Guest Review: Cherry Pie Island

The Grand Reopening Of Dandelion Cafe (Cherry Pie Island, Book 1)

Guest Reviewer: Susan Lobban
Susan's rating: 7/10


As soon as Annie steps foot in the Dandelion Cafe she is transported back to the days when she would sit at one of the tables with her dad chatting over a plate of infamous Cherry Pie. Unfortunately that time in her life is long gone and now that she has made a life for herself in London she has no reason to be back on Cherry Pie Island, until now. Enid the manager her Dad left in charge has died and now the cafe’s legacy is in Annie’s hands. Looking around it is plain to see that not much has changed since she was last there and that is not a good thing. She had no intention of running the cafe, but at the same time she is set against her brother’s money fuelled plans to build on the land. Her dad must have left his beloved cafe to her for some reason, but in amongst the chipped formica and dirty walls Annie is finding it hard to what that reason may be.

This book is the first in a brand new series set on Cherry Pie Island, however rather than being full length each part is a novella. Personally I am not a big fan of splitting books into parts and would prefer to wait to see if a full book will follow later. However as I have loved Jenny Oliver’s previous books so much I was willing to give this a try, and I suppose as the other parts follow on in the coming months fairly quickly then it could just be like taking continuous breaks from the one book.

Anyway the length aside, I did enjoy the initial premise of Annie returning to take over the cafe that she has found family memories of. Injecting some new life into a run down family business never gets old for me and in this case I found that the side stories held just as much if not more of my interest. Although as predicted just as I was wanted to delve further into certain characters, especially Matt and River, the book ended and this is why I still fail to see the appeal of splitting stories into parts. It does give you a small taster of what is to come and on reading I could see which characters would play a part further down the line.

In the past I have always read Jenny Oliver’s books greedily and finished them in one or two sittings, but this time I was left wanting more. I like to have my cake and eat it! If you have yet to discover this author though then this book will definitely whet your appetite for more.

Cherry Pie Island

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