SWEETSHOP OF DREAMS (Jenny Colgan)

I have to confess that I picked up this book only because (1) the cover is a pretty lavender color and (2)  it is about a candy shop.  It turned out to be very enjoyable traditional chick lit, but without an air-headed heroine who loves to shop for designer shoes.  Rosie Hopkins reminds me a bit of a Katie Fforde character, unlucky, perhaps even a little stupid, in love, but intelligent, hard-working, and very compassionate.

When Rosie is asked by her mother to travel from London to "the country" to help out her elderly Aunt Lilian, she doesn't hesitate.  Rosie's relationship with her live-in boyfriend, Gerard, seems to be going nowhere after 7 years and she is currently between jobs as an auxiliary nurse in London, so she boards a bus with the intent of installing Aunt Lilian in a nursing home and selling the sweet shop that Lilian has been running for years in the village of Lipton.  On arrival she discovers that her 87-year-old aunt is both feisty and beautiful, albeit weak and malnourished, and that the sweet shop obviously has not been open for a very long time.  Rosie immediately sets about restoring her aunt's health and cleaning and reopening the sweet shop, all while coping with villagers who believe she is (1) ridiculous or (2) slutty and the realization that perhaps Gerard's lack of interest in visiting doesn't really bother her so much.

Colgan's novel is a sweet read for a weekend or a lazy vacation, or just a good opportunity to escape the tribulations of every day life and watch someone else mess things up for a change!
  But don't worry, it all turns out fine for Rosie and Aunt Lil in the end!