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Hot Cross Buns at the Little Cornish Bookshop: The perfect life-affirming, joyful small town romance for spring
Not yet published
Expected 26 Mar 26A GIRL FINDING HER PLACE IN THE WORLD. A BOOKSHOP BY THE SEA. AND A ROMANCE THAT WILL SWEEP HER OFF HER FEET.
Will she discover a life and love as magical as those in the stories she reads?
Effie has always loved her quiet life in Cornwall - sea swims, beach walks, reading, and knitting. After university in London, she returned home, craving the calm of the coast. But while her friends move forward, Effie feels stuck.
So when she's offered the chance to open a bookshop in the seaside village of Polcarrow - with a flat above the shop - Effie leaps at the opportunity. A bookshop by the sea? It's the dream.
Adjusting to life on her own is tough at first, but she soon finds friendship in Lola, the local café owner, and her warm circle of friends. Then there's Jake - a globe-trotting photographer - who stirs something in Effie that she didn't expect.
As Easter approaches and the shop's grand opening nears, Effie's new life begins to bloom. But a difficult owner and a misunderstanding with Jake threaten to upend everything. Can Effie find the courage to fight for the life - and love - she's always wanted?
Praise for Jennifer Bibby
'The perfect festive romance' HEIDI SWAIN
'Charming and romantic, sweet and sunny. I loved it' MILLY JOHNSON
'A warm and charm-filled story about community, passion and following your heart . . . A holiday romance in book form - I adored it!' HOLLY MILLER
'A sun-drenched summer in picture-perfect Polcarrow - I didn't want it to end' HOLLY HEPBURN
Will she discover a life and love as magical as those in the stories she reads?
Effie has always loved her quiet life in Cornwall - sea swims, beach walks, reading, and knitting. After university in London, she returned home, craving the calm of the coast. But while her friends move forward, Effie feels stuck.
So when she's offered the chance to open a bookshop in the seaside village of Polcarrow - with a flat above the shop - Effie leaps at the opportunity. A bookshop by the sea? It's the dream.
Adjusting to life on her own is tough at first, but she soon finds friendship in Lola, the local café owner, and her warm circle of friends. Then there's Jake - a globe-trotting photographer - who stirs something in Effie that she didn't expect.
As Easter approaches and the shop's grand opening nears, Effie's new life begins to bloom. But a difficult owner and a misunderstanding with Jake threaten to upend everything. Can Effie find the courage to fight for the life - and love - she's always wanted?
Praise for Jennifer Bibby
'The perfect festive romance' HEIDI SWAIN
'Charming and romantic, sweet and sunny. I loved it' MILLY JOHNSON
'A warm and charm-filled story about community, passion and following your heart . . . A holiday romance in book form - I adored it!' HOLLY MILLER
'A sun-drenched summer in picture-perfect Polcarrow - I didn't want it to end' HOLLY HEPBURN
Kindle Edition
Expected publication March 26, 2026
2 people are currently reading
5 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Bibby
6 books21 followersAs a lifelong lover of stories, Jennifer Bibby spent her teenage years wowing various teachers with her historical epics before finding her feet exploring the everyday lives of modern women through literature. In addition to being a bibliophile she loves classy cocktails, cake and medieval history. She's happiest by the sea and loves to travel, and firmly believes that dinosaurs improve everything. The Cornish Hideaway is her debut novel.
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Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you Bonnier Books UK and NetGalley for the ARC! All opinions are my own.
4.5/5
I can’t believe I read this in just one evening. Effie’s character captured me from the very first page and I got extremely attached to her as the story unravelled. While previously a bookshop assistant, Effie gets promoted to the position of manager, placed in charge of opening a new branch in the quaint village of Polcarrow. Her boss is quite on the inactive side regarding his bookstores, so he passes on all his responsibilities to Effie. He is the worst type of boss, the one who has good intentions but is severely dormant and not prone to confrontations. Still, Effie perseveres.
