This book grew on me, but not enough that I could get over the bad writing. The male characters are all flat & have no personality. The storytelling wasn’t great either. Often it felt like you went from point A to point B but couldn’t really figure out how you got there. Like part of the story was missing. It also seems weird to have macarons on the cover when the book’s about a candy shop.

This title is perfect for this book! Everything described in this book, from the setting, to the transformation that happens is nothing short of sweet. Rosie is called to help her Great Aunt Lillian in a small country town called Lipton. After some consideration she makes the decision to go. It's a far cry from the busy paced life in London that she's used to. In Lipton, she meets some wonderful people and slowly becomes accustomed to the slow-paced life. Rosie works hard at transforming her Great-Aunts Sweet Shop into its former glory and to helping her Great-Aunt regain her strength and to settle her estate. . One thing that I really loved is how each chapter had a description of a candy and it set the tone for the upcoming chapter.

Rosie's character bothered me a bit as she was with her boyfriend for 8 years and they had gotten into this routine where she did everything for him, as a mother would, and he was happy just go along with how things were. You see early on how Rosie wants a change but didn’t have the courage to make a life changing decision. Going to Lipton to see her Great-Aunt gave her a push in the right direction.

This was a sweet rom-com full of nostalgia and sweet memories. I really liked the flash-backs Lillian had when she was younger and how they played alongside current day. To taking chances, to accepting help and to bringing back sweet memories, this story had a wonderful ending.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book was absolutely delightful, a perfect springtime read! Jenny Colgan has a way of writing lighthearted, but meaningful, stories and characters. The setting was lovely and the characters relatable. If you are a fan of Jenny’s, this one will make your heart smile. If you have never read a Jenny book, but are looking for a light, sweet read...start with this one!

Who doesn't love a candy shop? Not only can you find your personal favorites, but there's also the tantalizing possibility of discovering something new and delicious. That is if the shop is open and the stock is fresh. Unfortunately, Rosie Hopkins didn't find that when she left London for the country town of Lipton to help out in her great aunt Lilian's shop.
Rosie enjoyed her job as auxiliary nurse, even though she didn't have a permanent position and with her lack of full nursing qualifications, she was frequently given the most unpleasant jobs around the hospital. Her relationship with her boyfriend of seven years, Gerard was . . . fine, no really! Even though he showed no inclination toward proposing and lately seemed to have gotten a bit too comfortable.

When Rosie's mother calls from Australia and guilt-trips her into helping out Lilian, Rosie hopes that a little distance from Gerard might make him realize how much he misses her. So Rosie hops on a bus and heads north to the countryside to help out. Lilian, at 87, is experiencing some health issues, but Rosie and there rest of the family had no idea that she had pretty much abandoned running the family candy shop. When Rosie arrives, it is dusty and most of the remaining wares are well past their sell-by dates.

As Rosie takes charge of Lilian's life and business, she begins to make friends in town and catches the eye of several interesting men. Interspersed with Rosie's adventures are flashbacks of Lilian's life, explaining why she never married or left the village. There are also plenty of comments on particular sweets as well as candy in general. Several recipes are included so that if the lure of the sweet treats gets to be too much, you can whip some up for yourself.

I was enjoying the book and all the talk of sweets until near the end when it suddenly took a turn into teenaged romance territory. Rosie was having her flirtations and re-examining her relationship with Gerard, but suddenly there was a lot of giggling, "you really like him, don't yous," and stern advice from matronly ladies thrown about. When pretty much the whole village turns out to help Rosie get ready for "the ball," I realized the book was aiming for a different direction than I had thought. It was a good enough, if predictable story, but some of the elements were just a bit too cringey for my tastes.

A great feel-good book for those who are looking for a light read. The characters are very relatable!

When I requested this I didn’t realise it was the same book I had read years ago as “Welcome to Rosie Hopkins Sweetshop Of Dreams”. It didn’t stop me reading it again though because I really enjoyed it and it was 9 years ago! I had forgotten how heartwarming and lovely a book it is.
Rosie Hopkins is starting to get a bit fed up with her life. She is working as an agency nurse, being treated like a dogsbody, and her relationship with her partner Gerrard seems to be going nowhere.
When her mum calls and asks Rosie to go and stay with her Aunt Lilian in the village of Linton, Rosie thinks it might be a good idea to take a break from London and agrees to go. Aunt Lilian is ill and needs help to look after herself and her sweetshop.
Rosie quickly discovers that the task is going to be much harder than she thought but she is quickly swept up in village life.
The story also takes you back to Lilian’s own youth during the war, when she worked in the sweet shop and suffered loss and heartbreak.
Filled with colourful characters and beautiful scenery this is a story of two seemingly very different women, generations apart, who discover they may have more in common than they thought.

