Little Beach Street Bakery

Little Beach Street Bakery Series #1

By: Jenny Colgan

Narrated by: Veida Dehmlow

Polly Waterford is recovering from a toxic relationship. Unable to afford their flat, she has to move miles away from everyone, to a sleepy little seaside resort in Cornwall, where she lives alone above an abandoned shop. And so Polly takes out her frustrations on her favorite hobby: making bread.

But what was previously a weekend diversion suddenly becomes far more important as she pours her emotions into kneading and pounding the dough, and each loaf becomes better and better. With nuts and seeds, olives and chorizo, with local honey (courtesy of local beekeeper, Huckle), and with reserves of determination and creativity Polly never knew she had, she bakes and bakes and bakes...and people start to hear about it. Sometimes bread really is life...and Polly is about to reclaim hers.

©2014 Jenny Colgan (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This confection of a novel...will please her fans and can be recommended to readers who enjoy novels by Jill Mansell and Jojo Moyes." ( Booklist)

Cute, quirky, charming

If you’re looking for low stress and high comfort, this book is like a warm hug, truly. This is my first intro into Jenny Colgan and I was not disappointed. Narrator did lovely on Polly’s POV but the accents and male narrations were hard to listen to.

A Bakery You Wish You Could Go To

Delightful story with likable characters. The baking description are so real, you smell the bread and wish you had a loaf with you.

Fun story

A woman rebuilding her life. She is a little too meek for my tastes but she did get me on her side.

sign me up to move there!moving there!

l loved it so very much, it reminds me if OBX I want to sit in her Cafe hand have a sweet bread with but just be perfect

Love it! Well worth the time to listen.

Love it! Well worth the time to listen. I've found a fun new author to enjoy!

Great story

This story was lovely and fun. I’m in love with Neil! The narrator was hood also. Looking forward to the next in the series.

Always a lovely story, narration took away

Normally I don’t read “feel good books”, but I found Jenny Colgan’s books, and really enjoy them.
The story is about someone in her 30s and going through a rough patch and baking is therapeutic to her, to over simplify. The story is sweet.
I do recommend the book, however the narration of this specific book (and I’ve only found 1 other of hers, the rest are fab) was a bit difficult for me.
The character was said to be 32 I believe in the start of the book, but the voice and cadence of the narration lends to a much older character. It doesn’t carry right because of this. For example, how a younger person would say certain words or phrases doesn’t come off right from this narrator (regardless of accent or origin). Also the book described the bee keeper as a young man, but he sounds like a gruff old man. The southern accent is one thing, and the details of where he was from had me laughing, describing an open area for ages with lots of green things and then a town stuck in time is quite contradictory. Savannah is a city that is not open fields.
The “men” from the fishing boat, while described as young, were narrated like children.
Would recommend this book, but would love to hear another narrator do this one.

The narrator ruins the story

The storyline was lighthearted and enjoyable. However, Read it yourself! The narration for the male characters was atrocious. Totally ruins it when a thirty something man comes off sounding like a 90 year old man that has smoked his whole life. And the younger fishermen sounded like little boys. I continually had to remind myself that Polly wasn’t getting on with old men. UGH

The cute aesthetic

The story was absolutely wonderful! I want to live on this little island. The narrator did not know how to do a southern accent, but that’s OK.

relaxing

the narrative voice was a wonder to listen to. so calming and expressive. the story was full of love, heart ache, and triumph. two thumbs up, and it's a must to listen to.