When I first started to read it I didn't know if I would enjoy it as it wasn't the kind of book that I usually read but ended up loving it. It follows the life of a widowed young woman trying to cope and bring up her family without her husband after he died. She applies to work in a cafe for the summer hoping that a different scene will be good fro them all and when she gets the job she moves her family there.
She soon makes friends and starts to have feelings for someone again. This book will make you laugh and cry so be prepared for it.

Laura Walker is the widowed mother of two teenagers. After her childhood sweetheart and husband dies after falling off a ladder she falls into a pit of gloom and despair. As she tries to rebuild her life she answers a quirky advert for a summer cook at a Dorset seaside cafe with a TMI letter spewing all her anxiety and family traumas.

Cherie is the hipy dippy owner of the Comfort Food Cafe and a holiday village of small cottages, quirkily named after 1970s rock legends. She offers Laura and her children a home for the summer together with a job.

If you love the idea of a misfit group of individuals being brought together by an elderly hippy mother earth figure who runs her cafe like a community drop in centre, preparing their favourite dishes for her regular local customers, an annual fancy dress party involving half the village for an octogenarian farmer, elderly labradors and ice-creams galore then this is the novel for you. This is like all your memories of holidays when you were a child rolled into one, sunny days, sparkling water, cake and ice-cream every day.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I have read numerous books by the author before and they have been of the 'I can't put it down until I finish' but this one was the total opposite. I really struggled to get into the book and found myself more skim reading than being engrossed by the storyline. I've started the follow up book and I'm hooked (thankfully) into it already!

Oh deary me. I thought this was going to be a fun light hearted easy read and i ended up bawling my eyes out.

Laura and David had met at 7 and were in love instantly and got married at 20 and had 2 children, Lizzie and Nate. David falls off a ladder and hits his head and dies and Laura is devastasted. Every year they all went on a family holiday and David used to put together photo albums of their trips as memories. Laura decides she is going to take the children away for the summer, but she also needs a job so she applies to be a cook for the summer at the comfort food cafe in Budbury in Dorset. The kids dont want to go, and Laura has a battle on her hands to begin with.

Life starts to settle down and they stay in a lovely cottage and both kids make friends and Laura settles in at the cafe. It is all light and fluffy and lovely and then at the end there is a party and Laura does something for people that had me crying my eyes out in bed, and not just silent tears, but ugly crying tears. I cannot remember the last time i cried over a book and i certainly didnt expect to cry at this one, but i got so emotional and couldnt sleep after so i went and bought the other 3 books in the series.

Grab your tissues.

I lovely fee-good read. Great for by the pool, or to make you feel better in miserable weather

Let’s go on holiday!
This is just the book to be reading on a cold, miserable, wet winter’s day. As long as you are indoors and warm!
It reminds you that England can have warm days with a shining sun, and that there is no coastline to match the Jurassic Coast. And having been there many times myself, and just back from the (supposedly) prettiest part of Ireland, I am more than ever convinced. Cornwall is over-rated for the distance you need to travel and the traffic you need to battle to get there. And the weather is wetter too!
These books about the Sunshine (Comfort) Cafe are a like a warm hug with hot chocolate, cream and marshmallows. Which they seem to drink a lot of in the Cafe. They somehow just stop short of being too sweet, even though you know that there will be a happy ending (for the romance at least).
I even liked the dogs in them. Though the author doesn’t mention just how much hair a Labrador sheds - boatloads as I have had recent experience of!

A delightful novel based in beautiful Dorset which in described in such a great way made you wish you were there Laura and her children having suffered the loss of their loved one start on a journey for a few weeks of a working holiday and in turn with the help of new friends they finally find happiness and eventually start the healing process in a beautifully written novel which I think would appeal to all ages a lovely read

Didn’t know how emotional I could get reading a holiday book. I expected a light chic lit Christmas book. Instead I read a well written novel of life, loss, sadness, happiness, hope, sillyness, jealously and generosity all rolled up into this book that takes place during a Christmas season. Not going to give synopsis of the book. Just say if you pass over not to read, you aren’t worthy. I cried with sad tears, happy tears, silly tears, regretted tears. But in the end, I give this story 5 stars. Now, I must go back and read other Debbie Johnson books. Oh, I wish there was a Comfort Cafe I could stop into.

