27.9.11

Book Review: Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan

Come and meet Issy Randall, proud owner of The Cupcake Cafe. Isyy Randall can bake. no, more than that- Issy can create stunning mouth-wateringly divine cakes. After a childhood spent in her beloved Grampa Joe's bakery, she has undoubtedly inherited his talent.
When shes's made redundant from her safe but dull City job, Issy decides to seize the moment. Armed with recipes from Grampa and with her best friends and local bank manager fighting her corner, The Cupcake Cafe opens its doors. But Issy has absolutely no idea what she's let herself in for. It will take all her courage- and confectionery- to avert disaster...
The lovely people at the new Tesco Book Blog have some up with the idea of grouping books into categories according to how they make you feel;  Meet Me at the Cupcake Café was included in a group of books ‘To Turn Your Heart in Somersaults’ and they asked me to read the book and decide whether I agree with the category or not. And I very much do, Jenny Colgan has written a gorgeous book and I enjoyed every page of it.
Initially when I read ‘To Turn Your Heart in Somersaults’ I was thinking purely along the lines of romance but this book is so much more. Issy Randall goes all out to follow her dream and set up a cupcake café. She has learnt to bake from her Grampa Joe, a retired successful baker, so when she is made redundant from her boring city job she decides to risk everything on her baking dreams. It is far from plain sailing, Issy has to work harder than she ever has to achieve the success she wants. She hardly has a spare five minutes but when she does she is torn between Graeme, her ex-boss who thinks she is completely mad to start her own business and Austin, the gorgeous bank manager who has done everything he can to help Issy achieve success.
Issy’s character is simply lovely and I found her struggles with the cupcake café to be very believable. My sister runs her own very successful cupcake business so I am more than aware of how hard it can be to achieve success and turn a profit.
Jenny Colgan has her reader’s hearts turning in somersaults throughout the book. I was willing Issy to do well with the café and at the same time I wanted her to pick the right man. Jenny Colgan’s writing is warm and extremely witty and more than anything, she makes you want to bake! The book is littered with real recipes that I will definitely be trying out. I can’t recommend this book enough and I like Tesco’s idea of grouping books into these kinds of categories;  a book ‘To Turn Your Heart in Somersaults’ was spot on.

9 comments:

verity said...

Oh how I loved this - it was wonderful!

Dot said...

Verity- it's lovely isn't it- made me want to bake!!

serendipity_viv said...

I have this! This is the style I would like to write in. I must read it soon. It sounds adorable.

Carol said...

I had overlooked this one.

Lovely review.
I do like the idea of grouping books by mood.

carol

Dot said...

Vivienne- It is such a lovely book, make sure you have some flour in though as it will make you want to make lots of cakes!!

Carol- It's a great idea isn't it!

Kerry said...

I completely loved this book and could obviously relate to it but more than that, it was just a really lovely book to read xx

Nadia said...

This sounds wonderful! Great post! I'll definitely be adding this one to my TBR list.

Dot said...

Kerry- You are just like Issy!

Nadia- Thanks, hope that you enjoy it!

Em Steers said...

Been looking at this book recently, and then found out you wrote a book review so had to read it. Loved the review and now I shall be definitely giving it a read.

Also congratulations on baby Darcey! She's beautiful, and such a lovely name. Wish you all the best for the future :) Emma x

All change here!

I have made the decision to stop doing written reviews on here for a little while. I shall keep this page open but for the time being I sha...