Book Review: The Gingerbread Café by Anita Faulkner

 

Can Gretel find the recipe for the perfect Christmas? 

The Gingerbread Café is always full of Christmas magic. Come rain or shine (or even a July heatwave), there's always a hot chocolate bursting with cinnamon and marshmallows waiting for you. For introverted Gretel, it's been the perfect escape from 'real life'. The owner, Nell, is Gretel's last link to her late mum, and hiding out at the café feels so much safer than making new friends.

So when Nell suddenly passes, Gretel is left heartbroken. Then she discovers that Nell has left the café to her - but there's a catch. Gretel has to share the running of The Gingerbread Café with the least festive person ever: Nell's nephew, Lukas. Head chef at the local fancy restaurant, Lukas makes it clear he has no time for the café, Gretel or even Christmas itself, and Gretel's too busy struggling to save her burnt batches of gingerbread to work out why.

Gretel is determined to keep Christmas alive and make the café a success before Lukas hands the keys over to the scrooge-like developers. But she can't do it alone; besides an over friendly ferret and a waitress with a secret, the only person she has now is Lukas. Will it take a Christmas miracle to get the pair to finally see eye to eye, or could the ice already be melting?

'Full of fun and colour' Bella Osborne

'Bursting with character and warmth' Christie Barlow

'Heart-warming and uplifting' Holly Martin

In this sweet and cosy small town romance, I really felt drawn in by Gretel's situation. She was obviously still grieving and living with anxiety, using Christmas as her comfort blanket. I enjoyed watching her slowly come out of her shell, making friends with the lovely community of fellow shop owners, who each had something to teach her about life. 

Gretel learns to trust people, and life, again and by the end of the book the little band of friends in Green Tree Lane felt like mine too.

4.5/5

If you would like to know more about Anita, please visit her website:

Anita's Homepage - Anita Faulkner

Or if you fancy a Christmas romance which still brings the heat (not just because part of the novel is set in Capri), you might want to try my debut novel Christmas Evie which is available on all e readers now:

"Evie, a dating disaster, agrees to go on a date with one of her friend's brothers. It has nothing to do with Nathaniel, the hot guy working at the tea rooms or the King Clause, which means she's to be married by Christmas.

Nathaniel offers to look after his sister Rosalie's tea rooms while she's in hospital. It has nothing to do with the fact he thinks the owner of the florist opposite the tea rooms is 'the one.' Nor his mistake in telling his mum he'll be bringing home a girl to Capri for Christmas. Or forgetting to tell Evie he has a twin.

A case of mistaken identity threatens to turn Christmas, and Evie's dreams, into more than a dating disaster. With her heart at stake, can she set her future on the right twin?"

Smashwords Link:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1479377...

Also available on Apple, Rakuten and Barnes and Noble, Amazon and all other reader sites.

5 Star Reviews:

"Read the book in 1 day. Loved it" Sophie O'C, West Yorkshire, England

"I'm hooked" Barbara W, New Zealand