Tag: baking

REVIEW: Fake It Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley

REVIEW: Fake It Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and St. Martin’s Griffin in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Donovan Dell – pro football player, baker, and part owner of Sugar Blitz, a San Diego cupcake store. The store is Donovan’s dream – and his back up plan for life after football. But sagging sales are putting his dream in jeopardy. So he lets the sassy customer get to him as he tries to defend his store.

Jada Townsend-Matthews – reality TV star, and target of vicious hate after turning down a marriage proposal on the show My One and Only. Jada only goes into Sugar Blitz because her best friend loves their cupcakes. She doesn’t intend to get into a verbal battle with the sexy staff member. Her day only goes downhill from there, ending with a summons to her grandmother’s office to talk about her “future” and lack of direction in life.

In order for Jada to access her trust fund when she turns 26, her grandmother is requiring her to work a consistent job – and she’s convinced one of her football players to hire Jada. Now Donovan and Jada are thrown together again. But when a reporter shows up at Sugar Blitz and pressures Jada on why she turned down the marriage proposal on TV, Jada panics and says it’s because she is in love with Donovan. And the kiss she springs on him goes viral.

Review

This was excellent! If I wasn’t laughing at something out loud, I had a big grin on my face. This was delightful! Fake dating is one of my favorite tropes, so I was already sold with that part of the story. But the slowly thawing animosity between the main characters was perfectly paced and so satisfying. The dual perspective storytelling gives the reader all the insights about the characters’ thoughts and feelings while still letting the action unfold over time. The chemistry between the two main characters was fantastic, too.

I also loved the dynamic with Donovan and his business partners. I had my fingers crossed all the way through that this would turn out to be just the first book in a series focused on those three men. Judging by the end of this, my wish is coming true. Don’t miss this fun, steamy romance! (Language, sex)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥♥½ = I loved it! Would re-read.

REVIEW: Deadly Delights by Laura Jensen Walker

REVIEW: Deadly Delights by Laura Jensen Walker

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Lester Morris – aka “Lester the Molester” – is notorious for his lecherous behavior. Sexist comments, inappropriate touching, innuendo and more. In fact, he grabbed Teddie’s butt while he was serving as a judge for the local baking off. She smacked him with her rolling pin and told him off.

So it’s really no surprise that Teddie is the prime suspect, at least to Lester’s widow, when Lester is later found dead. But Lester harassed a LOT of women who were sick of his behavior. Maybe one of them – or a husband or father – finally had enough of Lester’s antics.

Teddie and her friends are determined to clear her name – again. The last murder almost cost her her publishing deal. She’s not willing to risk that again.

Review

This was fun! I enjoy the crew in Lake Potawatomi, and it’s always fun to head back to my childhood home region, even if only in fiction. The mystery here is pretty straightforward, but the solution was twisty. My guess for the culprit was wrong, but I enjoyed watching the full resolution play out.

If you aren’t familiar with Laura Jensen Walker’s work, I highly recommend anything she writes. You can read my review of Murder Most Sweet, the first book in the Bookish Baker Mystery series, here. You can also read my review of the first book in her Faith Chapel Mystery series, Hope, Faith, and a Corpse, here. Be sure to check out her whole backlist, too – I’ve read several of her older books, and I loved them. (TW: sexual harassment)

Rating: ♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥½ = Good+

 

REVIEW: What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter

REVIEW: What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Nash is an artist and a graphic novelist. He’s active on Twitter where he has shared his graphic novel, Rex, with the world. That’s how he met Kels.

Kels is a baker and a book reviewer. Her blog and social media accounts – One True Pastry –  pair book covers with cupcake designs that Kels bakes herself. She’s built a big following online and a small inner circle of Twitter friends, including Nash. He’s become her best friend over the last few years online.

