This is a feel good book! Alice and Jay both have problems in their past- they've both lost someone close to them. She's now working in a cafe and is determine to do a triathlon, except she's got a fear of the water. That's where Jay comes in. Let's face it- we all know what's going to happen here but Ashcroft has written the plot in a delightful way that keeps you reading because the characters jump off the page. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is a perfect spring/summer read (although it would be nice in winter as well!)

Wow, this book is great! It pulls you in from the very first. Watching Alice struggle to change her life after her mom's death in Castle Cove, getting involved with the people around her and her developing relationship with Jay is touching, thought-provoking and at times funny. I really enjoyed this book. #SummerAtTheCastleCafe #NetGalley

This was a very cute read! The hero and heroine had a bit more depth of character than usual, which I really appreciated. It was less predictable than the usual romance novel, and had some unexpectedly lovely moments. I also really liked the dog, and was encouraged by the supportive and non-catty relationship between the heroine and her best friend.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the Publisher, Bookouture for this review copy given in exchange for an honest review. Also thank you to Kim from Bookouture for organising the Blog Tour.

Alice Appleton works in the Castle Cafe in the little seaside town of Castle Cove. After her mum’s death, Alice decides to move into her mum’s house in the town to sort it out before she goes travelling to Thailand to visit her dad. The Castle Café is the perfect place to work and here Alice meets Jay O’Donnell, the local carpenter. Recently single and very attractive, Jay is a volunteer on the lifeboats but is still haunted by a tragedy which happened to him many years before. As a result of this he’s on a mission to save as many people as possible, and he sees Alice as his next damsel in distress!

My first book by this author, and unless I’m mistaken this is her debut book also! I love these types of books and so was really keen to read this one. The cover is definitely one which will entice you in before you’ve even read the blurb. The blue sky, blue seas and golden sands are so what I need at this time of year! I just knew I wouldn’t be disappointed with this one.

Yes, yes, yes! This was the book that I have been waiting for all year! I absolutely loved it! There was nothing which I didn’t like about this book! At the end of the day you know it’s going to be a romance book and you know there’s going to be a happy ending (because there always is!!) but it was such a fun read to get there!

Alice is a lovely character. She’s recently moved there after her mum’s death and feels guilty about not being there for her mum before she died due to her being a workaholic! I can relate to Alice in so many respects, particularly her organisation and OCD qualities!! I’m just the same and I have to admit the thought of Alice reorganising the soft drinks behind the bar made me green with envy! Jay is the local carpenter who, whilst able to do many things with his hands (keep it clean now ;-p) holds back on his feelings over a family tragedy that happened many years before. There are many ups and downs in their relationship, but they are definitely the perfect couple when they eventually get their act together!

Filled with friendships, love, laugh out loud moments and even a little bit of sex, it was the perfect book to lose myself in for a couple of days! It had me hooked from the first page and I have been loathed to do anything else until I finished it! It is definitely the kind of book that made me forget all my stresses and worries whilst I was reading it. The only thing that would have made it more perfect would have been lying on the beach in Castle Cove on a hot sunny day, eating an ice cream from the Castle Café!

Highly recommended and worth far more than five stars, but that’s all it lets me give it!! Fab, fab, fab!!

The description of this book in the title is a perfect one! It’s fun, lots of interesting characters, some heat and a lot of laughter.

Alice Appleton has moved to Castle Cove and lives in the house her Mom left to her. She is carrying the guilt of never seeming to have time to visit her, and in an instant her mom was gone. She has decided to run the local triathlon in honor of her Mom who participated every year, but Alice was always “too busy” to join her. She has a tight training schedule, and the biking and running are going well......one hitch, she is terrified of water. She works, a lot, in the Castle Cafe, run by her best friend Cath.
She has some OCD tendencies, anything not in it’s place drives her crazy, but she’s also a little accident prone which is hysterical. Her grand plan is after the triathlon she is heading to Thailand to visit her dad she hasn’t seen in six years, who knew after that.

Jay O’Donnell is a local carpenter, handy man and works on the towns lifeboat. His favorite companion is his dog Zeus. He thinks of himself as a protector, and sometimes the rescues he and the crew have to handle get under his skin. He came upon a beautiful young woman standing at the waters edge with just her toes touching the water, looking terrified. It’s storming, and he feels he must warn her about not swimming. She tries to explain she wasn’t planning on swimming, but he wouldn’t except it. She walks away calling him Mr. Grumpy. After a couple more “protection” episodes, she realizes he is just a nice guy, truly worried about her safety. They are drawn to each other, sharing their stories and soon their growing feelings. He trains with her and gives her confidence, and they both want more. But, she’s leaving for Thailand in a few weeks.

This is the first novel I have read by this author, and I hope there are more Castle Cove to come. The characters are quirky and delightful, the description of the town, beaches and hillsides make you feel you are there. I enjoyed the visit to this beach town in the U.K. very much.

Thank you to Bookouture and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this delightful story.
Pat Fordyce

A great easy to read book, romance, sadness, fun and enjoyable. Took me a few hours to read as I couldn’t put it down. Alice doesn’t know what’s she wants from life, her parents divorced, her beautiful active mum died, she was estranged from her dad, her work engulfed her. She decided to move into her mums house and work in athe local cafe. She tries to unsuccessfully keep to herself and finds friends and romance when she least expects too.