Moving her entire life to Polcarrow, Effie’s introversion and anxiety surfaces, and it is handled by the author with extreme delicacy and realism. However, our heroine handles everything well, finding herself in a welcoming community quite eager to have a cosy bookshop open. Here steps in our leading viking, Jake, helping Effie throughout all her struggles and being an anchor for her when all she has around is change. Likewise, this is perfectly mirrored in Effie’s role in Jake’s life, her being the lighthouse of his tormented seas, guiding him home, guiding him to his own development and change.
I must admit, Effie is so dear to me that I felt Jake’s red flags personally hurtful. Nonetheless, they are quite realistic, and he has been rather open to her about his situation. Despite the slight disconnect, I enjoyed the healthy communication and the openness. Sometimes, the truth hurts, but it is better to be made aware of it rather than be lied to. He is a great character on his own, his complexity being revealed quite well even if he doesn’t have a direct point of view.
The appearances of Lola and Freya were absolutely great! I deeply enjoyed them.
The prose is very good, simple where needed, but both raw and delicate when the situation requires. The descriptions made me miss the lovely sea and want to visit the area myself. I would say Jennifer Bibby’s writing style and the manner in which she structures her novels, along with the themes she takes on, are right in the middle between the already established styles of Lucy Score and Emily Henry. Bibby has Score’s keenness of cosiness and surprising, romantic gestures and twists, and Henry’s leaning towards the genre of novels of manners, along with the tendency of having more raw, realistic male leads and takes on relationships. I can’t wait to see how Jennifer Bibby further establishes herself as a writer.
(As a note, I totally envisioned Effie as Hannah Dodd and Jake as Henry Ashton; I just couldn’t help myself.)
Eager for the next two books, which I saw already have release dates!
4.5/5
I can’t believe I read this in just one evening. Effie’s character captured me from the very first page and I got extremely attached to her as the story unravelled. While previously a bookshop assistant, Effie gets promoted to the position of manager, placed in charge of opening a new branch in the quaint village of Polcarrow. Her boss is quite on the inactive side regarding his bookstores, so he passes on all his responsibilities to Effie. He is the worst type of boss, the one who has good intentions but is severely dormant and not prone to confrontations. Still, Effie perseveres.
Moving her entire life to Polcarrow, Effie’s introversion and anxiety surfaces, and it is handled by the author with extreme delicacy and realism. However, our heroine handles everything well, finding herself in a welcoming community quite eager to have a cosy bookshop open. Here steps in our leading viking, Jake, helping Effie throughout all her struggles and being an anchor for her when all she has around is change. Likewise, this is perfectly mirrored in Effie’s role in Jake’s life, her being the lighthouse of his tormented seas, guiding him home, guiding him to his own development and change.
I must admit, Effie is so dear to me that I felt Jake’s red flags personally hurtful. Nonetheless, they are quite realistic, and he has been rather open to her about his situation. Despite the slight disconnect, I enjoyed the healthy communication and the openness. Sometimes, the truth hurts, but it is better to be made aware of it rather than be lied to. He is a great character on his own, his complexity being revealed quite well even if he doesn’t have a direct point of view.
The appearances of Lola and Freya were absolutely great! I deeply enjoyed them.
The prose is very good, simple where needed, but both raw and delicate when the situation requires. The descriptions made me miss the lovely sea and want to visit the area myself. I would say Jennifer Bibby’s writing style and the manner in which she structures her novels, along with the themes she takes on, are right in the middle between the already established styles of Lucy Score and Emily Henry. Bibby has Score’s keenness of cosiness and surprising, romantic gestures and twists, and Henry’s leaning towards the genre of novels of manners, along with the tendency of having more raw, realistic male leads and takes on relationships. I can’t wait to see how Jennifer Bibby further establishes herself as a writer.
(As a note, I totally envisioned Effie as Hannah Dodd and Jake as Henry Ashton; I just couldn’t help myself.)
Eager for the next two books, which I saw already have release dates!
Displaying 1 of 1 review