Boy am I happy to be back at Port Karadow! One of my favourite places and I just loved slipping into this book and disappearing into the sights and smells of delightful Cornwall. The perfect escape and coupled with Cressida’s amazing writing, she really makes it a place you can almost call home in book form!

This one follows Thea, who’s on a three week getaway to Cornwall and finds more than she bargains for. With her hopes and dreams set on opening a bookshop in the charming village that captured her heart as a girl, will she get all she’s dreamed of? And there’s Ben of course, the heartthrob from next door..

I’ve always been a fan of this authors books, as they’re so comforting and homely. They warm the cockles of your heart and leave you smiling. And that’s exactly what I want from a book! The Cornish Cream Tea Holiday was no different and is a fantastic addition to such an amazing series.

I immediately warmed to Thea’s character and I loved how she was written and portrayed. I was honestly rooting for her from the get go and I was insanely invested that made it hard to tear myself away from the book. ‘Just a few chapters’ became a ‘whoops I’ve read half’ to ‘oh well, I can’t leave it there’ and then before I knew it, it was finished!

As per tradition, I was left with a happy heart and a smile, and a longing to go back to Port Karadow. Think I’ll go back for a re-read of the series again…!

Thank you to the publisher and author for this book on NetGalley in return for my honest thoughts and review.

*3.5

What a perfect summer read, especially if you can pair it with a cup of tea and a scone with all the jam and cream!

I’ve really enjoyed Cressy’s Cornish Cream Tea series but I think this has been my favourite so far, I loved Ben and Thea and was so engrossed in their story. We also spent a lot of time with Meredith and Finn from the previous book so it felt like returning to a group of friends that you’ve not seen for a while.

The setting, Port Karadow, is so stunning, with its walking trails, the beaches, the coves and then the quaint high street and shops… I feel like these books could go on forever! I mean I’m already eagerly awaiting the next Christmas one as it sounds amazing and I can’t wait to see Thea’s next chapter!!!

Cressida McLaughlin’s Cornish Cream Tea series is definitely up there with my favourite series and each time I finish one I am already sitting there wishing the months by eager for the next one to be released.



The Cornish Cream Tea Holiday is book number 6 in the series but to be completely honest if you haven’t read the previous books it is not a problem at all as this can easily be read as a standalone but you will be desperate to go back an read the others straight after.



I am sure every reader will love our new main character Thea because she has a dream I am sure most of us keen readers have had at some point through our lives! When her holiday to Cornwall with her best friend Esme faces a hiccup because Esme is unable to come Thea goes anyway armed with a list of things to do sites to see and a secret mission to see if she can possibly make her dream come true. What was not on her list was finding an irresistible builder named Ben living next door to her rental who soon becomes a consistent distraction!

We are reunited with some of much-loved characters from previous books, Meredith and Finn are weaved in around the storyline and it is great to see how well they are doing. We also have a very brief appearance from Charlie and Daniel but I really wish we could have more of them and Gertie in the novels but I need to stop being needy and just appreciate that a little bit of a good thing is probably what makes you want and love something even more.

Watching Thea building her confidence and pushing forward to try and make her dream a reality and a new life for herself was both exciting and inspiring, I was cheering her on all the way.

Ben was an intriguing character who I grew to love. His past shadowed his pure heart of gold but as his barriers began to come down we could see he was a pure gentleman with a whole lot of love to give, he had just lost his way.

I would have loved to have seen more of the renovation process in the book to go on Thea’s journey from start to end but that is just me being greedy and wanting to live a little of my dream through her! I definitely feel like there is still so much to come from both Thea and Ben so I am hoping that they make a strong reappearance in a future novel.

This was up there as my second favourite in the series and I highly recommend this for those looking for an uplifting romance with Cornish charm to take away on your holibobs or to enjoy on your staycation this year.

I hold my hands up and confess that I still haven’t gotten around to reading the last book in Cressida McLaughlin’s, Cornish Cream Tea series, Christmas Carols and a Cornish Cream Tea which was published last year but I will definitely rectify that once Christmas reading season comes around again. But not having read the previous book did not in any way detract from the huge amount of enjoyment I got from reading this new book, The Cornish Cream Tea Holiday. This was a brilliant read from start to finish and it’s been rare this year that I have given a book five stars but this story deserves it and so much more. Once I started it, I couldn’t leave it out of my hands and in fact I read it one sitting which these days is unusual for me but it just goes to show how good it was. This is the perfect summer read that delivers on all fronts - the perfect location, characters you root for, an interesting plot and a great pace that keeps you rapidly turning the pages and of course all the mentions of books and bookshops. I mean you can’t fail to love Thea and her passion for books. She is a character that will speak to so many people and you root for her every step of the way on her journey.

It really makes no difference at all to your reading experience if you have not read any of the previous books as all can be read as standalone stories and in particular I feel this one even more so than some of the others. Cressida whisks us away once again to Cornwall and the seaside town of Port Kadow. Wow, is all I can say. The descriptions of the town and the surrounding coast and countryside were just fantastic. I have no hope of going anywhere on holiday this year but reading this book I felt I was transported to the hot days of summer near the beach and I was with Thea on her holiday which turned into much more of a life journey than she had anticipated.