Halle has moved to Connecticut for her senior year so she can focus on applying for college and building on her other interests. She and her younger brother are living with their widowed grandfather while their parents are in Israel filming a documentary. Usually Halle and Ollie would go with them. That’s one of the reasons Halle has struggled to make friends IRL (in real life). The family has moved so much, Halle has never really gotten to put down roots. Add to that her anxiety and her general awkwardness, and it’s easy to see why face-to-face relationships are hard for her.

Halle’s expectations for finding friendship in her new home are low. And then she runs into Nash. He knows her grandfather from temple and says hello, knowing she’s new in town. But Nash isn’t new to Halle. She’s been best friends with Nash online for years. Only he has no idea that Halle is Kels.

Review

There are so many things I enjoyed about this:

  • All the book love – This is a book lovers book. There are book Twitter stories and Bookstagram examples that will be familiar to readers who frequent those spaces. The book signing, cover reveals, and book convention pieces felt like home to me. This was my favorite part of the book.
  • The baking – I loved Halle’s/Kels’ take on her book reviews. The cupcakes sounded amazing. (There were no recipes in the review copy of the book.)
  • The characters – I loved the characters in this. Halle’s circle of friends – online and off – were great. And her family was even more delightful than her friends.

I’ve read other secret identity sorts of books before, but this one was on the painful side at times. I couldn’t relax into enjoying Nash and Halle together because of all the angst on her side and the lying by omission. As painful as it was – as much as I was dreading the moment where it all falls apart – I was also craving that moment. I wanted the lying done! I wanted Halle to get to be wholly herself and not this divided character.

The end wraps things up well. I loved  where everything settles in the end, both for Halle and Nash as well as for the other characters. Don’t miss this fun YA romance! (Language, LGBTQ+, TW: anxiety/panic attacks)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: The Game Changer by Jennifer Brown

REVIEW: The Game Changer by Jennifer Brown

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Hallmark Publishing in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Hollis Bisbee moved to Parkwood, Missouri after losing her newspaper job in Chicago and her boyfriend (and his dog) in one fell swoop. She’s trying to make the best of her new small town life. She has a job at the town paper, writing local interest stories like the new gravy recipe at the diner and the new hot dog roller at the high school stadium. She has a new best friend, Daisy, mother of four and baker extraordinaire. And if she can talk Daisy into it, she also has a true crime podcast.

Both women have an interest in true crime. And Hollis is watching her reporting skills atrophy with the work she is getting at the Parkwood Chronicle Weekly. So they launch the Knock ’em Dead podcast. Hollis is responsible for the tech side and the crime details while Daisy provides baked goods for sustenance – and baking tips for their listeners!

They don’t have to look hard for crime material as the town high school’s rival football coach was recently run down after a controversial game. Was it an accident? Or did the star quarterback – son of the local police chief – mean it when he said he’d kill the man if he kept stealing their plays? Could it be the man who owned the car the coach hit earlier that day? What about the assistant coach who wanted the man’s job?

But with the police chief insisting the man just had a heart attack, and Hollis’ editor refusing to investigate because of her friendship with the chief, Hollis is going to have to investigate this one on her own.

Review

This was so fun! I loved Hollis and Daisy as a team. They made me laugh a lot, and Daisy’s recipes all sounded amazing! (There is one recipe included in the book.) The writing is smart and funny; this was a treat to read!

The mystery in this was good, too. I was so frustrated that no one but Hollis was really taking the crime seriously. But the sleuthing and the solution all came together well. I enjoyed the budding relationship between Hollis and one of the local officers.

There were so many fun pieces to this – the description of Daisy’s family and her management of four high energy kids, the bad takes on the podcast, the banter over whether it’s a baking podcast or a true crime podcast, Hollis’ mom and aunt in Chicago, and so much more. I so enjoyed reading this, and I can’t wait to read more in this series. Cozy mystery fans should NOT miss this one!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

BONUS REVIEW: The Amish Cookie Club by Sarah Price

BONUS REVIEW: The Amish Cookie Club by Sarah Price

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Edna, Verna, Wilma and Mary gather together every couple weeks to bake cookies for Sunday worship services. Family and friends flippantly call it their “cookie club,” but it’s more like cookie therapy. As they gather and bake, they share one another’s burdens.

