A review by kiwiflora
The Pretty Delicious Café by Danielle Hawkins

3.0

A perfect bit of light and fluffy romance for a covid illness lockdown - falling asleep mid sentence has no absolutely no impact on remembering where you were up to when you drift awake again. It's also lovely and comforting at such a time to read about familiar places, scenery, with the added attraction of a holiday location, just to lull you further into that slightly contented and pleasant state. But it's not all chocolate brownies, sunny days and flat white coffees. There are some serious themes in this story of two friends who run the Pretty Delicious Cafe. Lia and Anna are childhood friends, who two years previously threw caution to the wind and opened the café in their home town. Anna is about to marry Lia's twin brother Rob - good conflict plot device there with wedding plan and prep. Into this lovely little community one night appears Jed - naturally the impending love interest, but what sort of baggage does he come with? And then there is Lia's ex, a pest with a capital P if there ever was one. With one exception the 'serious themes' aren't really dealt with in any substance, but there is an awareness that these sorts of issues are pretty much universal in our families, friendships, relationships and our communities. The tone of of this easy to read, predictable and enjoyable novel doesn't lend itself to delving too deeply into the issues, but it is good to have them raised.