We all know the saying that ‘bad things come in threes’, but this wonderful trilogy of tales is the exception that proves the rule. In this, the third instalment of the series, Rosie our hostess with the mostess comments that ‘Matt was not the kind of person who judged a book by its glossy cover’, but from the very first glimpse of the picture-perfect café I was smitten. It would seem that there is a time for doing just that. The pretty images beckoning us to read on really do open up a world of romcom that is sprinkled with a touch of mystery and filled with intriguing characters who you can’t help but want to get to know. We can pull up a chair, take in the welcoming atmosphere of the Windmill Café and relax with the ‘promise of a decent cup of coffee and a sweet treat’ that won’t expand our waistline, but will heighten our senses, as the Willerby winter wonderland reveals a few blots on the landscape. With the season of advent calendars nearly upon us, these three books are a wonderful treat to dip into on a daily basis, to give just the right dose of seasonal romance with a twist. As we open up the doors on each new chapter we discover that not all in the story are intent on spreading ‘good will to all men.’
I really liked taking the advice in the book to ‘take a break as noone can possibly function properly when they are tired’ and curl up with the cosy café contingent who by now I feel that I am really getting to know. Just like returning to your favourite holiday spot every year, the familiarity of the surroundings is soothing and sensing this special snowy season swirling around the story was truly enjoyable. It feels as if Rosie isn’t the only one left with a feeling of homecoming when we dive into the pages of another mystery to solve.
Like all good Christmas time stories this one has a little gift to stick in our stocking - a reminder to ‘spend those coins of happiness’ and share the good we have with others, and to tell those we love how we really feel, even if, perhaps especially if, this makes us step outside our comfort zone in the process.
What a scrummy treat of a book, it will really get you in the mood for the festive fun to come.

Coffee Cup Conversations and Teapot Talking Points:

If you and I dear reader were sitting down together today, imagining ourselves snuggled up under a blanket in the windmill café having visited the Christmas Carousel, here are a few of the points we could mull over together, as we sip our Christmas lattes and look out of the pretty French windmill windows.

What are your go to Christmas munchies?

A few years ago, my kids and I attempted building some gingerbread houses – it turns out it’s a lot harder than you might think, even with a clever do it yourself kit from the local supermarket. Sticking the walls and the roof together was a three-person job – and I am sure that we came out of it covered in more icing than the house itself. It was fun to ice and decorate but I really wasn’t in the mood for eating any of it after all that time spent wrestling with it. I do enjoy the smell of a baking fruit cake. Last year I made a fruit cake practically every week whilst I wrote – just for the warm waft of that comforting scent.

What type of decorations do you prefer?

With the Christmas tree carousel competition, a major enjoyable feature of the story it got me thinking about our own decorations. Some people have multiple trees around their house, we have one, but a real one in the living room – I love the smell of it when I come down in the morning. All these musings have made me realise how much this season is bound up in traditions that alight all of the senses. I am never brave enough to diverge from the red, gold and green jewel colours of our tree. I do so admire a tree with a different colour scheme or fancy coloured lights, but I can never bring myself to go for it. We have also got decorations going back some years now and I can’t not have them find their place on the tree – it feels wrong somehow. I’m not the only one in my family who feels this way either. I tried to ditch the tinsel in the name of modernity but my grown-up wonders wouldn’t have it – the tinsel had to stay!

What is your favourite season?

This lovely series really does have something to satisfy every reader, and I have enjoyed dipping my toes in the different seasons as the stories unfolded. One year I had a ‘year of reading seasonally’ and only read books of the season that I was in. It started with my passion for Christmas chick-lit and grew from there. It is a fun thing to do, finding books that fit the theme was a major part of the fun. In the Windmill Café series, I really enjoyed the way that Poppy Blake illustrated the seasons with her words and brought the sights and sounds and all the feels to life. The books are good for the soul – a mindful reminder to live in the now, to count our blessings and to take one day at a time. This trilogy is full of self-compassion and self-care comments that go right to the heart of enjoying each day and living our lives to the full by experiencing the present climate knowing that it too shall pass.

As this is not the first book in the series I found it difficult to get into; I needed to get to know all the characters, settings, etc, which if I’d read previous books would have made it easier. I didn’t finish the story, but not because I didn’t like it, I just couldn’t comprehend the characters and their relationships to one another. But I would consider having another read of it after reading from the beginning of the series.

The Windmill Café: Christmas Trees is the third book in The Windmill Café series. Rosie Barnes lives and works in a windmill café and is excited about the upcoming Christmas Tree Carousel competition and the wedding of her friends Grace and Josh. The excitement is ruined when Theo, a member of the stag party, is injured during a biking competition and it appears to be no accident. It seems that anyone with motive to injure Theo must be involved in the wedding and Grace doesn’t want her wedding to go ahead unless the mystery is solved first. So Rosie teams up with outward bound instructor Matt to try and find the culprit so the wedding can go ahead.

