Review: Ella’s Ice Cream Summer

Posted 27th June 2017 by Emma in Reviews / 0 Comments

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Ella's Ice-Cream Summer by Sue Watson
Also by this author: Petit Four, Snow Angels, Secrets and Christmas Cake, Curves, Kisses and Chocolate Ice-Cream, Snowflakes, Iced Cakes and Second Chances:
Series: The Ice-Cream Cafe #1
Also in this series: Curves, Kisses and Chocolate Ice-Cream
on 11th May 2017
Pages: 334
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Amazon Kindle, Audible
One Star

Ella’s life just hit rock-bottom, but can a summer by the sea mend her broken heart? When life gives you lemons… make ice-cream!

Life hasn’t always been easy for single mum Ella, but she has just hit an all-time low; she’s jobless, loveless, very nearly homeless and, to make matters worse, now the owner of a pocket-sized pooch with a better wardrobe than her.

Packing her bags (and a bigger one for the dog), Ella sets off for the seaside town of Appledore in Devon to re-live the magical summers of her youth and claim her portion of the family ice-cream business: a clapped-out ice-cream van and a complicated mess of secrets.

There she meets gorgeous and free-spirited solicitor, Ben, who sees things differently: with a little bit of TLC he has a plan to get the van – and Ella – back up and running in no time.

Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley.

Ella has lived in Manchester for the majority of her life but she still remembers those summers in Appledore. Every year she would spend 2 weeks in Appledore with her aunt and cousin. Ella loved those two weeks she was young and carefree but when she was 12 years old she had her last summer in Appledore. Her mum and Aunt Sophia had fallen out many years before but that summer something triggered the end of those visits.

Fast forward and Ella is about to face a summer alone. Divorced with 2 teenage children about to embark on their own summer adventures Ella is hitting rock bottom. When Ella is informed she has a portion of the family business in her aunt’s will she assumes it’s a share in the family Ice Cream Café. She’s a little disappointed when she finds out its actually the van and not the café.

This story follows Ella as she embarks on a summer of self discovery. I really enjoyed seeing Ella dig deep and find the strength and courage to try new things. The ice creams sounded dreamy and Ben wasn’t half bad either.

Ella’s mum Roberta is actually hilarious. With her sexting and inappropriate tweeting there’s never a dull moment when Roberta’s around. There were many times when I was literally laughing out loud at Roberta and her antics.

I did guess the big family secret quite early on but this didn’t ruin the story at all. This is a perfect summer read that will make you long for ice cream on the seafront.

About Sue Watson

Sue Watson was a TV Producer with the BBC who combined motherhood and family life with a busy career. However, one day it dawned on Sue that Cosmo magazine may have been telling porkies about ‘having it all,’ and her life had become a slightly crazed juggling act.

So after much soul searching (and comfort eating) Sue abandoned her TV career, bought a pink laptop and wrote a novel. ‘Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes,’ tells the story of Stella Weston, whose life is a constant struggle with a nasty boss at work, the weighing scales and being a mum, wife and daughter.

Originally from Manchester, Sue now lives with her husband and teenage daughter in Worcestershire. When she’s not toiling over her latest novel, Sue bakes (and eats) cake and enjoys very large tubs of Caramel Chew Chew ice cream all to herself while watching ‘The Biggest Loser USA.’

Sue’s second book, ‘Younger, Thinner, Blonder’ was released in October (2013) and her third book ‘Love, Lies and Lemon Cake’ is released on June 27th 2014.

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