This book has delicious food, a believable enemies to lovers plot and emotional maturity. What else do you need?
Plot: Sylvie is a charming 30-something who loves creating imaginative desserts. When she competes on Operation Cake, she butts heads with legacy dessert legend Dominic, who is the queen’s favourite baker and a stickler for tradition and elegant design. She’s sent home after her unicorn cake blows up in his face. The story picks up four years later when her bakery, Sugar Fair, located conveniently across from Dominic’s family store when she’s invited to rejoin the show as a judge. Heartfelt shenanigans ensue.
This book is intensely sweet. It is the cosiest, fuzziest, nicest enemies to lovers story I’ve ever read. This book wants to take care of you. It will not surprise you. On the rare occasion that there is a Bad Guy involved, it either turns out they’re not actually all that bad or else that their actions are mostly just an inconvenience.
This book is also quietly strongly in support of workers rights, with both Sylvie and Dominic going out of their way to support their employees, even to their own detriment, and unsurprisingly receiving the benefit of loyal, hard working, dedicated staff rather than lazy and spoiled and whatever else anti-labour advocates claim happens when you treat employees like human beings.
It also deals with grief in a very kind, generous and heart filling way.
For me, this book isn’t as strong as Parker’s previous work, but it is full of heart and definitely worth a read.
The audio is excellent also.