I hadn’t read the first two books in the series before reading this. There’s enough brief mentions of events in previous books to get a hint of the important facts regarding the relationships between the characters to be able to enjoy this book as a stand-alone. I really enjoyed this book and intend on reading the first two books.

The book felt incredibly Christmassy from the very beginning, with mouth-watering descriptions of wonderful festive bakes. The mystery was interesting, with lots of juicy secrets being revealed about the potential suspects.

There’s a large cast of characters, and while it was hard to remember who was who at first, they all have distinct looks and traits described in detail.

The blossoming romance between Rosie and Matt was heart-warming, against the wintery backdrop of The Windmill Café, with the added excitement of the investigation into the accident. There’s also plenty of romance between the other couples in the story.

This book ticks all the boxes for a feel-good Christmas mystery-romance. I thoroughly recommend.

The enchanted Norfolk village is decked out in all its festive glory creating a magical backdrop of Christmas trees and mince pies for the latest instalment of the Willerby Whodunnit mystery.

Rosie and Matt create quite the sleuthing pair hunting down the culprit in the latest crimes to hit the village whilst adding an element of romance to the air in their proceedings.

Willerby is a quaint village and a perfect setting for this book filled with instantly likeable characters and decadent Christmas baked treats. I loved the juxtaposition of the Christmas Carousel Competition against the Agatha Christie mystery element as it created additional layers and transformed this book from your average chocolate box Christmas novel into something with grit and heart.

I simply adored this book, it had me hooked from the beginning. A real page-turner in its nature and I couldn't put it down. I'm now eager to read the previous books in this series to prolong my stay in Willerby for a little while longer.

The Windmill Cafe: Christmas Trees, is the third book in the Windmill Cafe series by author Poppy Blake. I did not realize that this story was the third installment of short stories. However, I had no problem following the story even though I have not read the previous two that have been released. The first installment is called The Windmill Cafe: Summer Breeze. The second installment is called The Windmill Cafe: Autumn Leaves. I am hoping that the author combines the three and releases them as one full length novel. Each of these can be read as a stand-alone. However, I would recommend reading them in order so that it is easier to understand the references to the characters from the previous releases.

Rosie Barnes owns the Windmill Cafe, and Christmas is quickly approaching. Her friends, Josh and Grace, are getting married on Christmas Eve, and she also needs to prepare for her Christmas Tree Carousel competition. Needless to say, she will definitely be busy this holiday season. Also on her list of things to do, she needs to make a decision in her personal life regarding her ex-husband and Matt, the new man she has her sights set on. Sounds easy, right? Well, of course things never go as planned. There is an accident in the woods, and Rosie needs to figure out if it truly was an accident, or is someone specifically targeting the people involved in the wedding. Never a dull moment at the Windmill Cafe!

This story is fast paced and brilliantly written. I love the mystery and romance that takes place, and feel like the author blended the two together perfectly. This is a book that has a bit of everything in it...mystery and suspense, family and friendships, and love and romance. Overall, this was a very entertaining and fantastic read!

I would like to thank Harper Impulse and Killer Reads, as well as NetGalley, for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book. My views are my own, and are in no way influenced by anyone else.

Another mystery to solve at the Windmill Cafe! The third book in this series and the main characters are starting to find their way: Mia and Freddie, Rosie and Matt.

Looking forward to the next installment!

Disclaimer: I had not read the previous books in #TheWindmillCafe Series; however, I am living proof that you don’t need to.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story, it had a little bit of romance, friendship, family and suspense. Having gone in blind, I hadn’t realized that there was a whodunit plot in each of the books in the series. I enjoyed learning more about each of the characters, not just their good side, the ‘perfect’ face they show the world but thanks to the detective duo we see under the veneer which was a surprising perk of this read.
I have rated this book four stars due to working out the culprit well in advance but moreover, I felt I needed to know a bit more about their extreme reaction to Rosie as well as what happened after they were carted off in cuffs.
Having said that this is still an excellent quick read and I’d like to thank #Netgalley, #HarperCollins and #HarperImpluse for the Advanced Readers Copy.

Nice to see these charges again however I was hoping for a different type of story rather than another who done it. I felt that it had been a bit over done in the 1st 2 books. It was nice to see a happy ending.

So when I requested this book I didn’t realise it was the last part of the novel. I quickly went back and read the 1st 2 books so I knew the characters and any background story.

Rosie, the main character, relocated to a cafe in a windmill in Norfolk. Sounds normal enough but she turns amateur sleuth.

This part is set at Christmas. Grace, the vicar’s daughter, is due to marry on Christmas Eve. Cue awwwwww’s. However on the stag due, a bike race, a friend of the stag is hurt.

