The Cafe by the Sea

This novel (also published under the English title, The Summer Seaside Kitchen) will not offer any surprises for those who have read other books by Jenny Colgan (see my post on The Bookshop on the Corner). She continues her love affair with Scotland, this time on a (fictitious) island, Mure, at the northern most point of the country. There will be two men: one who is clearly infatuated with our protagonist, Flora, and one who is cold, aloof, gorgeous, and unattainable--in this case, Joel, Flora's boss at a law firm in London. You will know the predictable outcome by the time you read a couple of chapters, but the journey is still enjoyable.
A few years ago, Flora fled her home island of Mure after her mother's death from cancer...too many memories and too many people who knew her and expected her to step in and fill her mother's shoes looking after her father and her three brothers on the MacKenzie Farm.  Now, through happenstance, a potentially very lucrative client project has come up on the island and Flora is tapped to go back to Mure and suss out the locals' attitudes about moving a proposed wind farm that will spoil the view of the client's posh resort on the north end of the island. Flora goes home to find everyone still mad at her for leaving, her father fading away, her brothers bitter about the slow decline of the farm and the small island population not at all favorably disposed toward the rich American who has bought up "The Rock"for his new resort but not hired any local labor or sourced any of his food locally. He also owns a small building in town that he has left vacant and they are cross about that, as well. As you might guess, Flora is charged with smoothing ruffled community feathers, especially those of the town council, and that includes putting a small cafe into the empty shop in town. Back on the farm, Flora finds that her brother, Fintan, who the rest of the family thinks is a laggard for not helping more with the farm, has secretly been working on making delicious cheese. She also uncovers her mother's old recipe book and quickly re-connects with her love of cooking and with happier memories of her mom. A light and enjoyable read with wonderful, rich descriptions of the island, which Colgan claims is an "amalgam" of several northern Scottish islands. Perfect escape reading!