Summer at the Cornish Cafe – Phillipa Ashley

Any book with a cover so bright and colourful is going to catch my eye when looking for something upbeat to read and enjoy.

Phillipa Ashley takes us to Cornwall, to Penwith and we get to meet Demi and her dog Mitch. The two are inseparable and even when Demi is down on her luck and has taken to sleeping rough, she always has Mitch with her.

Cal on the other hand, has come back from abroad, from what we are not to sure of. He has come home and believes that he should reinvigorate Kilhallon Park and get it to start making money.

Cal and Demi are thrown together and have a knack of being able to rub each other up the wrong way and show off their worst faults. But it is these faults which are the connection that seems to make the working partnership of Cal and Demi work, but will it be able to survive a more intimate relationship?

Not when you have other characters such as the orange Mawgan, holding grudges from a long time ago, Isla, Cal’s beautiful ex and Polly protective and motherly over Cal, but in her own way about Demi too.

Looking back after having read it, of course it resembles Poldark. It is a modern take on that storyline but I really do not think the book should be marketed as so. It stands quite happily without that ‘tagline’. Winston Graham’s Poldark books are very much set in a different time and they work for that reason. For me the comparison is unnecessary and I would have picked up and been interested in the book without that tagline.

Here Phillipa Ashley has created an easy summer read which has good characters, plenty to annoy and like in equal measure and the predictable but well-loved storyline of a “will they won’t they” romance. It makes for a good read and I am pleased that there is to be more novels to come featuring Penwith as I really want to see what happens to Kilhallon Park.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley the opportunity to read this book. 

Summer at the Cornish Cafe is out now on kindle.