For a Rainy Afternoon

Tales of the Curious Cookbook

By: RJ Scott

Narrated by: Ian Gordon

Robbie MacIntyre manages a small post office in the old Station House on the outskirts of sleepy Barton Hartshourn, northwest of London. He's stunned when the owner, Maggie, who's a close friend, bequeaths him the post office and the Station House.

The rest of her estate is left to an American writer, Jason Young, and when he moves to the village, Robbie is thrown by the attraction he has for the man who has more of a claim on the Station House than he does.

Then, there's a box that holds several rare first editions and a cookbook. Only when the secrets of the ingredients in a particular recipe are finally revealed does everything begin to make sense, and a love cut short 70 years earlier is finally discovered.

©2015 RJ Scott (P)2015 Dreamspinner Press

Feel Good Story!

Any additional comments?

This story will have your heart smiling and feeling in love. No angst, no drama, just a feel good story for a rainy.

Sweet Love Story

This is a wonderful story of lost love and new love found in a small hamlet in Britain.

B rating...

My Quickie Review:
Overall: 3.5
Performance: 3.25
Story: 3.5

This was a quick, quirky little story. Robbie lives in a tiny little English village where he runs the local post office. When his benefactor dies, her death brings some interesting changes...most notably his new neighbor, Jason.

This one was different from the other two stories that I've read in this anthology in that this one is set in England. Having lived in England for two years where I remember the tiny little villages just like this one with fondness, reading this book was like a little mini-vacay back there. I loved that aspect of it.

It's a quick story, a sweet romance, and a fun diversion for a couple of hours.

English Love Story with Historical Element

Any additional comments?

Tails of the Curious Cookbook is the series name for an anthology of five short stories by five great writers. The writers, R.J. Scott, Amy Lane, Marie Sexton, Amber Kell, and Mary Calmes have written vastly different M/M romance stories with the unifying theme of a curious cookbook entitled Recipes for the Heart subtitled Mystical Meals and Dangerous Desserts hand written by the anonymous Granny B. The stories come in either a Kindle e-book or audible format. The cookbook is depicted as very old, tattered, faded, leather bound, and rich with notations from its users adding clarifying notations and reactions to the varies magical recipes. The recipes when prepared and served is intended to aid in sorting out some confusing romance aspect of the stories or make one feel better after a broken heart. These books will appeal to those with a romantic soul and believe in the magic of comfort food served with a side of the power of suggestion of magic.

I have written five separate reviews for each of the five stories. Please refer to the list below when looking up the appropriate review:
1. For a Rainy Afternoon by R.J. Scott
2. Food for Thought by Amy Lane
3. Lost Along the Way by Marie Sexton
4. Cookies for Courting by Amber Kell
5. Just Desserts by Mary Calmes

For a Rainy Afternoon: Tails of the Curious Cookbook by R.J. Scott narrated by Ian Gordon. This tale is set in a small English country village named Barton Hartshourn. It has a nostalgic element of two brothers who meet two English sisters and fall in love during World War II. Sadly one brother is killed in a bombing raid over Germany and the other sister marries her yank and returns to America. The remaining English sister, Maggie, becomes an author and resides in Apple Cottage.

Years later Maggie befriends Robbie MacIntyre, a recent un-rooted University graduate, and sets him up in a small tea shop, library, and post office business in an old Station House. Upon her death she wills the Station House to Robbie and Apple Cottage to her American grandnephew Jason Young (also a budding author). Through the device of the magical cookbook Maggie match makes romance beyond the grave between the two main characters. This is an utterly charming story well narrated by Mr. Gordon.

Lovely British Sweet Romance

Robbie is a rootless artist who is gifted a benefactor in the form of 80 year old Maggie. She and her ladies read and drink tea at the Post Office/Library she sets up in an old train station. Robbie runs the place and lives in the apartment above it – giving him time and space to paint. This works excellently for 10 years until Maggie dies. She then gifts the entire place to him in her will along with some enigmatic papers and instructions.

Jason, an American, is a long lost distant great-grand-nephew to Maggie. He’s gifted her house and the other half of the enigmatic papers and instructions. Under suspicious circumstances the house he inherits needs massive renovations and he’s forced to seek shelter with Robbie.

Well, it’s a match made in heaven… literally? The two get along great and end up solving Maggie’s “mystery” and living HEA.

**

RJ is a great writer and this short little story is a wonderful example. It’s sweet, very British: full of tea, cold weather and old things! Though the romance between them is quick, and I wish that there was more character development and maybe some more smexy times, but I enjoyed the setting and the sentiment very much.