The relationship between Lily and CeeCee is one of the key features of Christmas at the Gingerbread Café, and their friendship is heart-warming and reassuring. CeeCee is like a mother hen, desperate for Lily to find love and she was my favourite character, coming across as larger than life. The combination of her and feisty Lily is fabulous!
I also loved how the café was portrayed as a cosy, snug place, somewhere full of warmth and festive shimmer. I wish that I had a café like this near me-I'd certainly be a regular customer.
Christmas at the Gingerbread Café is a lovely, cheery festive read, a good old fashioned feel-good romance to warm the cockles of your heart. This is one of my favourite Christmas reads of the year.
Christmas at the Gingerbread Café is out now, published by Carina.
8.5/10
With thanks to the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.
Now read the fabulous foodie guest post from Rebecca Raisin....
Writing Christmas at the Gingerbread Café had certain perks. Firstly there were
the hours searching the internet for recipe ideas that were mentioned
throughout the novella. Then there was the actual making of said recipes,
purely for research purposes, of course! I was amazed at the way ginger spice
can be used from humble gingerbread men, to a fancy four tier cake, and
everything in between. I fell in love with gingerbread cookie dough truffle
recipes, and gingerbread pancakes with treacle butter, and lots of little
treats that I thought would make ideal Christmas gifts.
I thought I’d share a few of these
recipes today, and you might get a little sense of what the gingerbread café is
all about. The crux of the story is romance, but food, and friendship, and
general festive cheer go hand in hand in Christmas
at the Gingerbread Café.
I stumbled across “Gingerbread in a jar”
and thought they’d make a sweet gift for teachers at the end of term, or for
friends and family at Christmas. A great activity for kids to help make, too. I
can’t wait to find some nice jars, and a cute little gingerbread man cookie
cutters to tie to the side. This website also has printable instruction labels,
so the person you’re gifting it to knows how to make it.
Lil, the owner of the Gingerbread Café
uses cooking almost like a meditation, it calms her, it’s something that she
enjoys doing for the pure sake of it. And with CeeCee’s help, food is something
that binds them and the townsfolk of Ashton. People come into the café to
escape the snow, to sit by the fire, chat with Lil and Cee, and of course taste
whatever delectable delight they happen to be baking that day.
Here’s a recipe for Gingerbread fudge. I
can see Lil taking her time and cutting the fudge into star-shapes, and setting
up a nice display to tempt people in to the café. These would be nice as a
present too.
Of course, I can’t forget to mention new
guy in town, Damon. He opens a shop across the road from the Gingerbread Café,
which brings out Lil’s fighting spirit. It’s a small town, old Ashford, and Lil
is threatened by Damon’s sudden presence, and the fact he’s selling similar
things to her café. With his charm and rugged good looks, Lil knows the girls
in town are going to flock to his shop just to get a look at him. This means
war! And so the battle begins between Lil and Damon to try and entice customers
to their respective shops. Damon begins cooking classes for the townsfolk. One of the recipes mentioned is a slow cooked
pork shoulder. A delicious meal any time of year. Here is the recipe that
inspired the idea. If only I could bring Damon to life to cook it for me …
I hope these recipes have inspired you,
like they did me. Gingerbread has the unique ability to transport us back to
childhood. Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas.
Christmas
at the Gingerbread Cafe
Christmas is the season the Gingerbread
Café was made for…but owner Lily couldn’t be feeling less merry if she tried.
She’s spent another year dreaming of being whisked away on a sleigh-ride for
two, but she’s facing festive season alone – again. And, just to give her
another reason to feel anything other than candy-cane perky, a new shop across
the road has opened… Not only is it selling baked goods, but the owner, with
his seriously charming smile, has every girl in town swooning.
But Lily isn’t about to let her business crumble — the Gingerbread Café is the heart of the community, and she’s going to fight for it! This could be the Christmas that maybe, just maybe, all her dreams – even the someone-to-decorate-the-Christmas-tree-with ones – really do come true!
But Lily isn’t about to let her business crumble — the Gingerbread Café is the heart of the community, and she’s going to fight for it! This could be the Christmas that maybe, just maybe, all her dreams – even the someone-to-decorate-the-Christmas-tree-with ones – really do come true!
Find the novella here:
Amazon.com http://goo.gl/MiJrdE
Amazon UK http://ow.ly/qvis0
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