Review: The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living

Well this just the epitome of a cozy read. Perfectly timed to be read at the beginning/middle of November when fall is ending and the Christmas season is coming … just curl up and enjoy as this book piles on all the cozy fall, holiday feels.

Olivia (Livvy) Rawlings is an amazing pastry chef at an exclusive, private club in Boston. When she accidentally lights the club on fire, following a disaster with her flaming baked Alaska, she retreats to the cozy Vermont country town of Guthrie. Thanks to the help of her best friend she lands the job as baker at the Sugar Maple Inn.

A cantankerous owner, small town drama, small town charm, and heartfelt characters all combine over delicious deserts and fresh forest air to begin to heal the parts of Livvy she didn’t realize were broken.

I love a good chick-lit (although I abhor that classification, because it feels diminutive) and it has been awhile since I’ve read one that does such a great job balancing the comforts of a romance with genuine heart, real life complications (not simply made up drama) and an interesting storyline.

I found Livvy to be so genuine and interesting. She was quirky, she was brash, she both completely didn’t fit in and was right at home in Guthrie, Vermont. Her love story with both the town, the people in it, and Martin (the equally conflicted, “outcast” fiddle-playing neighbour) were well fleshed out and entertaining. Things happened slowly, believably. I think that might be what I liked most about this book … it’s pacing was just relaxing. Not slow by any means but not the lightning fast everything-falls-into-place immediately as is typical of most romance novels.

I simply enjoyed reading this book each night. It was completely relaxing; decompressing. It made me ravenously hungry for baked goods and just an overall feel good novel. Excellently paired with tea, a blanket, a baked treat and cool November day.

This one will definitely make you smile … and hungry, you’ve been warned.

4*