A Perfect Cornish Summer by Phillipa Ashley

3.5 Stars

Porthmellow is an idyllic Cornish village, perched on the coast and the characters never fail to remind you that what seems like a paradise on earth can turn on its head when a storm rolls in.  In fact this was one of things I enjoyed most about the book, the back up cast of characters were realistic and had a genuine place in the book; they weren't just filler to out main character, Sam's, story. 

Sam herself is your fairly typical heroine, tragic backstory (orphaned in her late teens, estranged from her older brother, unlucky in love) but feisty and has put love on the back burner.  I actually found myself quite liking the character and could understand her behaviours, even if I didn't necessarily agree with them.  Her battle to set up her business and to keep the Porthmellow Food Festival growing every year were interesting and kept me reading - even if certain aspects of it did seem to stretch believability.

The foil to local Sam is the incomer Chloe.  Not all is what it seems in Chloe's life and she has a nice little clutch of secrets that she holds close - none of which are really earth-shattering but she still doesn't want anyone to know.  As the book progresses I found myself more interested in what was happening with Chloe and her daughter than in the main character's tale.

On the whole the characterisations throughout the book are really good.  Even minor characters have some depth to them and the main two - Chloe and Sam - are multifaceted and real feeling.  The only real problem is with the men in the book, they are a little flat and two dimensional, Drew in particular suffers from this whilst Gabe is almost a real person but I did feel he was only there as a device for Sam's character development.

The plot itself is nicely paced with few surprises and you know how things are going to turn out from the moment Gabe's name is mentioned.  There are a few twists and turns with the festival itself and a few personal dramas along the way but it all rounds out how you expect.  This is not necessarily a bad thing as the getting there is enjoyable.

For a holiday read this is spot on, nothing too taxing and a nice gentle humour sprinkled generously throughout.  A blend of village life and personal quandries merge together on the page and make it a satisfying read.  Unfortunately, it is all a little bit too predictable and the sabotage of the festival doesn't add a further dimension as intended it just feels bolted in and then half forgotten about.