by Karen Clarke
The Café at Seashell Cove
‘I about fell out of my chair laughing… Hysterical… One of my favorite authors… Perfect… So many laughs my sides were sore after reading!… Hilarious.’ Novel Gossip, 5 stars
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Get it here!
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When Cassie Maitland needs a holiday from her glamorous but stressful job in event management, she escapes home to gorgeous Seashell Cove, where her family’s cosy café sits perched on the cliffs above sparkling waves and golden sand.
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But a lot has changed while Cassie’s been away: her parents have transformed their tired café into a welcoming haven, her friends Meg and Tilly have whole new lives, and old flame Danny’s twinkling eyes and winning smile make Cassie feel even more flustered than they used to.
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Keen to throw herself back into local life, Cassie starts to run themed events – including a not entirelysuccessful cat-café day, complete with dozens of felines. Luckily Danny is always around to lend a helping hand, and Cassie soon begins to wonder if her life in London was really all she made it out to be…
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Could a new start in Seashell Cove be exactly what Cassie needs?
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A heart-warming and hilarious read about friendship, belonging and seaside living. Perfect for fans of Debbie Johnson, Holly Martin and Jenny Oliver.
Hear more from Karen
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Also by Karen Clarke
SEASHELL COVE SERIES
The Bakery at Seashell Cove
The Café at Seashell Cove
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BEACHSIDE SERIES
The Beachside Sweet Shop
The Beachside Flower Stall
The Beachside Christmas
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Being Brooke Simmons
My Future Husband
Put a Spell on You
A Letter from Karen
I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read The Bakery at Seashell Cove. If you did enjoy it, and want to keep up to date with all my latest releases, just sign up here. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
It was such fun to return to Seashell Cove to tell Meg’s story and revisit some familiar characters. I have to say, a lot of the joy came from dreaming up cake recipes, as I love both baking and eating cakes. My grandmother taught me to bake, as Meg’s does, and my gran’s date slices were a favourite of mine. My mum’s a fantastic baker too, and some of my loveliest memories are of coming home from school to her home-made fruit cake, chocolate cake, teacakes and chocolate eclairs. It’s amazing I was so skinny back then, but they were just a teatime treat!
I’ve included a recipe, in case you fancy trying Meg’s Chocolate and Raspberry Cake, and if you do I’d love to see a photo of it.
I hope you loved The Bakery at Seashell Cove and if you did I would be very grateful if you could write a review. I’d love to hear what you think, and it makes such a difference helping new readers to discover one of my books for the first time.
I love hearing from my readers – you can get in touch on my Facebook page, through Twitter, Goodreads or my website.
Thanks,
Karen
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Karen’s website
The Beachside Sweet Shop
Chocolate fudge, butterscotch and raspberry bonbons… treat yourself to some sugary treats, a big slice of friendship and a sprinkling of romance at The Beachside Sweet Shop.
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When Marnie Appleton inherited a sweet shop from her grandfather she was determined to do his legacy proud. The shop has been a much-loved feature of the little seaside town of Shipley for years, but now Marnie needs to bring it up to date, and she’s recruited gorgeous new assistant Josh to help.
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Marnie gets busy redecorating the shop and choosing delicious new sweets to stock, but things are never that simple: new neighbour Isobel, a fame-hungry blogger, is on a crusade against sugar, and she’ll go to any lengths to secure bad publicity for Marnie’s shop.
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Marnie fights back with homemade sugar-free treats, but with her best friend Beth heavily pregnant, her grandmother Celia recovering from an operation, and her very recently ex-boyfriend Alex returning to Shipley with a new love, Marnie has a lot on her plate.
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And then there’s Josh, with whom Marnie is struggling to keep her relationship strictly professional…Will both the sweet shop and love flourish?
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Available now!
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A deliciously heartwarming read about family, friends and handmade coconut ice. Perfect for fans of Cressida McLaughlin, Debbie Johnson, and Tilly Tennant.
The Beachside Flower Stall
A feel good romantic comedy
Out now!
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A heartening and uplifting read about lost love, true friendship, and blossoming romance. Perfect for fans of Cressida McLaughlin, Cathy Bramley, and Debbie Johnson.