Matt helps Rosie uncover who the culprit is and a lot more about the other guests of the windmill cafes lodges.

Really enjoyed this book. Will be a fabulous read as the complete read and I’ll definitely be looking for other books written by Poppy Blake as I just loved her writing style.

Okay so hands up who made a slight error! I thought when I requested this book it was the finished version, it was in fact part 3 (of 3 short stories - due to be combined into 1 complete novel).

But oh wow it did not disappoint! There were a number of characters to meet but it quickly settled down so I knew who was who and their role in the story. Grace and Josh are due to get married on Christmas Eve but on the stag party a member of the merry gang has an incident....

Rosie teams up the delightful Matt to attempt to 'save' the wedding by trying to solve the mystery of whether this accident was intentional and, of course, whodunit?! I thought the book was brilliant and full of mystery - the story was written so the culprit could be any 1 of a number of people so it kept me guessing right to the end. The best part for me was the Poirot-esque getting everyone together at the end for the big reveal and hearing how they could/couldn't have done it.

The book alludes to some heartbreak for Rosie, which I'm guessing was focused on in one of the previous 2 parts, but will she get together with Matt and find a little festive romance for herself along the way?

I will definitely be purchasing the finished book and highly recommend it to others - a big dollop of mystery with a spoonful of intrigue and a pinch of romance, I loved it!

My thanks to HarperImpulse and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first by this author but it won't be my last... I will be adding the other's in this series to my TBR pile and will re-read this one in the correct order.

I didn't realise this was the 3rd instalment in this series when I requested it on Netgalley but that said I think you can read it as a stand-alone... you just won't understand the references to things from previous books.

A Christmas setting... romance and a bit of a mystery... what more could you want?

Rosie works in the Windmill Café, she's organizing the Christmas Tree Festival whilst trying to organise a wedding for her friends, her ex turned up wanting to make amends, he offers her a stake in the business. Rosie has fallen for the gorgeous Matt... but... who does she really want to be with?

Poppy is asked to solve a mystery... A member of the bachelor party is injured in a bike race... they took a short cut and went into a trap they didn't see... was it an accident and who put it there? Everyone has a reason why they may have done it... so can Poppy get to the bottom of it without putting herself in danger. Will she realise what and who she wants in life to find happiness?

A lovely, entertaining read.

Thank-You Netgalley for my ARC.

This book's lovely, entertaining and fun to read. I loved the plot, the characters and the settings, so cozy and friendly.
It's a stand-alone novel but it's better to read the previous instalments in order to have a better understament.
Recommended!
Many thanks to HarperImpulse and Netgalley for this ARC

It was a refreshing change to read a romance with a mystery attached and a Christmas setting, what more could I need as I usually read cozy murders.
Not realising this was the 3 and final book I was still hooked.
With Rosie romance finally coming together with Matt and Mia with Freddie too.
A delightful read .
Many thanks to nettgalley and publishers for letting me read and review this book.

My review has been posted to my blog & Goodreads.

Review has also been tweeted as usual.

Thank you! :c)

I have made a bit of a error on choosing this book only because I haven't read the first two books in the series therefore I don't think I was able to enjoy it as much as those who have done so. The characters in the book are delightful and references a lot to events that occurred in the first two stories. There was a lot going on and I found it hard to engage with it, which was down to me entirely and no reflection on the book itself..

I'd imagine those who have read the first two would have enjoyed the ending to the series.

I was looking forward to reading the final part in this series and didn't disappoint me at all this book was my favourite out of the three it flowed so well and the characters were great. Full of Christmas and mystery with romance and a simple read with a great conclusion.
Rosie is continuing to work in the windmill cafe and her ex has turned up wanting to make amends and offer her a stake in the business she has a decision to make as she has fallen for gorgeous Matt and who does she really want to be with. She's organised a Christmas tree festival at her cafe and they are busy sorting it out there is also a wedding to arrange. While out on a bike race someone makes a short cut and is knocked off the bike by a trap they didn't see. So they ask poppy again to see if she can solve who did it as she is quicker than the police. Problem is everyone has a reason why they may have done it so can she find out who it is and in doing so will it put her in danger or not and will she realise what and who she really wants as well and be happy.
A great read and great conclusion sorry the series has finished.

Rosie Barnes is staying warm this December, baking up a storm in the Windmill Cafe. Her best friends are getting married and her Cafe is hosting an annual Christmas village event, what could go wrong? Plenty, it seems, when a member of the bachelor party is injured and it appears that his accident was no accident. Together with Matt, a fitness instructor, Rosie sets out to find out who’s targeting wedding guests to save the day, and her best friend’s wedding. This little cozy has a delightful mystery, a charming village and a hunky hero to help keep readers warm on cold nights