Review: The Cherry Tree Cafe

The Cherry Tree Cafe by Heidi Swain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Audiobook Review:

Narration: The Cherry Tree Cafe is narrated by Karen Cass. I enjoyed the narration, the expression and feelings of the writing come across well. The narrator does a good job of differentiating between the different characters. The male and female voices were both good. The speed and pacing were well done, with gaps in all the right places. The narration definitely adds something to the story, bringing it to life.

Story: I didn’t enjoy all the betrayal, and friends keeping secrets from one another. However, I really enjoyed the good bits of the friendships. I loved the cafe, the way Jemma, Tom and Lizzie built the cafe and the crafting up. The relationship development was good, and the characters were well rounded and believable. Ella was especially delightful.

The ending was somewhat abrupt, but at least there was an epilogue. I suppose it might be a little dull to get into the nitty gritty of how Lizzie and Ben sort out their issues, but I really felt like a chunk of the story was missing, even with the epilogue.

Flow: it was easy to get swept up in the story. The narration never detracted or distracted from the plot. In fact, it improved it. It was easy to distinguish when one chapter ended and another began.

Thankfully, there was no music or sound effects, as I find these hard to cope with.

Recommendation: I would definitely recommend getting the audiobook version of this book, the narration of this really brings the story to life. I would only give the ebook 3 stars (I have read it a few years ago), whereas the narration raises it to a solid 4 stars.

I was given a free copy of this audiobook, my opinions are my own.

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