Laura Walker has been existing, going through the motions since the unexpected death of her husband David, functioning for the sake of her children and nothing else. That is until she spots an advert looking for Summer help at a café in Dorset, miles away from her home in Manchester. Knowing there is no way she can afford to take the kids away on a holiday like they used to before David’s died, Laura decides to apply hoping to combine a Summer of work with a much-needed holiday.

Having poured her heart out in her application letter Laura is stunned when she is offered the position at The Comfort Food Café in Budbury. Still unsure if she is doing the right thing she up’s sticks for the Summer heading into the great unknown – despite the protests from the kids!

The Comfort Food Café though isn’t a run of the mill place, run by the slightly eccentric Cherie it offers much more than good food to its customers. Offering it’s VIP customers their every own menu fulfilling their comfort food needs and a place of sanctuary for locals and tourists alike Laura soon realises how special the café is. It’s not just a place to gain a full belly, but a place that helps nourish the soul too.

Given the opportunity to be themselves away from home and those who know their history Laura and the children thrive. Meeting new friends and learning about themselves and each other the Comfort Food Café helps them start to imagine a future even with the absence of David, but does that include a new love interest too?

Summer at the Comfort Food Café is the first in the series however I have already read and reviewed the latest instalment, Sunshine at the Comfort Food Café – I hadn’t realised I had read them out of order until I had finished it! Both books can easily be read as standalone novels, however reading this book definitely filled in some of the detail about the characters. It works both ways though as I felt I knew Willow, one of the café workers, really well as the fourth book tells her story, despite having only been featured as a small part in this book.

I loved this book it’s full of quirky, yet believable characters and I especially loved the relationship between Laura and her teenage daughter Lizzie - I’m guessing that Debbie has perhaps had some first-hand experience of teenage behaviour as I could completely relate!

The book deals with the subject of grief and loss in such a real way it is at times heart-breaking. Despite this the overriding themes of the book are that of friendship, love, family, community and healing which mixed together make for a wonderfully up-lifting and light-hearted read.

Even though I have never visited Dorset myself the descriptions of the area and scenery are so well written I could vividly picture it in my mind, almost able to feel the sea breeze on my face! Set during a lovely warm Summer this book would make the perfect holiday read – one for the beach perhaps when you don’t have to imagine the sea breeze and she sunshine on your face!

I now have the other two books in the Comfort Food Café series firmly on my ‘to be read’ list and I can’t wait to find out more about some of the character’s I have already been introduced to. I do hope that Debbie adds more books to this series as with so many character’s each with their own story to tell there is so much more as a reader I would like to discover.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the book in exchange for an honest review.
I love reading the Comfort Food series of books, you have it all in a book; romance, friendships, holiday time, well cooked food, ice cream and animals. It is a time to snuggle down and read a cosy, well thought out and well written book and enjoy yourself.
Highly recommended.

A lovely, entertaining read. Written with warmth and with likeable characters, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a nice story. And I really love the sound of that cafe.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is about Laura and her kids and an introduction to the wacky world where there exists a cafe meant to cater to your whimsical life needs. The Comfort Food Cafe lives up to its name and exists to provide solace and a shoulder to cry on and anything else to prop anyone with an emotional burden to bear. Laura is only thirty-five and has been a widow for two years, she has teenage children (married very young, that part of the story was the quaintest) and they are all still living in auto-mode. She applies for a temporary position at the cafe and hauls her family to live on the Dorset Coast. It is summer season and there are enough tourists and other unforeseen scenarios which will keep Laura on her toes and her hair frazzled. It lives up to its genre with its happily ever after (with more to come). It is about community and family beyond blood and the resilience of people if they just have the right environment. There are a few sarcastic quips thrown in for comic effect as well as people who are weird by themselves and need no further arsenal to make you laugh. I cried more than laughed with this one. I then began the next book almost immediately.

This book was wonderful, and once I had read it, had to read the others in the series by the same author. Would recommend it to anyone. Perfect book for taking on holiday!

Loved it and definitely recommend it for others to enjoy.

Well that's it. I'm moving to Dorset. What a wonderful, moving story set in an idyllic backdrop. I cannot wait to start reading the next installment. Thank you.