Sweetshop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan is a sweet story of Rosie from London who travels to a small town to help her Aunt and reopen a sweet shop. Rosie discovers that in leaving the big city, she is able to find herself and reconnect with family. It was a lovely story that brought back memories of childhood penny candy.

I enjoy Jenny Colgan and have read most of what she has written. I feel like I have read this one before, many years ago. I did enjoy it, even if it was the second time around! Her characters are likeable and very human. Things don't always go smoothly. Rosie is a auxiliary nurse in London living with her longtime boyfriend. She loses her job and her mother asks her to temporarily go to a small town north of London to help a great aunt who is in poor health and get the aunt's candy store ready to sell. Along the way she helps the town doctor and finds that small town living and friendships can make a place a home. There is romance, humor, and lots of interesting characters as Rosie's story and her aunt's story intertwine. Jenny Colgan doesn't disappoint.

Sweetshop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan provides the perfect balance of a dedicated family, quirky characters, unexpected romance, and personal growth. The heroine, Rosie, is a nurse who is between jobs and less than enthused with all aspects of her upmarket London life. This includes her longtime boyfriend. Lillian is her great aunt who owns a quaint village sweetshop who has some struggles that require family support. Rosie reluctantly heads to the small village of Lipton to do what she can.

Rosie has a true heart of gold and her love of her great aunt and others in Lipton propel her into circumstances that keep you amused and intrigued. It would not be a Colgan book without a hint of romance, and this one does not disappoint with the village doctor coming onto the scene. This leads to an interesting dynamic as secrets are revealed on both sides. You obviously are rooting for Rosie to find a true happily ever after, but it is far from guaranteed.

This book is also told in flashbacks of Lillian’s earlier years that gives the reader great insights into her past and how that has shaped her present life. Lillian, despite her seemingly small life in the same village, is truly a heroine. The gyrations between Rosie and Lillian are heartwarming. This is a book to savor. Also, the lovely chapter headings full of nostalgic candies (as an American reader) were often unfamiliar to me. But, it certainly made me wish to find my own historical sweetshop to relish in some delicious treats!

Sweetshop of Dreams hit all my must haves by engaging the reader, tugging at my heartstrings, and encouraging me to break out of my routine. It truly was a delight of all my senses! COVID has me grounded to my house but Colgan transported me into Lipton where you can break out of your past and make your own future.

I was provided a free advance reader copy from Sourcebooks Landmark in exchange for my honest review on Net Galley. The opinions shared in this review are my own.

Sweetshop of Dreams is a novel about Rosie, a young woman who leaves her life in London to care for her Aunt Lilian and revive her aunt's small town sweetshop. What Rosie expects to be short and mundane visit turns into something so much more, and gives her an entirely new perspective on her life and those around her.

I am admittedly a huge Jenny Colgan fan, so to say I felt honored to have the chance to review this ARC is an understatement. Sweetshop of Dreams did not disappoint and was an absolute joy to read. Rosie is a fantastic protagonist and I enjoyed reading her story from start to finish. The flashbacks to Lilian's story in the 1940s were a nice touch and added a welcome extra layer to the book. The writing style is as wonderful as the author's previous novels; I could not get enough of the humorous nature of a lot of the dialog. And the recipes just sealed this book with a bow on top. Another great book by Jenny Colgan, and one that I would highly recommend

Thanks to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for this ARC; this is my honest and voluntary review.

A fish out of water rom-com, The Sweet Shop of Dreams is a charming story set in the English. Countryside. It is two stories really - the contemporary one of Rosie and the flashback story of Lillian during World War II. Rosie is sent to help her irascible great aunt Lillian put her sweet shop up for sale as she is getting too old to continue to live alone. .Lillian isn’t too happy to have Rosie there - she is pretty much a starter after all. As Rosie becomes more involved in village life, her London life seems less and less appealing. Enter a moody stranger who clearly has a story to tell and Rosie can’t help herself as she tries to make his life better. Add in all the confections, and you have one sweet story,

I did’t finish the book. I couldn’t follow the story line with all the different characters and then all of a sudden the story was being told from different points of view with no notice of a change. I also found the characters unlikeable.

