Author : Jenny Colgan
Publication date : 14th April 2011
Publisher : Sphere
Source : Won from giveaway by Sphere
Rating : 4.5/5
Come and meet Issy Randall, proud owner of The Cupcake Café.
Issy 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 she'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 Café 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...
Have you ever dreamt of making a perfect batch of cupcakes which you've tried so hard to but the results begged to differ? Have you fantasise about stuffing your face with yummy cupcakes and pastries when you're a wolf after a day's work? Well, if you have, then this book is perfect for you!
I've never read any books by Jenny Colgan, shame on me, right? She's one of the pioneers who have helped in shaping the genre I love - chick lit - and yet I have never been able to sink my teeth into her books. Well, until I got the chance to choose 4 books from the Sphere catalogue, as I won a giveaway held by Sphere, long story cut short, I got to pick Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe. Once I've started, it was like I was zoomed into Issy Randall's life! (Though how cliché it might sound, but you get the point)
Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe received loads of great reviews from readers, so that was what attracted me, and also I was bored and needed a pick-me-up.. And the cover is GORGEOUS. Not to be bias or anything, but I think Sphere's design team really works hard on their covers, I'm clearly impressed by the covers they've produced so far. All right, enough of the cover talk..
This book is about Issy Randall, who was a clerk in one of the largest property firms in London, working under her rubbish boyfriend at that time, Graeme who was.. how do I put it? A dick? A knob? Well, I have to say, I didn't like one bit of him and his Mum, who was the exact female version of that male reproductive organ. Issy was a really sweet character, she was naive, which most of us are, as she would let Graeme boss her around. I wonder why she'd put up with him as he treats her like crap, which I found really hard to understand, but I knew it was a part of the character progression in the book.
Issy, who was made redundant by her firm, decides to start a business in making cupcakes and pastries in a shop lot with hasn't had success for the past years. She's really passionate about baking, which is what I find really inspiring in characters in books, as she'd bake and bake and try out different recipes, then only to be "bullied" by everyone at the bus stop as she brings a big tin filled with yummy treats to work. Issy was a warm, loving character, displayed by her love and affection towards her ailing grandfather, Grampa Joe. For me, he was a young man with a burning passion to run a bakery, never an old man and a caring and full of love grandfather to Issy, who was much of an "orphan" as her Mum is always MIA with her current beau.
The secondary characters in the book were a really nice cast; there was Helena, Issy's best friend with a rather full of life vibe in her, which was the perfect combination of chick-lit-heroine-and-her-best-friend. There was also Austin, the cute and floppy bank adviser who was a good hero in the books. He was a really, REALLY good bank adviser because for once, he fancied his client. *wink wink* The story isn't mainly about Issy as there were some sub-plots (that's what's in store for you when you read a book from a third person's POV). Besides Issy, there was Pearl, a single mother of the lovely little Louis, who helped Issy in starting her cupcake cafe business and Caroline, the rich trophy wife whose husband was a cheating male reproductive organ, who decided to help run Issy's cafe in order to get what's left of her divorce.
The flow of the book was in good pace, nothing to let you drag by the story and instead of rushing forward to tell the story, Jenny made it worth the read and it was really amazing for me to enjoy reading a 496-page book, which felt like nothing to me. I always hated books with more than 450 pages because I'm afraid it might drawl on and on.. So overall, I loved this book. It gave me a good impression towards Jenny Colgan's books and I have to say, I bought her next one was well. Plus, there are lovely recipes of the delectable little cakes in the book, clever twist by Jenny, but still, very clever. I might even try a few myself if I weren't a liability in the kitchen.
Look out for Jenny's next book, Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop of Dreams which is in stores already. PLUS! Jenny has something sweet in stores for us! A sequel to Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe - CHRISTMAS AT THE CUPCAKE CAFE, which is out in October this year. Follow Jenny on Twitter to get more scrumptious recipes and baking tips! (@jennycolgan)
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