The Bistro by Watersmeet Bridge: Book Review

Sometime — just sometimes — a book comes along that’s as warming as a cup of hot chocolate in a snowstorm, a feelgood read in what seems like an increasingly crazy world. Julie Stock’s latest contemporary romance novel, The Bistro by Watersmeet Bridge, is one of those books. 

So the caveats. It isn’t twisty or shocking or chilling. It’s a romance, which means you’re not going to be surprised by the ending and it doesn’t have plot twists that will catch you in the solar plexus. It isn’t literary (in the sense that you lie awake half the night wondering what it means or if you’ve missed something). But as for what it is…it’s a stonking great cuddle of a book, and I adored it. 

So, the plot. Finn’s bistro in a Devonshire village is in deep trouble and his only option is to sell. When he’s made an offer by Fuller’s, the restaurant chain, on the basis that he remains as chef but a new manager comes in, he has to accept. 

The new manager turns out to be Olivia Fuller, daughter of the chain’s founder, who’s been given Finn’s bistro as a project by her father and is determined to make it a success. Finn, naturally enough, resents the new manager though he finds her attractive, and all sorts of different sparks begin to fly. Just as everything starts to look rosy, the commercial world gets ugly and Finn and Olivia are left with a fight to save their bistro. 

I really loved it. Julie Stock creates believable, engaging characters and places them in realistic and testing situations, so that I found myself rooting for both Finn and Olivia — and, of course, the bistro. Time simply flew by while I was reading it and though it wasn’t a page turner in the traditional sense (I didn’t have to keep reading to know what happened next) I was totally absorbed  from page 1.