A summer of taking chances!
Rosie Hewitt’s dream of opening a little French café on the Riviera is finally coming true. She’s giving up on love and instead chasing her own perfect recipe for happiness…
Only, she never expected the oh-so-sexy, award-winning chef Sebastian Groc to set up his restaurant next door – or for his freshly baked croissants to smell quite so delicious.
But with just a few days until she opens her doors and all her sugar-coated dreams crumbling around her, Rosie isn’t prepared to give up without a fight!
Escape the winter blues with Jennifer Bohnet’s deliciously heartwarming read.
JENNIFER BOHNET
is originally from the West Country but now lives in the wilds of rural Brittany, France. She's still not sure how she ended up there! The saying ‘life is what happens while you're deciding what to do…’ is certainly true in her case. She's always written alongside having various jobs: playgroup leader, bookseller, landlady, restauranteur, farmer's wife, secretary – the list is endless but does provide a rich vein of inspiration for her stories.
For three years she wrote a newspaper column in the South Hams Group of Newspapers (Devon) where she took a wry look at family life. Since living in France it is her fiction that has taken off with hundreds of short stories and several serials published internationally.
Allergic to housework and gardening she rarely does either, but she does like cooking and entertaining and wandering around vide greniers (the French equivalent of flea markets) looking for a bargain or two. Her children currently live in fear of her turning into an ageing hippy and moving to Totnes, Devon.
To find out more about Jennifer visit her website at jenniferbohnet.com or chat to her on Twitter at @jenniewriter.
First, thanks must go to the team at HQ Digital – in particular Charlotte Mursell who clearly has the patience of a saint when dealing with needy authors!
Thanks must also go to my on line author friends who are always ready to offer sympathy and send virtual gin and chocolate when the editing gets tough (you know who you are).
Finally, but by no means least, a huge thank you to everybody who buys and reads my books.
CHAPTER ONE
‘Bonne chance,’ the notaire said, counting the large wad of euros Rosie had given him before pushing a bunch of keys across the desk towards her. ‘The Café Fleur is now yours.’
Five minutes later and, juggling the keys happily, Rosie walked along the ancient ramparts edging the Mediterranean towards the beach and the Café Fleur. Day one of the rest of her life was here at last and it felt oh so good. It had seemed to take forever, but one of her lifelong dreams was about to became a reality.
Owning and running her own successful café had been her number-one dream for several years now. Her other dream of being married and having a family by the time she was thirty had been foiled by her own seeming inability to build a long-lasting relationship with any man.
It was after a wine-fuelled thirtieth birthday hangover that she’d decided enough was enough. Life was passing her by. Okay, she’d failed to meet and marry Mr Right, but owning her own café was still within her grasp. So, Dream Target No 1 became saving enough money to open her own beach café in the South of France. Now, a couple of months before her thirty-fifth birthday, she was about to realise her dream.
Glancing across the bay to where several boats were making their way to the marina entrance, her smile faded. She recognised the hull of the boat leading the way, flying the English ensign. A Sure Thing, the yacht she’d been chef on for the past few years, while she squirrelled away enough money to gain her independence, was returning to port.
Briefly she wondered if Antoine, the skipper, had forgiven her yet for deserting him. He’d been less than happy when she’d told him her plans.
‘Sacre bleu