Review: How adorable is the cover for this book. Light, colourful and fresh. A story set by the sea in a castle cafe perfect! 

The Castle Cafe is somewhere I would go on holiday for a slice of cake and a refreshing drink after walking along the beach. Donna describes the setting beautifully in this story. Once I started reading it was very hard to put down. I love this type of genre. Just pure escapism. 

Alice and Jay both have a past that they would rather forget and here in Castle Cove with each other it may be time to let the past go. Some lovely scene with this to characters that you just cant help but wish then happiness.

A delicious summer feast!

I loved this book. It was a very entertaining, lighthearted and fun read. Perfect for a relaxing afternoon’s reading. One of those books that when started, is hard to put down

Whilst tinged with sadness, this is a warm and heartfelt book. I really warmed to the cast of characters and the scenes were well described - I could imagine myself on the beach with the sand between my toes!

I was surprised that this is the only book published by this author as the book flowed so well.

4* A rather enjoyable read.

This is my book by this author so I didn't know what to expect. I was not disappointed at all. This is the perfect summer read. It's well written and I loved the setting...
Alice has to go home to sort through her others items after she's died so finding love isn't up there whilst she's going through this but MR sexy appears and she takes a liking to him. After she's finished in the town she's going off for future travels so what's the point in setting down with someone New?.?
That she does and they have to decide what to do... we follow their relationship and it's certainly a nice easy beach read. I really enjoyed it.
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this

How I love the covers of those feel good books. They already make me feel good even before I have read one single word. I adore the sun and the sea, so this setting is one of my favourites.
Of course you know from the start that you are in for a fairytale ending but you never know what you will get before you get there.
I have to admit that the story felt so real. I could see everything I read and I felt the hurt, the danger and the love as if I was a character in the story myself and the funny bits made me laugh out loud sometimes.
The charcaters could have been your neighbours because they were so down to earth and it's true that you often think that what you don't have is something you really want. By doing so you don't see what's under your nose and you don't realize that you already have what you are looking for.
At the last page I kept tapping on my Kindle. I hoped that it would make pop up, miraculously, the sequel, because I want more ...
Thank you, Netgalley and Bookouture.

Jay lost his brother ten years ago and now work on Lifeboats saving lives and stopping people getting into danger in the sea. He has also just split from his long term girlfriend as she moves to Dubai for her career.



Alice left London months ago after managing a restaurant to work in Castle Cafe only we see how amazingly clumsy she is at the start of the book! But we also see how well she fits in there with Cath and Lily whom work there too.



After she attempts to try and swim in the sea Jay interrupts her before she can into any trouble they also run into each other when Alice is on her bike and again when Jay offers his carpentry skills to the cafe to fix the cupboard she broke off the wall.



Alice and Jay train for the triathlon together after Alice reveals she is doing it for her mum who always took part who's just passed away months before as Alice has just moved to finally be with her despite it being just too late. As the story develops, we watch as Alice and Jay become friends and how they both help each other as Alice injured her ankle and Jay needs someone to help him organise, not to mention they wind up rescuing someone while our on the water which causes Alice to confess something to Jay.



As Alice prepares to leave for Thailand to live with her dad and his new wife, Beth she helps Cath find her happy ever after with the right guy and finds it hard to say bye to Jay after their relationship developed so much. But will be give up on them?



The main castle setting is a lavish sounding and seeming affair, like something out of a Disney film with many offerings besides just a cafe. The tone of the book is very holiday like and idyllic, I felt like it was a believable story and really enjoyed it. Drama aside, there were funny times, emotional times and I praise Donna for including about the lifeboats services for all they do saving lives and risking their own under bad or good situations.

The cover is also gorgeous and so pretty with all the pastel colours popping and catching my eye all the time!



A perfect girly read for this time of year in the Spring/Summer sunshine!



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Many thanks to netgalley for an ARC of this book! Having not heard of the author before I was a bit reticent at first but soon realised that this was going to be a wonderful, easy summer holiday kind of a read and it did not disappoint! I thoroughly enjoyed the setting - a seaside town where Alice, having recently lost her mother, moves to for a couple of months while she sorts out her mum's house before moving on to visit her father overseas and travel thereafter.

Having decided to put romance on the back burner and concentrate on changing her life, Mr dreamy, in the form of Jay, enters her life and Alice finds it hard to resist. We follow their relationship through the book until we find their happy ending. Yes the story line is a little predictable but nevertheless, this is a lovely, easy read - perfect for the beach!

A delightful book of romance and summer flings. No great angst, some hurt feelings, some injuries - both physical and emotional, but none so great they cannot be overcome. Truly a feel good, satisfying read.

I really enjoyed this debut novel by Donna Ashcroft, the characters are well written and the characters are believable, particularly Alice and Jay. The story unfolds naturally as you find out the characters backgrounds and the locations are described in beautiful detail. My only other comment which is not a criticism is that I would describe it as a feel good romance rather than a comedy as much of the subject matter is quite emotional. I would definitely recommend this book.

