I was so delighted to have my wish granted on @netgalley to read this book. Unfortunately I missed the pub date before reading this book, but I did previously post about my excitement about reading this smile 😊

Small countryside towns are my thing, clearly! No one writes small towns as sweetly and comforting as Jenny Colgan. I loved the characters, the story had happy highs and sad lows and ended wonderfully.

If you feel like escaping to the countryside and emerse yourself into a comforting, sweet story filled with love, heartbreak and lovely friendships, this is for you

Sweet shop of Dreams is a very well written romance. I enjoyed the dual time line plot and the setting. I recommend this book.

Another sweet read by Jenny Colgan. A beautiful setting and Colgan paints a vivid picture of the scenery as well as the romantic dynamic. She has continually been able to put characters in situations where they need to rely on each other in a very natural progression while still bringing a light and love to the story.

I adored the sweetshop aspect - so fun!

I enjoyed the dual timelines - although at times it felt like the transition was weird, but dual timelines are always a favorite for me.

I felt like the story dragged on for me. I found myself skimming quite a bit.

I think fans of Colgan and sweets will still enjoy this one though!

Sweetshop of Dreams is a feel good, quick read by Jenny Colgan. This story revolves around Rosie Hopkins who works as a Nurse Auxiliary in London. She is then asked to go to the small town her family is from to help her Great-Aunt Lilian get back on her feet. This involves getting her back to health, cleaning up the family sweetshop in order to sell it, and get Lilian into a home. Like all Colgan novels where an outsider comes to a small UK town Rosie is charmed by the town and makes some friends as well as some enemies.

This is one of those palette cleanser novels where it is nothing too intense, is fast paced, and give you something enjoyable to read just when you need a book like that. If you need an idyllic town story with a female lead who finds herself pick this one up.

When Rosie is tasked with helping her elderly aunt clean out and sell the family sweetshop, little does Rosie suspect the twists and turns her life will take. Village life turns out to be very different from London life! As Rosie gets to know the local people, she finds many surprises, and discovers a lot about herself besides. The plot of this novel occurs in two different time periods, moving seamlessly between past and present. Readers learn about Aunt Lilian's past life and its effects on current events and village life. Loose ends are thoughtfully tied up in the end, sometimes in unexpected ways!

The novel contains some strong language, although it does not detract from the plot or the character development. I received this novel from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Another book by Jenny Colgan with a cast of well developed characters. These characters, as if often the case in Colgan's novels, are in the midst of change sometimes voluntarily, sometimes not. The plot revolves around these changes how the various characters, Rosie, Lillian, and Stephen deal with them. The movement between present and past gives depth to the story and background for the present time. Another sweetly satisfying story.

All of Jenny Colgan's books are treasures, and Sweetshop of Dreams is the sweetest of all. It's the story of Rosie and what she will ultimately decide is most important in life.

Rosie is an auxiliary nurse, contracted to an agency, spending her time running from job to job. She shares a home with her boyfriend, Gerard. Rosie spends her off time cooking, cleaning and doing laundry, while Gerard spends his off time playing Grand Theft Auto.

Rosie isn't happy when her mother guilts her into caring for her elderly aunt, Lillian, in a tiny village. From that point, the book switches between Lillian's story in the 1940's and the present day. Recipes for historical yummy sweets are also included.

I loved this book. I would highly recommend this title to any fan of chick lit.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a free digital copy of this title to review from Net Galley.

#SweetshooofDreams#NetGalley

Rosie has found herself in a bit of a rut. Despite living in fast-paced London, her life has slowed down to a crawl. She's in between nursing jobs and her boyfriend is in no rush to move things along in their relationship. When she finds out that her elderly relative, Lillian, is in need of someone to help her move from her home to a care facility, Rosie reluctantly agrees to move to the small village for a few weeks to help out. Lillian has always been on her own, and she's not fond of needing help now. She ran the village sweet shop for years until it became too much, and if she's going to be able to afford the care facility, she will need Rosie's help to sell it. As Rosie explores the quiet village, her idea of what life can look like will be challenged and reshaped along the way.

I really enjoyed this story! It's a sweet chick flick with fun characters and a cozy English village setting. I sometimes get tired of rom-com stories because they are often predictable, and while this is certainly not a thriller, there was some solid character development that lead to the story turning out differently than I had expected. Rosie is a fun character--loyal and hardworking, but also not afraid to speak her mind. Lillian is curmudgeonly at times, but her own story is woven throughout the book, and it helps to flesh her out. Rosie gets herself into a lot of funny situations, and there was a point or two where I actually laughed out loud.

