MY REVIEW
Willow Schofield is 28 years old and has loved custard tarts since a childhood holiday to Portugal. She adores patisserie and her favourite is a pastel de nata (Portuguese custard tart). She wanted to bring her passion for these to England and is now opening up her own custard tart café at the end of the pier in Weston-super-Mare.
Along with her staff Tim and Reggie, the opening day begins well with a lovely first customer, Frank. But her joy doesn’t last long when a man walks into the shop and causes a scene, complaining she is damaging the reputation of his country, Portugal, and vowing that he will ruin her business.
Her two sisters Caitlyn (at Loughborough Uni) and Lauren (30, married her boss Jamie) try to help with the café, then her friends Kelly and Radhika decide to whisk Willow away on holiday, to try to stop her worrying. She is going back to Portugal where she plans to taste the authentic custard tarts, to see how hers compare.
This book is written in a confiding, chatty style, talking to the reader like a friend. Willow is often clumsy and makes silly mistakes, leading to embarrassing situations, so it is easy to see her flaws and hope she has a better time of things.
I enjoyed the rapport between Willow, Kelly and Radhika when they go on holiday and how they all want to get something different out of their time away. I can also relate to Willow’s fear of flying!
BLURB
The Custard Tart Cafe by the Sea
Willow has opened a custard tart cafe at the end of a popular English seaside pier. Her unique and magical spin on the Portuguese pastel de nata has customers queuing outside the door to taste them.
Tiago’s grandparents are purveyors of The Real Deal: authentic custard tarts made in the Algarve region of Portugal, where his family have been lovingly baking them for centuries. When he moves to England for a new job and chances upon Willow’s wondrous wares, he is out for war. At least that’s his intention. But when serendipity brings Willow and Tiago back together at the departures desk in Bristol airport – destination Faro – outrage isn’t the only spark that flies…
Weston-super-Mare and Portugal are about to collide!
Purchase Link – https://mybook.to/custard
Author Bio
Isabella May lives in (mostly) sunny Andalusia, Spain with her husband, daughter and son, creatively inspired by the mountains and the sea. She grew up in Somerset on Glastonbury’s ley lines and loves to feature her quirky English hometown in her stories.
After a degree in Modern Languages and European Studies at UWE, Bristol (and a year working abroad in Bordeaux and Stuttgart), Isabella bagged an extremely jammy and fascinating job in children’s publishing… selling foreign rights for novelty, board, pop-up and non-fiction books all over the world; in every language from Icelandic to Korean, Bahasa Indonesian to Papiamento!
All of which has fuelled her curiosity and love of international food and travel – both feature extensively in her romcoms.
Isabella is also a Pranic Healer and a stillbirth mum.
Social Media Links –
www.isabellamayauthor.com
Twitter – @IsabellaMayBks
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/IsabellaMayAuthor/
Instagram – @isabella_may_author
I Heart Books 