Alice has inherited her late mother's home in Castle Cove. She has decided to change her life completely. Rather than being a workaholic, she is going to widen her horizons. She is working in a cafe and practicing to enter a triathlon. Her mother participated in triathlons and Alice has made herself a promise to emulate her mother's example.

Jay has lived in Castle Cove nearly all his life. He holds much of who he is inside. His passion is being part of the team who ride in lifeboats to rescue people in danger. He sings at the local pub, he is a talented carpenter and he keeps a close watch on his mother. In all things, he is conscientious. Now things are about to change for him.

Alice and Jay are almost immediately attracted to one another. But, each of them hold secrets.

There are secondary characters who add a great deal to the story. Cath works in the cafe with Alice. She is in a relationship with one man but still holding another man in her heart.
There are other villagers who add to the depth of the story. In a small town, of course the postman knows everyone's story. That is part of a small town's charm. Each of the secondary characters have their own history which makes them very much important parts of the village.

There was much I enjoyed about this book. There were a few things which simply did not feel right to me. I felt that Alice dithered too long about her life changing decisions. And Jay's withholding information from Alice seemed foolish since they were in a village where everyone knew his history.

I liked both Alice and Jay. I enjoyed the conversations which emphasized their differences but those differences did not keep them from being attracted to one another. Each of them are intelligent and responsible people who have a strong sense of caring for their fellow man.

I am drawn to stories which include humor and this book includes a goodly amount of humor. The teasing between long time friends had a feeling of reality.

This is a story which had ups and downs for me, but overall it was a book I would recommend to someone seeking a feel good story.

I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley. I am voluntarily writing this review and all opinions are my own.

What an amazing debut novel by the lovely Donna Ashcroft. Straight away when I saw this cover I just knew that I had to read it. The cover is absolutely stunning, I adore the bright colours of the sea and sand and the castle to the left of the cover just completes it for me. It's wonderfully eye-catching and if the blurb didn't make you want to read this novel, then the cover certainly would.

Donna's writing reminded me somewhat of Holly Martin, it was classy and just a joy to read. I found this novel was really well written and I really enjoyed reading about lovely Alice and moody Jay. I love that we got to read about both of their sides and their lives, that made it really interesting and we really got to see how and why the two characters acted like and done what they did. As soon as I started this novel, I felt like I was instantly transported to the cafe and to the beautiful seaside town of Castle Cove, and if I'm honest - I didn't want to leave!

Before I started this book, I was in a bit of a reading-rut, however this soon got me out of it! It was just such an easy read that I managed to read it within a few days and throughly enjoyed it - it's the perfect summer novel. All of the characters are really unique and quirky and I loved reading about them all. Alice enjoys her work at the cafe in the castle and Jay volunteers on the lifeboat - saving people's lives on almost a daily basis. The pair are quite different in a lot of ways and start off quite disliking each other. However, they soon grow close and realise that they're not so different after all and that they are both hiding quite a few secrets...

This is a wonderful novel where straight from the start you'll be engulfed with delicious sounding food, lovely surroundings and delightful characters. Would definitely recommend you give this author a chance. Thank you to the publisher for a chance to read this novel via Netgalley, which I have reviewed honestly.

Review going live on my blog on publication day

This is the first book bi have read by this author as not heard of her before and will read more for sure amazingly well written with great character and you believe when you are reading the story you are transported to the beautful seaside village. Very heartwarming, funny, realistic and very romantic. Highly recommend reading this and worth far more than the five stars.
Alice moves to the beautful seaside village to retreat and sort her mothers house out as she has passed away but she's set on doing this and then travelling and visiting her father. She starts working at the castle cafe which is so beautful and she organises them all and they realise they need her working there. She is set for doing a triathlon apart from she is frightened of the water. The cafe is perfect for Alice to work in for the summer and she sons meets some lovely people including Jay. Jay is living in the village with his own business and he lost his brother down by the sea a number of years ago but he's always blamed himself for his brothers passing and he can't forgive himself and this his parents blame him to. Alice and Jay soon become friends as he does some work at the cafe and he's out walking his dog and sees Alice running. Problem is can they both open up to each other and support each other through the hard times. Alice really wants to swim and prove she can do it and Jay wants to move on but he can't open up it takes his mother saying something to Alice that makes him start to open up. Alice decides before the triathlon she is going to go travelling as she can't see a future with Jay as they just can't move forward but once she's gone can they both realise what they are missing and get back together or not.
Well worth reading from the first page to the last and so highly recommend this book perfect for curling up on a lovely day and reminding you of summer.

Really enjoyable read. The story of Alice, newcomer to Castle Cove, and Jay, who has lived there most of his life. Alice has moved there to sort out her late mother's house and to take part in the triathlon. When she meets Jay he can't help but want to get to know her better, and offers to help her with her training. Both have issues in their past which are holding them back from moving on with their future.

Great range of characters as the friends and family.

Looking forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you for providing me with this book to read. I loved this book! It was a nice easy read, but it ended too early for me!! I want more to read!!!