Mary’s daughter is painfully shy and probably over-protected. The women wonder how she’ll ever make her way in the world. Wilma’s twins seem to be in constant battle with one another. Perhaps Wilma’s own abrasiveness has rubbed off too much. Edna grieves that she was never able to raise a daughter. Her sons are almost all grown, but they don’t seem to have any interest in courting or starting a family. And Verna’s daughter, Myrna has just lost ANOTHER job. Her strong and vocal opinions cause her problems with employers and customers alike.

Edna has the idea of helping Myrna find a job in an Amish home where her hard work might be appreciated and she could learn some more agreeable methods. And Ezekiel Riehl’s farm could be the perfect solution. Ezekiel has four children including a baby less than a year old. The story is that his wife developed cancer, and Ezekiel refused to let her get treatment, insisting they pray and trust it to God. Myrna doesn’t quite like the sound of that, but she doesn’t have to agree with him to watch the kids and clean the house. She needs a job, and he needs help at home. It’s just a business arrangement.

Review

This was delightful! I loved Myrna! Her strong opinions and organizational skills felt very familiar to me. She needed a place that both needed AND appreciated those skills. And she found that.

The author does a good job of setting up the four moms and their concerns which will be covered in future books while also focusing on Myrna’s story. The balance between those threads was great. Personally, I got  a little tired of Wilma. I’m glad the next book (An Amish Cookie Club Christmas, out now) will focus on Mary’s daughter and Edna’s family.

It’s clear early on that this medical care situation is going to be a factor in Myrna’s relationship with Zeke. As often happens in novels, gossip, assumptions and lack of communication go a long way towards thwarting love. Readers will have to check this book out to see if Myrna and Zeke  can triumph.

This is another fantastic Amish story from Sarah Price. She is now a must-buy author for me. I love her work! I recently read the second book in the series – An Amish Cookie Club Christmas – and it was just as good! (♥♥♥♥½)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½

REVIEW: Summer of a Thousand Pies by Margaret Dilloway

REVIEW: Summer of a Thousand Pies by Margaret Dilloway

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

After an incident at school, everyone finds out that Cady and her dad are homeless – and her dad is drinking to excess. He’s arrested for child endangerment, and Cady is placed with her estranged Aunt Shell.

Cady eventually bonds with her aunt over baking. Shell has a pie shop. But Cady still holds everyone at arms length. Her dad always said Shell had written them off. She probably wasn’t trustworthy. Cady needs to protect herself. And anyway, Cady’s dad would be coming for her soon. There was no reason for her to get attached to Shell or anyone else.

Being fed and supervised and cared for, learning to bake, and opening herself to Shell as well as to others around town begins to change Cady. And she likes it. But the pie shop is in financial trouble. If it closes, what will happen to this home Cady has just discovered? What will happen to the family she has started to build with Shell and Suzanne? And what can a middle school kid do to fix or change or help anything?

Review

Cady’s growth and development over the course of the book was AMAZING to watch. She has a delightful self-awareness that grows even stronger over time.  And the relative security of life with Shell and Suzanne helps her find some equilibrium for the first time in her life. I loved watching all of it unfold.

The secondary story about immigration was well-integrated into the book through Cady’s relationship with Jay’s family. I didn’t feel it was as strong as Cady’s story, but it was good. It never felt grafted in just to be political or to make a point  It added to the panic at the thought of the pie shop closing. That would impact Jay’s family in big ways, too. I thought it fit into the larger story of the community.

The food and baking pieces were a lot of fun. Pair this with books in The Doughnut Fix series or the All Four Stars series. Hand this to readers who love to cook and bake as well as those who are addicted to The Food Network. The book includes recipes, including a gluten-free pie crust.

