Book Review: Secrets And Tea At Rosie Lee’s by Jane Lacey-Crane

Book Review by Chandana Banerjee

Here’s a brand new column about book reviews and authors – something to look forward to if you enjoy reading as much as I do. In the past, I’ve written about books that I’ve enjoyed; but from now on, I will be posting my reviews about new + some not-so-new books as well as interviews of authors. Whether these are books for grown-ups like us, Young Adult fiction, non-fiction and even cute children’s books, there will be something we can all tuck into while we sip our coffees and ponder about what to read next over the weekend (or what books to buy for our children).

So, onto my #bookreview of Jane Lacey-Crane’s first novel ‘Secrets And Tea At Rosie Lee’s’:

Abigail aka Abby Cowan is almost 40 with a daughter about to leave for college and a café that needs both – some serious profits and a makeover in terms of the menu and décor to keep it afloat. When Abby takes up a catering job to help out her event manager friend Liz and earn something extra to pump into the Rosie Lee café, the side job turns out to be much more than she bargained for. A chance meeting with the host of the party sends her reeling back into a past thick with secrets and reignites all those sparkler-like feelings that she thought she had got over long back.

Jack Chance – her first love and first kiss is no longer the boy next door, but a successful and dashing millionaire in America. He’s still in love with Abby but this only brings back painful memories for her. Also, with Abby’s emotionally-distant mother and the secrets that she’s got stashed away, an old gangster who resurfaces to collect something that he feels Abby has been hiding and answers that she finally begins to find, Jane Lacey-Crane’s first novel is packed with everything good you’d want in a weekend read.

The author, Jane, with her novel

Lots of mystery and secrets interlaced with a dollop of crime and a big dash of romance, and a hardy and down-to-earth heroine who doesn’t really need Knights to rescue her, ‘Secrets and Tea at Rosie Lee’s’ is a book you’d like to curl up with. The plot is tight, the dialogues crisp and the story engrossing – everything that a reader like me looks for when she settles in for a read. 

What’s also refreshing is that where most novels have perfectly coiffed characters in their twenties or at the most, early thirties, our Abby here is touching 40 and looks like a regular person (no coltish legs, sapphire-blue eyes, size zero). And while there is a romance brewing in the story line, the plot is packed with so much more.

So, I’d say, do go and pick up Jane Lacey-Crane’s latest novel. And to Jane: “Is this your first novel or your 10^th? J” .

Where to get your copy? You'll find it on Amazon.

Thanks to Jane & Aria Publishing for sending me the book to read and review.

Are you an author or publisher, and would like your book reviewed? Do get in touch with me at chandanabanerjeewrites@gmail.com or on Twitter at @chandanawriter.

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#bookreview #novel #newfiction #funread #booklover #reader #reading #weekendread