Thea arrives from Bristol to spend a few weeks in Cornwall. She works in a library (my dream job if I wasn’t teaching) and has been looking forward to some time away for ages. Everything had been so carefully planned with her work colleague and best friend Esme and numerous things were going to be ticked off their summer bucket lists as well as lots of reading. But work commitments mean Esme has had to pull out. Of course, Thea is angry and upset and you can tell she is not looking forward to spending so much time on her own but still she will make the best of the situation. As soon as she pulls up at Sunfish Cottage with its uninterrupted panoramic sea views Thea feels herself start to unwind but that’s not to say her time away will be all smooth sailing.

The glorious coastal descriptions had me from page one and didn’t relinquish their grip until the final page. The use of the landscape and the coast throughout the story was just fantastic and so vital to the overall plot. I could easily visualise Thea sitting outside the cottage reading a book and enjoying the sunshine but next door at Oyster Cottage noise abounds as its been renovated by Ben. Thea and Ben don’t get off to the best of starts and although he is very handsome he is quite closed off and wasn’t perhaps as welcoming as he should have been. He can be gruff and cantankerous but the more we get to know him and he slowly reveals himself the more I thought oh please let good things happen for both himself and Thea in both their personal and professional lives.

The reader can instantly tell that Ben has secrets and a backstory and you know over time that Thea will try and delve that little bit deeper and get to the heart of the man that is Ben. But the journey to do so was just so amazing and incredible that I didn’t want to rush through any of it. Unfortunately, I did because I was just so gripped by everything. It was like Cressida wove a spell over me and I just became so deeply invested in the story. I don’t know what makes some books just OK reads and then others you are just so totally taken in by but I was just wrapped up and enveloped by Thea and her story and all the elements came together to make for the most perfect book that I have read in the contemporary women’s fiction genre in a very long time.

I could identify with Thea so much. I mean who doesn’t love a girl who says books are an essential part of her life. She was just such a real and down to earth character. Yes she has her flaws but she knows she does and is trying to repair them. The scenes where she was determined to tick something off the bucket list despite dreading it so much, well that would be me all over. I felt every bit of her pain as she traversed the cliff edge on a scorching day and the blisters just intensified. She was stubborn and wasn’t going to admit to Esme that she would rather curl up with a book for the day. What really makes Thea stand out is her hidden lifelong dream. Yes she has come to Cornwall for a holiday but she has other motives too. For as long as she can remember she has wanted to open and run a bookshop. Thanks to a friend Alex, she has gotten support and has a business plan together. She hopes to explore the streets of Port Kadow and find a suitable location for her shop. She has kept this all secret from Esme despite them having such a close bond which goes back to troubles during Thea’s time at school. This aspect was handled so well and allowed the reader to truly understand what was motivating Thea. Her time at school had given Thea a mistrust of people that she couldn’t banish but books and her job give her a confidence that was otherwise absent in other areas of her life. I hoped this confidence would shine through and allow her to fulfil her dreams.

There was so much that occurred in this book but at no point did things feel overwhelming or just added to the storyline for the sake of it. The adventures Ben and Thea took were wonderful and of course food and cream teas have to be mentioned and again this fitted in perfectly with everything. The further I got into the story the more I was enjoying it and I didn’t want it to end. I could have kept reading about Thea and Ben for many hours. Thea starts to grow and change and is enhanced by her new experiences and the friends she makes. Whilst out walking she stumbles across The Old Port House which overlooks Port Kadow and was once the post office. Sylvia lives there alone and it is in desperate need of repair and is being handed back to the council. I could picture so clearly the old house and what it could be in the future. Will Thea see the same? Has she the resources to make her wishes come true?

No doubt about it, this book was a fabulous read that I urge you to place at the very top of your summer reading this year. It will provide you with the perfect slice of escapism that so many people are desperately craving right now. The only thing I will say is that I understand that this book is book six in the series and using Cornish Cream Tea has worked well for the books all along but I feel we are moving away from the cream tea aspect. I understand wanting to keep the same words in the titles as readers have become familiar with the series and the setting etc but the characters that established this series have been dealt with. Yes, they do make a brief appearance in this book and it’s fun to be able to say oh yes I recall so and so from this book and you remember what happened. But I think the series has become so well established and we have even moved away from the original setting, although not too far, that perhaps the title is slightly misleading at this stage. But that’s just my opinion and really in the major scheme of things it’s very minor.

The Cornish Cream Tea Holiday is certainly one for the keeper shelf and has reminded me why I love Cressida’s writing so much. November can’t come quick enough, as that’s when the next book will be published, because I felt we were left on a slight cliff-hanger at the end and it just gave me a sense that there is a lot more to come from Thea and I desperately want to see her ambitions and life dream come full circle. Of course with some new characters thrown in too. The Cornish Cream Tea Bookshop is firmly on my wish list and I feel it’s going to be just as good if not better, which will be hard really, than this wonderful book which was so captivating, uplifting and simply an utter joy to read.