Don’t miss Cady – her story is a delight.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: Love à la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm

REVIEW: Love à la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Disney Hyperion in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Henry and Rosie first meet on their Chicago to Paris flight. They are both on their way to the École Denis Laurent, an exclusive cooking school. They are both excited about the opportunity, nervous about wanting to do well, and happy to have met someone who understands their love of cooking.

But things are a little more complicated than they seem at first blush. Henry’s mom wants him to go to a traditional college. She knows how hard it is to run a restaurant. She and Henry’s dad have done it for years. His mom meddles, convincing his academic teachers that he wants to do extra, more advanced work when he really just wants to cook. And if he doesn’t keep his grades up, she says he will have to come home.

Rosie’s true love is baking. But the École is all about cooking – tasks like breaking down a whole chicken and the uniform cutting of vegetables in fussy, precise ways. She’s the only student there who doesn’t have her own knife kit, and she starts to wonder if she even belongs there. If she can’t find a way to shine in the traditional areas of cooking, she may be sent home at Christmas.

The sparks between Henry and Rosie are undeniable, but their personal struggles might pull them apart before they even get a chance to see what they might be together.

Review

This was so sweet! (Pardon the pun.) I loved Henry and Rosie right from the start. They have terrific chemistry. As is often the case in romance stories, they have to learn to communicate if they’re going to have any chance at a future.

I didn’t understand a lot of the fancy cooking terms, but the love each of the kids has for his/her craft was obvious. I loved the scenes when Henry and Rosie – and the other characters – got to just enjoy and savor food together, either around Paris or at school. It was pure joy for them. They were in their element.

While Henry and Rosie are great characters, the ensemble around them is also terrific. The other kids come from a variety of backgrounds. There are the catty girls you would expect, some good friends, and a possible rival for Rosie’s affections.

This is a fun celebration of Paris, food and friendship – as well as friendship that could become something more. I’ve come to expect fun stories with endearing characters from Stephanie Kate Strohm (Prince in Disguise, It’s Not Me It’s You). And her latest book does not disappoint!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: Till Death Do Us Tart by Ellie Alexander

REVIEW: Till Death Do Us Tart by Ellie Alexander

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and St. Martin’s Paperbacks in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

It’s wedding time in Ashland, Oregon. When Juliet’s mom and the Professor were struggling to find a venue for the wedding, Juliet and the crew at Torte and most of the town decided to throw a surprise wedding at Uva, the vineyard in which Juliet and her estranged husband, Carlos, had invested.

Speaking of Carlos, he’s coming to town for the wedding and bringing his son, Ramiro, along. Carlos’ secrets about the boy were what caused the rift in his marriage to Juliet. Meeting Ramiro will be the first step in trying to repair their relationship.

And if a secret wedding and a new step-son weren’t enough for Juliet to juggle, she is also right in the middle of renovations at her bake shop, Torte. Juliet has her hands full.

Then her friend Lance drops his bombshell. He thinks his brother might be plotting to kill their father to finagle getting all of his money. Lance wants Juliet to help him keep an eye on his brother and his cronies. When Lance’s father dies, their investigation becomes a hunt for a killer.

Review

Book eight in the Bakeshop Mystery series by Ellie Alexander. As a mystery, this was a bit disappointing for me. I felt like the mystery was only maybe a third of the book. There was a lot of time devoted to the other things going on in Ashland and between the various characters. Thankfully, I really enjoyed those other story elements so this was still an enjoyable read for me.

I love Juliet and the crew at Torte. The relationships, interplay, and growth of the store are part of what I love about this series. The food descriptions always leave me hungry. I’d love to visit a shop like Torte.