It was a lovely read, and I highly recommend it for anyone else who is looking for a charming story with fun characters and some romance sprinkled in.

Thank you to Jenny Colgan, Sourcebooks Landmark, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and honestly review this book!

Lillian Hopkins has secrets, but she hid behind the jars of candy and smiled every day to make others have happy days. However, old age crept up on her and the family sent someone to help.
Rosie was complacent in her life and was at a crossroads, but couldn’t admit it to herself yet or tell her boyfriend who was a mommies boy and moocher. What to do, but she is literally in Hicksville or so it seems at first glance!

The author has a great storyline and so many quirky characters that it all comes together. It may take a few chapters, but stick with it because the book is really interesting and it does have great flow and flair.

I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley and these are my willingly given thoughts and opinions.

Another cute story by Jenny Colgan. Nothing too groundbreaking, but a nice mental vacation to get lost in. Our patrons really like Colgan's writing, so we will definitely be buying this one. Thank you.

Title: Sweetshop of Dreams
Author: Jenny Colgan
Genre: Women’s fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

Rosie Hopkins has gotten used to busy London life. It's...comfortable. And though she might like a more rewarding career, and her boyfriend's not exactly the king of romance, Rosie's not complaining. And when she visits her Aunt Lilian's small country village to help sort out her sweetshop, she expects it to be dull at best.

Lilian Hopkins has spent her life running Lipton's sweetshop, through wartime and family feuds. When her great-niece Rosie arrives to help her with the shop, the last thing Lillian wants to slow down and wrestle with the secret history hidden behind the jars of beautifully colored sweets.

But as Rosie gets Lilian back on her feet, breathes a new life into the candy shop, and gets to know the mysterious and solitary Stephen—whose family seems to own the entire town—she starts to think that settling for what's comfortable might not be so great after all.

This was such a fun book! Rosie’s boyfriend got on my very last nerve—and he’s fictional! I loved the scenes of life in the little village, and Rosie’s misadventures had me laughing. Reading this was sheer enjoyment!

Jenny Colgan was born in Scotland. Sweetshop of Dreams is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Sourcebooks Landmark in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 4/28.)

I believe this is a re publication of one of Jenny’s earlier novels, but I had never read it. What a delight - sweet, funny, and charming. I was genuinely sad to finish the book! Jenny Colgan has such a gift for creating a little town and characters so lovely - like your favorite romantic comedy in book form.

In London, Rosie has a busy life. A job that is okay. A boyfriend who was rather bland and a momma’s boy. But who is she to complain?

When her mother asks her to check in on her Aunt Lilian who runs a sweetshop in Lipton but is having the issues that come with age and she is not one to ask for assistance. Rosie is thinking just a quick trip to sell the sweets shop and put her aunt in a facility and she’ll be back in London.

Lilian is not thrilled with someone coming to stay and poke through all of her things. It may be a sweets shop but it’s full of memories of love won and lost, decisions made and regretted.

Rosie sees this and while she works to get Lilian out of her depression and healthy again, she also brings new life to the sweet shop, and soon it’s a project. She loves it. All the old-fashioned candies and the bright and eager smiles of the children and adults who are re-living their own childhoods through the smells and taste of their favorites.

When Rosie meets the dark and brooding Stephen while helping the local doctor, she begins to think maybe she won’t settle for a ho-hum life in London.

Such a sweet treat to read this one. I went straight away to the Edinburgh candy!

NetGalley/ Sourcebooks Out now!

This book has a slow and steady build. But it’s so worth it to get to know these characters. It was such a comfort to sit on a bench in this village and observe the happenings.

