Lucy's Great Escape (Little Duck Pond Cafe #11) by Rosie Green

ABOUT THE BOOK

Lucy never wanted to abandon her friends and family, and travel to the other side of the country to start a new life. And all without telling anyone where she was going. But these are desperate times. And finding herself with a nightmare of a dilemma, fleeing her home town seems like the only way she can protect herself and those she loves.

The Cornish town of Pengully Sands holds happy childhood memories for Lucy and seems the perfect place to escape to, although having little money and no friends, life at first seems grim.

But a chance meeting with Madison and the rest of the Little Duck Pond Café girls, plus a decidedly attractive local guy who won’t take no for an answer, gives Lucy a glimmer of hope for the future. Could she really settle in Pengully Sands and make a living by selling her watercolours?

But just as life is starting to look a little rosier, it becomes clear that someone back home – the last person she ever wanted to see – has tracked her down…

MY REVIEW

This is book 11 in the series, but it reads just fine as a standalone. It’s also my first Rosie Green novel which I found captivating and I was rooting for Lucy and her sad and heartwarming journey all the way.

When Lucy’s life turns to crap after her mom dies. Her mental health is questionable and her dad’s new girlfriend is not as she seems. To get away from the unhappiness at home, Lucy decides to move to Pengully Sands: the place her mom loved and where Lucy feels safe. Will she ever get her self-confidence back? Could she ever trust anyone again?

My heart goes out to Lucy who is so alone and destitute and treated so abysmally by horrible and dangerous people. But it’s her best friend Amber and her new friend Madison who give her the courage to “put her cape on” and stand up to those people. Gabe is also a supportive character even though his introduction to Lucy is not on the up and up. And of course, there are antagonists in the story who are extremely despicable and dangerous, and get what they so deserve.

I was intrigued by Lucy’s story from the very start. Watching her grow and come to terms with her life is a difficult road, but she struggles through and finds her place with the people she loves by her side.

Overall, this is a lovely suspenseful coming of age story with dark moments and heartwarming reunions. I can’t wait to read the rest of the books in the series.

Thank you to Ms. Green for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rosie has been scribbling stories ever since she was little. Back then, they were rip-roaring adventure tales with a young heroine in perilous danger of falling off a cliff or being tied up by ‘the baddies’. Thankfully, Rosie has moved on somewhat, and now much prefers to write romantic comedies that melt your heart and make you smile, with really not much perilous danger involved at all – unless you count the heroine losing her heart in love. Rosie’s Little Duck Pond Cafe series of novellas is centred around life in a village cafe. Each book can be read as a stand-alone story. The latest, ‘Lucy’s Great Escape’, is out now. Watch out for further tales of the Little Duck Pond Cafe, including the delicious ‘Log Fires & Toffee Apple Cake’, which will be published in autumn 2020.