Christmas at Rosie Hopkin's Sweetshop - Jenny Colgan

Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop by Jenny Colgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

'Rosie Hopkins is looking forward to Christmas in the little Derbyshire village of Lipton buried under a thick blanket of snow. Her sweetshop is festooned with striped candy canes large tempting piles of Turkish Delight crinkling selection boxes and happy sticky children. She's going to be spending it with her boyfriend Stephen and her family flying in from Australia. She can't wait. 

But when a tragedy strikes at the heart of their little community all of Rosie's plans for the future seem to be blown apart. Can she build a life in Lipton? And is what's best for the sweetshop also what's best for Rosie? 


Treat yourself and your sweet-toothed friends to Jenny Colgan's heart-warming new novel. The irresistibly delicious recipes are guaranteed to get you into the festive spirit and will warm up your Christmas celebrations.'




This was the first book I have read by Jenny Colgan, but had heard great things about her and really was keen to read her festive book.

I love the cover of the book, it is so Christmasy and really puts you in the festive mood. I also love the recipes at the back of the book, this is a nice edition to a holiday read.

To be honest I found it difficult to get into the book, I felt really down about this as I was looking forward to it so much. I have come up with one reason why I found it so hard and this is because I have not read Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop. It does state that this is a stand alone book as well as a sequel, however I think it helps if you have read the story before as you will get background info on the characters, this is something that I felt was lacking in this book. But if you have read the first one, you wouldn't want background info again.

Once into the story I began to get some connection with the characters and really enjoyed the story. This is a story about Lucy, she owns a sweet shop in the village of Lipton, Derbyshire. She is living happily with her boyfriend Stephen who is a primary school teacher at the village school. One day a tragedy hits the village, which could potentially cause the sweet shop to close. The story sees Rosie trying to save the village, one she is not originally from, however she now feels part of. You find yourself crossing everything you have that Rosie and the villagers will be able to save their village.

Meanwhile Rosie's family spring on her that they will be over from Australia to see her this Christmas. Rosie is thrilled, however not so thrilled at the prospect of telling Stephen, he has a lot on at the moment and their relationship is not the best that it has been. All the while when her family are in Lipton, Rosie is considering a move to Australia back with her family, this seems like the best option and could be great for her.

I found Jenny Colgan's writing well rounded, there were times in the book where I was laughing and other times I actually felt quite sad. I feel this is a strength that Jenny has and is very skilled at creating many emotions in her book.

I would recommend anyone who wants to read this book to read Sweet shop of Dreams first as I think you may have a better connection with the characters from early on. This is something I wish I had done.

Since reading this book, I have bought other books by Jenny Colgan. I did enjoy this book and think that it is a nice Christmas read, the ending is just perfect. 

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me this copy to review.