The story is of a young grieving widow and her two children who have found a job for the summer season as a cook for a sea side cafe complete with accommodation. It proves to be a therapeutic experience for the family to live in peaceful rural Dorset with its iconic scenery and genial country folk. The children blossom forth in their holiday home with new friends and finding jobs in the local village. The mother in her job gets to know the regular customers from the village while also serving all the tourists that descend on her. The story has some interesting twists and turns with tragic events and the possibility of new beginnings, altogether a most enjoyable tale with an interesting cast of well drawn characters.

I have read 3 of this book series and all out of order sequence but is it a problem? NO. i just didnt hear or read a book by debbie until last summer so im having to go backwards.... I love Debbies books.
Its a sad storyline really with the family breaking up because the father has died and ha sleft wife and two children coping. Why not get up and move to Dorset, the base for these books are all set in Dorset and until you have been you can imagine the whole setting.... Its a long book, but you get a whole lot for it.
Laura sees a job advertised at the cafe and get the job, one stop further in the foot of Dorset living. you read the book from Lauras perspective and although itss a very hot summer she has many down days especially getting to DORSET. Debbies books always makes me smile, and they are so enjoyable and fun filled. i wish i could give her 10 stars.
tHANK YOU TO NETGALLEY

5 - "This is the Comfort Food Café… and miracles can happen here." Stars!

Book one in Debbie Johnson’s Comfort Food Café series brings on the summer season, and also gives us the story of a widow and her two children trying to move on from the unexpected death of her husband/their father.

Something about this-upping sticks and dragging us all off to Dorset-feels like the first step to finding out who I’m going to be next…

This isn’t the first book I have read in the series, I actually read book two a couple of years ago, so I remembered Laura Walker and her children Nate and Lizzie as secondary characters from that. I also remember in the telling of that book being intrigued as to the origins of Laura’s arrival in the town of Budbury, Dorset, and reading Summer at the Comfort Food Café gave me all the answers I needed.

Bit by bit. Day by busy day. I am feeling stronger.

This is not a short book by today's standards, by Debbie manages to cram a whole lot of story into it. You are introduced to all the characters that live and reside in Budbury, Cherie Moon is the matriarch of the group in that she is the owner/proprietor of the town hub; The Comfort Food Café. A place that is more about the people that it serves than the profit going into the till. And somewhere that Laura sorely needs in that it offers her a distraction from her own life and troubles, it also gives her a purpose, something that has been sorely lacking since the loss of her husband. You watch her grow in confidence and pull herself back out of the shadow of grief as the story develops.

"Please… ignore the tears. I can’t help them. Just… see the rest of me."

There are some really funny moments in this book, the author has a real knack of hitting the write note when delivering certain scenarios and situations, at one point I went from howling with laughter to howling in tears in the space of a few paragraphs. There are highs, and I have to say the last 25% of the book had me sniffling into more than a few tissues, but for all that I came away at the end with massive smile on my face. I loved the secondary characters, Laura’s children obviously play a huge part in the story as well, and Matt, the brooding, sexy vet… *insert girly sigh here!

We both have pasts and we both have our emotional burdens-but right now, we are simply enjoying each other for who and what we are right now…”

I read this book in a day, I loved each and every page, (even the ones that had me crying like a baby), so much so that I have already made a start on book four; Sunshine at the Comfort Food Café. I am saving book three; Coming Home to the Comfort Food Café for Christmas, so I know without doubt I have something to look forward too from this author later on this year.

See review of Sunshine at the Comfort Food Cafe.

I really loved this book, having been asked by NetGalley to review Sunshine at the Comfort Food Cafe first, I was then asked to review this one. At first I was somewhat confused but realised that this is the first book in a series of four and reading this made the other novel just fall into place being the fourth as I now realise that there are two more books between the two titles. I can honestly say that I loved this book and the characters in them and will be putting the two books between on a wish list soon. It truly is a 'comfort' book, just cosy and draws the reader in to a wondrous collection of quirky characters. I just wish this cafe was my local as it is just so full of friendship and community so lacking these days. A lovely summer holiday read and perfect for curling up and immersing oneself in. I look forward to reading the missing two volumes, and can see there is plenty of room for more in this series, I, for one, shall be looking out for them.