I enjoyed this book even though I don't usually read this genre. Sounds like a great new life. Could've used a little less of aunt's story. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Thank you NetGalley, Jenny Colgan and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for the copy of Sweetshop Of Dreams. This is my personal review.
Rosie has a life in London. She goes to visit her Aunt Lilian and help her out with her sweetshop. The dynamics between Rosie and her Aunt are really great.
The story ok but there just seems to be something lacking. The descriptions of the location and also the wonderful sweets make the story move along better for me.
I enjoy Jenny Colgan’s book in general but this one was not one of my favorites.

I initially thought that this was a new book by Jenny Colgan and then realized that it is a republication of Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams which was originally published in 2012.

Rosie leaves her job as an auxiliary nurse and Gerard, her boyfriend of 7 years, in London to travel to Derbyshire for a few weeks to help out her elderly aunt, Lilian, who runs a sweet shop in the small country village of Lipton. Rosie expects the village to be dull but it's anything but! As Rosie adapts to country life she starts to realize that she doesn't have to settle for her comfortable London life but can take a chance at what makes her happy even if it's not Gerard or being a nurse. There's a second timeline during the war years where we learn what happened to young Lilian and the regret that she has carried through her life as a result.

Another sweet and charming romance from Jenny Colgan - perhaps not quite as well-written as her more recent works but an enjoyable read nonetheless. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

I received a digital ARC from NetGalley.

Rosie comes to the countryside to help her elder aunt Lillian and help sell her sweetshop in the town. She leaves behind her boyfriend and her job as a nurse. But when the doctor of the town asks for her help, she meets the patient Stephen. He's depressed and cranky and turns everyone else away. She's the only one he is fine interacting with. Meanwhile Rosie brings back her Aunt's shop and actually really enjoys it and is making friends. Can Rosie handle it all? Or will she go back to London to her boyfriend and job.

It took me a long time to get into this book. Rosies boyfriend was completely useless and was so annoying. And why did she keep negating her status as a nurse. The cast of characters in the town were pretty funny, but i just couldn't get into it. I found myself putting the book down or skimming a lot just to keep moving. The premise had so much potential and I just was hoping for more.

Goodness, I just adore Jenny Colgan. Where authors might get trope after writing so many books on similar topics, she just continues to be magical, cozy, and inspiring. This will appeal to her new fans as well as those of us who've read everything else she's ever written.

Jenny Colgan's tales move forward slowly and deliciously - this time with recipes for "sweeties" I wish I had known. Village life, the people of the place, the dynamics, all made for a pleasant distraction. The technique of moving back and forth from the war years and Lillian's memory of them, gave the book more substance than just a frothy village cozy. The characters were - with one exception, the dentist - well described and fleshed, and added a flavor of a village I wish I had visited in person. This, in short, was a sweet escape.

I received a free e-ARC of this book through Netgalley.
The title Sweetshop of Dreams tells you exactly what to expect from this book. Loads and loads of sweet descriptions that you make you long for the candy store of your youth. For me, it was a tiny store called "The Millers" close to the town pool. A trip to the pool was not complete without stopping by to decide how to spend my small amount of cash on 5 cent candies.
This is also a romance and a reminder to not let opportunities slip by us because they might not come a second time. Lilian and her great-niece Rose learn to live with each other when Rose comes to help Lilian who has broken her hip at eighty-seven and needs some help with herself and her sweetshop in the countryside. This is a lovely book about the pleasure of sweets and the beauty that can be found in small town living.

I enjoyed Jenny Colgan's novel - it's a quick & easy read. However, as with all her novels I've read so far, the novel felt a bit too long, by 50-100 pages.
I liked the setting of the novel in the Derbyshire county. I was surprised to realise there weren't any characters I strongly disliked (maybe just Gerard?). I did like the main characters, though, and the wit and banter throughout the novel. There were a few chuckling moments, too. Another thing I really liked were the past references to Lilian and Henry's story. I love alternating stories, past and present.
As the title suggests, there are recipes in the novel, but I skipped right over those. Another part I skipped over were the "fragments" from the book one of the main characters presumably wrote. They were about different sweets, related to the events of that chapter. I read the first few, but then I didn't find they added anything to the story, so I didn't read them. To be honest, I was just interested to see how the story ended. Although it was a bit predictable, some love interest intrigue, it was enjoyable, the perfect choice for an afternoon reading break.