Sunshine and Secrets Book Tour + Review

I make no secret of the fact that I love a good romance, especially in book form and this of course means that I'm quite partial to a bit of chick-lit. I've just read a novel from this sort of genre and I'm pleased to say that I am also part of the book tour so let me introduce to you Sunshine and Secrets: The Paradise Cookery School, the latest story from author Daisy James.

When newly heartbroken, michelin-starred chef Millie Harper is offered a job overseeing the setup of The Paradise Cookery School she jumps at the opportunity. Leaving London and her memories of heartbreak behind she hops on a plane to the hilltop cocoa plantation in St Lucia.

But this beautiful island break might be more work than she’d expected….  With only two weeks to have the kitchen installed, cocoa pods going missing from the plantation and the notoriously relaxed island workmen to contend with, she’s going to need some help. Gruff but charming estate manager Zach Baxter, is only too happy to offer his opinions. As the two clash heads can they remain focussed on the job in hand and get the cookery school finished in time?

The tale starts when we are introduced to Amelia or as she likes to be called, Millie. She's on the phone to her sister Jen as she's making her way through the airport on her way to visit her mum in France after a messy break up. Right from the get go her character is described perfectly, you get a sense that she's passionate about the things she does yet also dis-organised which makes for a sort of clumsy mixture.

Feeling low after recent events, her sister has taken it upon herself to help her to both move on and gain back some of the confidence she's recently lost. How? Well Jen's had to turn down a job in St Lucia help chef Claudia Croft set up her Paradise Cookery School and has happily recommended that Millie take her place. A job with one of her idols working in a gorgeously sunny environment, what could go wrong?


Well apparently plenty....

Upon arrival, poor Millie's greeted by the daily 3pm down pour of rain to then be scared by a dog and insulted by the rather good looking estate manager Zach Baxter. How can a place that has views that rival paradise take such a surprising twist? But what you can see straight away is Millie's sense of determination, she's not about to let anyone rain on her parade, well except for the actual unavoidable rain.

As she settles into island life trying to keep the kitchen fitters motivated whilst also working with Claudia's friend Ella to make sure that the tasting menu is more than 5* you can see her spirit beginning to lift, even the flying insults from Zach don't bother her as much as they did when they first met. However with only 2 weeks to have the cookery school up and running (if the staff could just turn up on time) and then the mysterious disappearance of the coco pods, it appears as though she won't have as much time to relax as initially thought.

What Daisy James has created is a piece of romantic comedy. It's light hearted and easy to follow, the perfect Summer read in my opinion. Filled with humour, a smidgen of love and a cast of quirky characters, I think you'd be hard pressed to read this novel without a smile on your face.

Filled to the brim with feel good vibes, I for one am keeping my fingers crossed that these characters will be back to entertain in more stories as I think Paradise Cookery School and it's surrounding community has much more to tell. I get the sense if there were more in the series that it would be like coming back to visit old friends.