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Carrie Dashwood fled Dorset ten years ago when her best friend Megan stole her love, local heart-throb Tom. Now she’s back to help run her aunt Ruby’s flower stall in idyllic Shipley.
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Trying to persuade herself that her feelings for Tom are in the past, Carrie plans to avoid him and Megan completely. But it’s not to be, because Ruby’s Blooms are arranging the flowers for Megan and Tom’s wedding.
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Soon Carrie’s crawling under the stall to hide and accidentally inventing an imaginary boyfriend... But with the stall’s finances in jeopardy and Ruby needing her niece more than ever, Carrie has to keep her emotions in check.
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With bouquets to arrange, family secrets to uncover, and Tom unavoidably a part of her life again, can Carrie keep her cool, save the stall, and find her very own happy ever after?
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Out now!
The Beachside Christmas
Snow is falling and there’s romance in the air. Curl up for a cosy Christmas by the fire at Seaview Cottage…
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When thirty-year-old Lily Ambrose’s latest relationship ends in disaster, she remembers happy childhood holidays in the seaside town of Shipley and decides it’s the perfect place for a fresh start.
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But when Lily arrives, the town’s spirits are as low as her own: the local celebrity due to turn on the Christmas lights has gone on a cruise instead. Keen to prove herself, she calls in a favour and secures gorgeous reality star Ollie.
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Lily’s neighbours are initially thrilled, but Ollie is as uncontrollable as he is good-looking. He can’t remember the town’s name, calls the Christmas decorations tacky, and manages to offend everyone. And whilst handsome but stubborn cameraman Craig tries to help, even he can’t stop Ollie’s madcap plans to stage a romance with Lily…
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Will Lily be able to keep Ollie under control and bring the Christmas cheer back to Shipley – and find herself a real kiss under the mistletoe?
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An addictive, heart-warming and uplifting read about friendship, romance, and Christmas spirit. Perfect for fans of Phillipa Ashley, Cathy Bramley and Debbie Johnson.
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Available now.
Meg’s Chocolate and Raspberry Cake
Ingredients
200g self-raising flour
25g cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
225g butter, at room temperature, plus a little extra for greasing
225g caster sugar
4 eggs
Filling
300ml double cream
200g white chocolate (optional)
1 teasp
oon vanilla extract
300g fresh raspberries
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Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas Mark 3.
Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder into a bowl. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
Beat in 1 egg, then a spoonful of the flour mix. Continue adding eggs and flour alternately until it has all been added and the mixture is smooth.
Spoon into 2 lightly buttered 23 cm (9 inch) cake tins lined with a circle of non-stick baking paper. Smooth the tops so they’re level then bake for 15–20 minutes, or until the tops feel firm and a skewer comes out cleanly.
Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then loosen the edges and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Whip the cream and vanilla extract and spoon half over one of the cake layers, then sprinkle with half the raspberries. Add the other cake half, top with the remaining fresh cream and raspberries, then sprinkle over icing sugar to finish.
(OPTIONAL: Melt most of the white chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, then fold into the whipped cream before filling and topping the cake, and shave the leftover chocolate on top).
Cut into slices to serve.
Acknowledgements
A lot of people are involved in making a book, and I would like to thank the brilliant team at Bookouture for making it happen. Particular thanks to my wonderful editor, Abi, for her clever and insightful guidance, to Jane for her seamless copy-editing, Claire for her eagle-eyed proofreading, Emma for the gorgeous cover and Kim and Noelle for spreading the word.
As ever, I owe my lovely readers a massive thank you, as well as the blogging community, whose reviews are a labour of love, and Amanda Brittany for her tireless feedback and friendship.
And last, but never least, thank you to all my family and friends for their constant encouragement, my children, Amy, Martin and Liam for their unwavering support, and my husband Tim for everything – I couldn’t do it without you.
Published by Bookouture
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An imprint of StoryFire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
United Kingdom
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www.bookouture.com
Copyright © Karen Clarke 2018
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Karen Clarke has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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ISBN: 978-1-78681-366-4