Book Review | The Teashop on the Corner by Milly Johnson

At her beloved husband's funeral, Carla Pride discovers that Martin never divorced his first wife and has been living a double life with her. And his other wife, Julie Pride, is determined to take everything from Carla - her home, her money, and her memories.

When Will Linton's business goes bust he at least thinks that with the support of his trophy wife Nicole he will rise to the top again. But Nicole isn't going to stick around with 'a loser' and Will finds himself at rock bottom.

Molly Jones is being bullied into going into a retirement home by her 'concerned' daughter-in-law Sherry and son Gram. Then the love of Molly's life walks in through her door - a man who broke Molly's heart into little pieces many years ago. But he says he is dying and wants to spend the time he has left with her.

All people in need of a little love and compassion which they find by chance in the stationery and teashop on the corner run by the ever-cheerful Leni, a woman that site developer Shaun McCarthy finds annoying beyond annoying for her ability to remain unrealistically upbeat about everything.

But is the world of Leni Merryman as full of rainbows and sparkles as everyone thinks? Or is her smile papering over many cracks in her heart that will soon be shattered unwittingly by her new friends?

I didn't think this book would be my cup of tea (pun unintended), but other books I've read with the same first impressions have ended up being some of my favourites. I also couldn't ignore the high ratings it's been receiving.

There's quite a few main characters in this book, all with different stories. I thought it was going to be hard to follow and remember everyone, but it wasn't. It didn't drag, either, because of the way it was split up. The only problem with this format being that I didn't have as much time to connect with the characters, like I do with other books.

All of the characters have The Teashop on the Corner in common. I personally found some of the exchanges in the Teashop a little too fluffy, but that's because I'm not keen on chit chat with strangers. The book is also quite predictable, and isn't one of those which has an impact on how you see the world.

Saying that, I did still like it. I liked the different walks of life the characters had, their unique situations, and how they built themselves up in front of my eyes. I'd also just like to add that I found Shaun to be cold and distant at first, but found myself relating to him the most, so that was interesting!

I gave The Teashop on the Corner 4/5 on Goodreads, but it's more like 3.5/5.

Have you read this book?