“It was an ugly building, Emily thought, incongruous amongst the stone terraces. But perhaps with a lick of paint and a bright sign over the top? A few cakes in the window to tempt customers inside? And a warm greeting as soon as they set foot…”
The Little Board Game Café is a sweet and easy romance that you can effortlessly get lost in.
When Emily loses her job, house and boyfriend all within a matter of days, she’s determined to turn a negative into a positive and follow her dream of running a small cafe in the gorgeous Yorkshire village of Essendale.
But she quickly finds she’s bitten off more than she can chew when the ‘popular’ cafe she takes over turns out to secretly be a failing business. Emily desperately needs a way to turn things around, and help comes from the unlikeliest of places when she meets local board game-obsessed GP Ludek. But when a major chain coffee shop opens on the high street, Emily is forced to question if she’ll ever be able to compete.
Has she risked everything on something destined to fail? Or can a playful twist, a homely welcome, and a sprinkle of love make Emily’s cafe the destination she’s always dreamed of?
What a fun and charming book! This story satisfied that craving I had for a sweet romance read. If you love board games, you will enjoy this book so much. I’m not a big board game fan, but all the excitement and passion the characters had for these games just leapt from the pages and was contagious. I was itching to play a game when I finished reading this book.
Overall, this is a nice and easy read. The characters are all likeable, and the story moves at the perfect pace. I adored Emily and her dream to open up her very own café. It’s always so special getting to connect with a character when they are trying to make their dreams come true. I loved the fact that Emily didn’t have an easy journey when it came to running her new café. There were so many unexpected twists and turns, which made for an entertaining reading experience. It also made Emily’s journey more realistic and relatable. Also, I loved how there were no real bad guys in this story. At first, I thought Emily’s ex-fiance and his mother would be the horrible characters you love to hate, but they weren’t. They surprised me in a good way. They supported Emily and her business venture and only wanted good things for her. There were no hard feelings between Emily and her fiance, and the end of their book had them being friends. I loved the secondary characters in this book, especially Mr. B. That man was delightful and just charmed my socks off whenever he was on the page.
The love in this book is sweet. Ludek is a big old softy who is a complete and utter board game geek. The way that man treated his games is the same way I treat my books. It’s clear right from the beginning that Ludek is smitten with Emily, but he is unsure if he should make a move because Emily’s breakup with her fiance is still pretty fresh. Emily and Ludek are delightful together, and I devoured every scene that had these two together. Even though this is a more charming romance, these two have some hurdles and miscommunications to solve before they can be together. I enjoyed their romance. It had just the right amount of everything to make it a pleasant reading experience.
The Little Board Game Café is the perfect romance to read this spring.
Thank you, Aria & Aries for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
