The Pet Shop at Pennycombe Bay by Sheila Norton

The first thing I need to comment is the cover. I like the fact that our leading lady looks like her descriptions inside. An average comfortable thirty year old. The tale begins simply enough, woman runs into another man on the beach also with a dog and they have a ‘meet cute’. Things may not go the way we expect as she heads home that she is sharing/tenant of/living with her cousin. The sub-classifications are for the mood in which we find cousin Ruth in.

Jess is a shy individual, suffers from bouts of anxiety when meeting new people and in new situations. This year may be the year of change as she is pushed into unexpected situations and her inner confidence starts to seep through. The town of Pennycombe bay is small enough for such a change to be realistic enough and have us cheering her on. Although this books starts of in a typical fashion, it is anything but. This is not about Jess’s love life or her overly simple retiring lifestyle. It is about all the people in her life and to some extent the people in next extended circle. Each is struggling with an issue and they are all routine problems but need assistance from friends and family to overcome. The only drawback I think might have been the size of the book, if it was slightly shorter I would have loved it more but I did enjoy getting to know the world around Jess and Jess herself. This is a book with an overall positive outcome and nothing happens as we would expect it to which feels good when reading a book in this genre. It keeps you guessing about when that ‘good thing’ will happen to get everyone in a rut, out of it. I would definitely recommend this book to people who like reading this genre and those who like dogs/cats because they do make a significant contribution to move the story forward!

I received an ARC thanks to the publishers and NetGalley but the review is all of my own opinions. 

Affiliated link to purchase the book: Book Depository