Review/US Giveaway: The Seafront Tearoom by Vanessa Greene

• Title:  The Seafront Tearoom
• Author:  Vanessa Greene
• Genre:  Women’s Fiction
• Pages:  368
• Published:  December 2015 – Berkley
• Source:  Publisher; NetGalley

Description:  The first rule of afternoon tea: never rush. Take time to savor it. Just like friendship…

The Seafront Tearoom is an insider secret in small-town Scarborough – a beach-front haven with the best tea and cakes in town – and  journalist Charlie Harrison would love to put it on the map with a feature in her magazine. But single mom Kat Murray doesn’t want to see her favorite sanctuary overrun by tourists, and begs Charlie to seek out other options. She offers her help, as a “tea obsessive,” and so does French au pair Séraphine Moreau, whose upbringing makes her a connoisseur of everything sweet and indulgent.

Together the three women will scour the countryside for quaint hideaways and hidden gems, sharing along the way their secrets, disappointments, and dreams – and discovering that friendship, like tea, takes time to steep. But learning too that once you open your heart, the possibilities are endless.   (publisher)

My take: The Seafront Tearoom is a novel of friendship between three young women who meet when one is assigned to write an article about tearooms in the area of Scarborough. Each woman has a bit of drama going on that the others will become her support in getting through.

Charlotte the writer is in a bit of a pickle in that her sister really needs her help but she needs to get the magazine article in by deadline. Kat, single mom to toddler Leo, is a tea aficionado. Her dilemma is that Leo’s absentee father is trying to restart their relationship much to her dismay. Sérephine is an au pair who has a secret that she doesn’t feel can be shared with her loved ones. So there’s the drama.

I thought this novel was a nice, easy read that showed how people can help each other through difficult circumstances even when they’ve just met. There were a couple of surprising plot turns near the end that some readers might find too convenient. I just went with it. It was the right novel at the right time, you know? Included at the end are a few recipes and a reader’s discussion guide.

Recommended to fans of women’s fiction, novels with a British setting, and tea 🙂

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