Review:
This book sounded exactly like my cup of tea and proved to be a real five star read!
The story is about a group of teenagers who form an unexpected friendship when they all join the school's new Bake Club. It centres mainly on Lottie, who, desperate to escape her problems at home, throws herself into her passion for baking - a way for her to feel close to her deceased father. Although she tries to keep the truth about her home life secret from her teachers and her fellow students, because of her involvement in the club she makes new friendships, finds romance and gradually learns how to open up to those around her.
I love the fact that the characters perhaps wouldn't have ordinarily have become friends but because of Bake Club they form a solid friendship through their shared love of baking. They begin to help each other with their personal problems and their bond with each other was something that I really loved. There are some great secondary characters in the story and I found myself wanting to know more about all of them.
The romance between Lottie and Mac is so sweet and cute. He's the school bad boy but underneath his tough exterior he is a caring and considerate boy. He's misjudged by a lot of the adults in the book but with Lottie by his side he begins to turn his life around and build a new future for himself.
What I particularly adored about this book was the way it combined my love of reading and baking. I am a massive baking fan and I never miss an episode of the Great British Bake Off, therefore I absolutely loved the bonus addition of some wonderfully tasty recipes. I've already made the pumpkin pie and blueberry muffins and the chocolate chip cookies* are to die for!
Like Lottie and co, when I'm baking, I forget about everything else that I have to do and just focus on the mixing, beating, measuring and stirring. This is captured perfectly in the pages of the story and was something I loved about the overall book which was truly as sweet and delicious as a cupcake!
Katy Cannon's next book is out in February 2015 and will be called 'Secrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines'. It's already top of my list of books I absolutely need to buy next year.
*To celebrate the release of the book I've made my favourite recipe. Here's my batch of chocolate chip cookies just after they've been taken out of the oven. This is the worst bit for me because I'm always impatient to eat one before they've cooled down. I usually can't resist because the chocolate is still warm and gooey.
I realised when I was making these that I'd run out of chocolate chips. I know, disaster! But I found a bar of milk chocolate in the cupboard which I used instead and so they have lovely, chunky bits of chocolate in. I bet Mac would love these!
This is just one of the lovely recipes in the book. I'm going to follow in Bake Club's footsteps and try making them all. For now, I'm off to put my feet up with a plate of cookies and start reading 'Love, Lies and Lemon Pies' all over again.
Don't forget to check out the rest of the blog tour for Katy Cannon's new book. There are lots of great features planned for the week.
Thank you so much for the lovely review! I'm so glad you enjoyed the book - and those chocolate chip cookies look delicious...
ReplyDeleteI love that there are actually recipes in the book!
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