I have read many Jenny Colgan books and she is one of my favorite authors so do not take it lightly when I say that Sweetshop of Dreams is one of her best works. It took me a few chapters to get into it but after about chapter three, it became a book I could not put down. Colgan has a very distinctive writing style and voice which I love and is what draws me to her novels. It is always hopeful, descriptive, lively, and realistic. Most of her novels along with this one are written in the third person omniscient and this is one of my favorite things about her books that allow us into the minds of the characters and gives a better, clearer understanding of the situations, and allows the reader to see all sides of it.
One thing that sets this book apart from others I have read from her is that it is a dual timeline. We jump from Rosie Hopkins's present-day (2012) perspective and her great-aunt Lilian Hopkins’ past (1942-1944) perspective. It was done in such a lovely way and fun to see Lilian in the present day and then see how she became that way by looking at the past. This is the first dual timeline I have read from her and I loved it. There is just something about the juxtaposition of it that is fun and endearing.
Sweetshop of Dreams is about Rosie Hopkins, a thirty-year-old auxiliary nurse, moving from London to a small town called Lipton to help her great-aunt Lilian sell the family sweetshop and put Lilian in a nursing home. Once in Lipton, Rosie gets sucked into the town and people and starts to question everything about her life. Colgan’s characters are so alive in her novels and easy to connect with. Every question Rosie has, or contemplation Lilian has I start to question and contemplate in my own life. And that is the best part of reading, isn’t it? To learn and think about our own lives and how we live and how we can be more alive.
Just like most of Colgan’s novels, there is plenty of romance and self-discovery, but I feel like there are more life lessons and importance of what our priorities are or should be in this novel than in her others. There is also a big focus on family in Sweetshop of Dreams. It is a novel that will make you laugh, and hug it, and maybe even cry (I did), but it will leave you thinking about it for days and look back over your favorite parts constantly. The words, the characters, the pictures it paints in your mind stays with you long after you have finished it. This book is nothing less than absolutely lovely.

Sweetshop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan
Publisher: SOURCEBOOKS Landmark
Genre: Women's Fiction
Publication Date: April 13, 2021

Sweetshop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan is such an enjoyable read! This was the first book I have read by the author and I can't believe I had waited so long to read one of her books. I'm a fan now!

I found this book truly delightful, with a wonderful story and lovely characters. This was a quick read that made me feel good!

I'm so grateful to Jenny Colgan, SOURCEBOOKS Landmark, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for the DRC. Sadly, I didn't finish it.

Being honest, the first few chapters were a bit confusing to me. I couldn't understand what was really going on. All the characters sounded the same. Maybe it's my fault, since it's been hard for me to focus on anything these days. I've read other books by this author before and I liked them, so I think I'll give this one another chance in the future. I apologize that I couldn't be more helpful right now.

I wish you the best and I hope other readers enjoy it a lot! :)

This book is a re-release of a 2014 book that sounded good in theory, but in the actual reading wasn't what I expected. I wanted to give up on reading it several times, but muddled my way through it.

Rosie Hopkins is called by her mother to go and help her great aunt who fell and broke her leg. Rosie's mom, Angie, wants Rosie to sell her aunt Lillian's sweetshop and put Lillian in a nursing home. Rosie is an auxiliary nurse with enough medical knowledge to help Lillian out, so she leaves London to go to Lipton to do what she can.

Rosie takes on the care of her aunt, her aunt's sweetshop, and the care of a few other people in Lipton, including helping the local doctor take care of an injured dog. Even though she has a boyfriend, her affections seem to float all over the place with a couple of single men in the area.

I've never read anything by Jenny Colgan, and probably won't read anything by her again, simply because I prefer clean romances, and this was not that. Her characters were fleshed out and her settings were easily imaginable. Her writing is good for what it is, but it doesn't fit my preferences. I didn't like the book, but others will love it. It's a matter of taste

Four Stars

Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

Candy everywhere!! Make sure you have some sweets nearby when you read this book as I have gained 5lbs just by the descriptions in this lovely book!

Rosie Hopkins is lost in her life. Her relationship with her long-time boyfriend is stagnant, she has few friends, and she is currently out of work as an auxiliary nurse. One day she gets a phone call from her mother, who is currently in Australia taking care of her brother's children. Her Mother tells her that her great aunt Lillian, who lives in a small village in the country, is ill and needs help selling her sweet shop.

When Rosie arrives in the small town of Lipton, she finds an unbelievable cast of characters, including her elderly Aunt. "Sweetshop of Dreams" is told from the perspective of Rosie, but we also hear from her Aunt, who flashes back to the 40s during wartime when she lost her first and only love. Aunt Lillian is a force to be reckoned with and is not ready to give up on her life. When Rosie first arrives, there is tension, but they grow to love each other as they are both so quirky.

Rosie reopens the sweetshop, which has been closed for years. But once she opens temporarily, she realizes how much the residents of Lipton loved the little store. As she becomes embroiled in the life of Lipton and its residents, she begins to love it there and finds out that maybe this is meant to be her life too. Rosie is a wonderful character. She is insightful, kind and warm.