If I was looking for an intricate murder mystery to dig into, this would have fallen flat for me. The first part was mostly supposition and theories. The second part was when the traditional mystery really kicked in and that was about halfway through the book. The fact that I care about the characters and the relationships in this series redeemed the reading experience for me. But someone with less connection to the characters might be disappointed with this one. I love when an author does a great job of balancing character development with a strong, central mystery. This did not fit that description for me.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: Another One Bites the Crust by Ellie Alexander

REVIEW: Another One Bites the Crust by Ellie Alexander

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Book 7 in the Bakeshop Mystery series. Jules, her mom and the Professor are back from their cruise. The renovations at Torte are in full swing. And the new season of The Shakespeare Festival is kicking off with Antony and Cleopatra. Unfortunately, the star has become a problem. His ego is out of control. He even refuses to use his real name and insists on being called “Antony.” Lance, the artistic director, is convinced “Antony” is causing trouble for him with the Board of Directors, too. It’s made Lance a man on the edge.

When Lance stumbles across Antony’s dead body, the evidence says Antony finally pushed Lance over that edge to murder. Juliet knows Lance would never do that. He might be a drama king, but he would never kill someone. The Professor recuses himself from working the case because of his friendship with Lance. The detective who gets the case is by-the-book and has no feel for the town or people of Ashland. Juliet is going to have to start sleuthing again if Lance is going to have a chance to enjoy the new season at the theater.

Review

Jules and the gang at Torte are some of my favorite characters in fiction. It’s so easy to fall back into a rhythm with them every time I read a new book in the series. The dynamics between the characters are fun, and the renovations at Torte have the potential to set up some great stories in the future.

The mystery in this one didn’t click for me. Lance felt like the most logical suspect all the way through the book. I never got a good sense of other suspects with strong motives. The solution was almost as big a surprise to Jules as it was to me.

The characters are so delightful (well, Lance started to get on my nerves) that it offset my disappointment with the mystery. There are some fun tidbits and possible hints of things to come in future books. The very end was especially fun. I’m looking forward to seeing how those pieces play out in the next book. Till Death Do Us Tart releases in August of 2018; the cover is gorgeous!

Thanks to the author, Ellie Alexander, for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book to review. I won it on a social media contest she hosted.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: A Spoonful of Magic by Irene Radford

REVIEW: A Spoonful of Magic by Irene Radford

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Daphne “Daffy” Deschants celebrates her 13th wedding anniversary by calling out her husband, “G”(Gabriel), for sleeping around. She has pictures to prove it! And they came from G’s own work email. She’s starting to notice a new side of G. He only seems to care about their kids – and Daffy being around to care for them while his work takes him all around the world. And she thinks he’s used magic on her, too.

Daffy and her family live in Eugene, Oregon, home of a fairy festival and plenty of shops selling mystical and magical items. But Daffy hadn’t realized the extent of real magic in town, in her own house… and maybe even in herself.

Evil magic exists and G, as Sheriff of the Guild of Master Wizards, is hunting for one of the worst. But the evil seems to be circling ever closer to G’s family. How can he protect them when Daffy’s kicked him out of the house and doesn’t trust him?

Review

I have mixed feelings about this one. I generally love fantasy and magic stories like this one. And there were parts of this I really enjoyed. I liked Daffy and her kids. The pieces about the kids growing into their place in this magical world were great. At the same time, I did not like G at all. He was far too cavalier about his marriage and family to be likable in my opinion.

I also wanted a lot more world building. I felt like things were abruptly revealed, but also incompletely. Maybe that was because Daffy is the point of view character, and she is only just learning about this world herself. Point of view was interesting in this, too, as Daffy told her part of the story in first person while the other parts of the story that took place outside of her involvement were told in third person.

As urban fantasy goes, this was good (except for some of the world building as I mentioned). Personally, some of the magic pieces were dark for me, and I didn’t enjoy them. I also didn’t care for G’s ethics when it came to his marriage. Other readers might not be bothered by these things and may enjoy this story more than I did.

Thanks to Netgalley and DAW for an electronic review copy of this book offered in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ♥♥♥