Review: 'The Chic Boutique on Baker Street' by Rachel Dove (2016)

Amanda is making the idyllic escape to the countryside to find a new life. Ben is picking up the pieces of his life after his wife left. Could a chance encounter outside Amanda's 'chic boutique' set them on the road to renewed happiness? Shop owner Amanda leaves London behind for life in the country and find's love with local vet Ben in this fun, addictive winner of the Prima Flirty Fiction competition.
Don't you just want to run away to the countryside when you see the book cover of Rachel Dove's 'The Chic Boutique on Baker Street'? I love everything about this colourful book cover and after having read the description of the story I knew this was going to be one of the April 2016 releases I definitely wanted to check out. Luckily, I was contacted by the publisher and found a lovely shiny paperback review copy of the book in my mailbox a few weeks ago! Spring is the perfect time for lovely and fun romance novels that leave you with a smile on your face, and I already had a good feeling that is exactly what 'The Chic Boutique on Baker Street' would turn out to be!
After catching her boyfriend and colleague Marcus in the arms of his secretary, Amanda Perry decides to leave her life as a successful lawyer in London behind to start afresh in the countryside. She ends up in the small town of Westfield where she starts her own boutique, called ‘A New Lease of Life.’ Next door to her store there’s a dog grooming business which is where Amanda first meets local vet Ben Evans. Ben mainly tries to focus on himself, trying to get over the divorce from his wife, but he can’t ignore the sparks between him and Amanda. Amanda definitely isn’t looking for new love, but it quickly turns out the inhabitants of Westfield have other plans in store for both Ben and Amanda…
After having read ‘The Chic Boutique on Baker Street’ I completely understand why author Rachel Dove was the winner of the Prima Flirty Fiction competition with this title, because it is a fun and light-hearted romance read which I enjoyed from start to finish. I’m a sucker for the basic storyline of a heroine leaving her city life behind to start anew in a small town in the countryside, but Rachel Dove really managed to give it her own twist and turned it into a read I didn’t want to put down. The characters in this book are wonderful; I easily warmed to leading lady Amanda and her possible love interest Ben, and there was a great collection of secondary characters as well. With stories set in small towns I love it when the write can convey that town feeling of everyone knowing and looking out for each other, and that feeling was definitely there in Westfield!
The book is quite a short read with precisely 300 pages and the writing is fast-paced, which resulted in me racing through the pages, perhaps even quicker than I actually wanted! I think this really is the perfect Spring read because it has that feel of new love and sunshine and lovely Spring days, and it is a great read to pick up when you have a few hours for yourself. I am definitely looking forward to reading more of Rachel Dove’s work in the future and hope she will treat us to another romance read as soon as possible. Overall, I personally really enjoyed ‘The Chic Boutique on Baker Street’; it’s a light-hearted and fun romance read that I enjoyed from start to finish and can highly recommend to any romance/chick lit fan out there looking for their next read!

Rating:8,5/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.