Author: Jenny Colgan
Pages: 456
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Release Date: 2nd July 2019
Genre: Women's Fiction, Baking Novels, Food Novels
Format: Kindle
I picked this up for an easy read, a summer novel, for a break. However, as I was reading I couldn't help but have my suspicions and point out all that was bothering me. So bullet points it is, with the bad and the good.
1. I may not be a business owner or know the first thing about opening a café, but things sure seem to have fallen into place for Issy. Sure, you're rooting for her, but I can't help but wonder what would have happened with the café had there been no bus accident and thus no newspaper article about her.
2. At about 40%, when the café is up and running, you know there's still a long way to go, so you're curious and want to read more.
3. It dragged a bit in some parts.
4. Why can't there be a balance between healthy and sugar-filled desserts? People eat a lot of cupcakes in this novel, obviously. What bothered me, however, was the lack of compromise. Caroline, one of the Cupcake Café employees is a health freak. Why not make something that appeals to this category as well, Issy? From the beginning, not as an afterthought.
and this leads me to...
5. So many references to women's body shape. I appreciated the main character not being a skinny woman who can eat all the sugar she wants and still look like a supermodel, but rather looking like a normal, healthy, food-loving woman. But the author seemed to defend women's shapes and to make excuses as if not looking like a star is not normal. For example, Pearl, a friend and employee of Issy's, lost a few pounds just because she had a job, didn't stay in all day, so she walked a lot, so she obviously now looked better. Why? Why do that? Maybe some people reading this novel can't so easily lose pounds by going to their job and walking.
6. The perspective, in the same chapter, shifted so often and quickly from one character to another that at first it was tricky to keep up. It didn't read smoothly, but more like an attempt at writing. But once you get into the novel it's fine.
7. Stop saying "yummy mummies" as refered to the women who look skinny/ posh and don't eat cupcakes all day, and stop talking about them driving 4x4s.
8. Why all the stabbing at Caroline and the very fit women? It's their choice. Sure, complexes inducing for some, but it's their choice, just as it is one's choice to eat another cupcake without thinking of the consequences.
9. Most married men are junk in this novel, as concluded by Caroline, and that is sad. It means that once the marriage novelty has worn off and the children are present, there is a life of gloom and doom to be had, where kids don't get to see their dad only rarely, fathers miss children's milestones and events.
10. Of course the one meant to be "the one" for Issy is top notch.
11. Desperate much, Issy? Once she had her business rolling all she seemed to think about and want was a husband and children, but it was nice to see Issy still hanging on those traditional roles. It gets me eye-rolling to see people determined to be carreer people and completely break with all that's old. Still, she's desperate.
12. I kept wanting to read, despite all the above mentioned. I was after a novel that didn't promise to be deep, and I got what I wanted. There's a time for this kind of novels.
13. For those who love romance this is a nice read. I was looking for a summer novel and this one spans from winter to summer, so it ticked the box.
I received a free e-book copy of this novel from the publisher via Net Galley. All thoughts expressed here are my own.
No comments:
Post a Comment