The Cherry Tree Cafe by Heidi Swain

Cupcakes, crafting and love at The Cherry Tree Cafe... Perfect feel-good summer reading for fans of Great British Bake-Off 

Lizzie Dixon's life feels as though it's fallen apart. Instead of the marriage proposal she was hoping for from her boyfriend, she is unceremoniously dumped, and her job is about to go the same way. So, there's only one option: to go back home to the village she grew up in and to try to start again.

Her best friend Jemma is delighted Lizzie has come back home as she has just bought a little cafe and Lizzie's sewing skills are just what she needs to help get it ready for the grand opening.

With a new venture and a new home, things are looking much brighter for Lizzie. But can she get over her broken heart, and will an old flame reignite a love from long ago...?

Seeing as I absolutely adored Heidi’s latest book (A Taste of Home), which I read an advanced copy of on Netgalley, I thought I should go to the start and read her books properly. Boy I’m glad I did. The Cherry Tree Cafe is Heidi’s first story and is set in the lovely town of Wynbridge. Lizzie lives in London with her very rich and well known beau, who surprisingly dumps her to marry his ex!! Yeah he’s a bit of an ass. Lizzie makes the choice to go back home to Wynbridge and stay with her lifelong friend Jemma, Jemma’s husband Tom and their young daughter Ella. 

You are pulled into the quiet and homeliness of Wynbridge, and especially when we start to visit the cafe, being done up ready for opening. Lizzie seems right at home helping with the sewing at the cafe, starting to teach people. I can imagine the bunting all over town, pastel colours, very spring and summery. I loved Lizzie. Did I think she was sometimes going with her heart rather than her head? Yes. But did I get it? Indeed I did. I really liked Lizzie and Jemmas friendship, the kind that blossoms from being young kids, to being there whenever one needs the other as adults. 

It’s just such a lovely story, with a few heartaches along the way, but plenty of smiles and laughs. It will warm your heart, and make you feel like you’ve found a new home and new friends.

I can’t wait to get stuck into book 2!!

A Taste of Home by Heidi Swain

Fliss Brown has grown up living with her mother on the Rossi family's Italian fruit farm. But when her mother dies, Fliss finds out she has a family of her own, and heads back to England with Nonna Rossi's recipe for cherry and almond tart and a piece of advice: connect with your family before it is too late...

Fliss discovers that her estranged grandfather owns a fruit farm himself, on the outskirts of Wynbridge, and she arrives to find a farm that has fallen into disrepair. Using her knowledge gleaned from working on the Rossi farm and her desire to find out more about her past, Fliss rolls her sleeves up and gets stuck in. But what will she discover, and can she resurrect the farm's glory days and find a taste of home...?

I received a copy of this from the publisher Simon & Schuster, and Netgalley in return for an honest review.

This is the first of Heidi’s books I’ve read, even though I have so many friends who love them, and wow do I agree! I loved this book and was pulled in quite quickly with the descriptions of lovely Puglia, then Fenviw Farm.

Fliss, or Felicity, is left a letter by her mum when she passes away, telling her about her childhood home back in the UK, and the farm she grew up on. Fliss’ mum never talked about her home life, after leaving and going to Italy at a young age when she fell pregnant. She heads back to the UK, and meets her Grandfather who runs a fruit farm. I loved this farm. Heidi draws you in to the surroundings and makes you feel like you’re there, in the warmth picking strawberries, siting under the apppe trees with a slice of cake and cup of tea. 

Fliss is a very likeable character, as is her Grandfather Bill. There are other characters in the story whom I wasn’t fussed on, and a big twist which I thought I had seen coming, but turns out I was wrong! 

I’m definitely recommending this one, and I guarantee I will read more of Heidi’s books.