is a lot about this book that can be easily dismissed as being twee, not necessarily a bad thing depending on what you want from a book. If you want escapism set amidst beautiful scenery and a tale that jogs along quite merrily on it's own path (even if you can guess where things are going) that will pass a few hours in a reassuring manner then this tweeness will work for you. I know it did for me. Evie is a bit of a mess, not happy with her job, not really happy in her relationship, not really fitting in with her family. All that really makes her happy, it seems, is her relationship with her partners young son. When her Aunt dies in a car crash she is thrown in to a tail spin of guilt for not keeping in touch better and due to the conflicting emotions of what to do with the Beach Cafe that has been willed to her. I have to say though that for the purposes of the probate it didn't half shoot through and she was soon in possession of the property - no interminable legal foot-dragging for this family. Once resigned to the fact the Cafe is hers Evie takes about 50 pages to decide what she is going to do about it - from the title alone we know she's going to keep it. There are then the set pieces of unwelcoming locals, inept staff, a mysterious man that catches her eye, strangely a homeless girl sleeping in the Cafe doorway and a disastrous weather event just when things are looking up for Evie and her new business. This what I mean by twee, everything comes out right no matter how dire the situation seems the familiar pattern of the genre is followed. Fortunately, Ms Diamond has crafted great characters that live and breathe on the page and feel entirely human. It is the characters that pull you through and even though you know how everything is going to end up you still find yourself leading the cheers for Evie to get her through the latest disaster. Is it literature - erm, NO. Is it enjoyable - exceedingly.

What a great book, so easy to read. Funny, witty even if it is a little predictable at points. I was unable to put it down. Absolutely loved it.