Sunday, October 14, 2018

You Had Me at Cake: "The Cake Therapist" by Judith Fertig


Last month I went to visit a friend in her kindergarten classroom. While I was there she handed me a box of children's books for my day job and a copy of a book she thought I might like.  At first glance I was totally drawn in because the title had the words cake and therapist in it plus it was a VERY cute cover design and we all know how that floats my boat! So, I made short order of the book I was reading at the time so I could "dig in" and read "The Cake Therapist" by Judith Fertig. This book was pure sunshine and I loved every minute of it! 

The main character of the book is a lovely baker named Neely. Neely has found herself in a place of starting over and leaves the hustle and bustle of New York City to open a cake shop in a small town near her grandmother. She has a bit of a magic in her method of cake-making, in that she tailors the flavor to what her intuition tells her about the consumer's personality. Each time she meets someone new she automatically thinks of what their "flavor" might be. It's adorable. Neely soon realizes that she is stuck in the middle of a town that has a bit of skeletons-in-their-closet going down and she can't quite figure out what that actually means.

One of the best elements of this book is the style it is written in..... also known as my favorite! What is that you ask?? Alternating point of view that connects together at the end like a happy little gift of awesomeness.  Oh, how I love reading books like this! Along with present day, this book takes us to the early 1940s and we are introduced to some characters who are just as complex and deep as the present-day characters. It's amazing! By the end of the book, the author tied up both plot lines very nicely and it made me swoon.  

The theme of this book is we all deserve the opportunity for a second chance.  Along with that, we owe it to ourselves to allow second chances to happen in our life. This is something that I've really had to remind myself of this year because life in "second chance land" is pretty damn hard. However, it has brought a new set of blessings and people in my life that make up for the super shitty, emotional stuff.  This book is about just that and survival with cake.  How could it get any better? Neely learns to maneuver through the messy, emotional stuff while finding a new and improved version of herself and the results are sweet.  

Overall, this book was exactly what I needed to read last month.  It was definitely an uplifting book and I was even more excited to learn there is a sequel. And I'll let you in on a little secret......it's already been ordered from Amazon Marketplace, is sitting in the cozy book nook at Chez Ray Big Sky and I can't wait to read it.  I have not doubt I will enjoy it just as much as this book.  

My recommended reading group would be age 16 and above.  It's a happy PG read with some mild adult thematic elements, but nothing crazy.  

The moral of the story: Anyone can survive the messy world of second-chance-land with lots of cake. 

Happy reading, my amazing, geeky lovelies!
-R

Missed last week's book review? Click here to read it!


Like what you read above - purchase this book by clicking the Amazon link below! Thank you for reading The Thrifting Ginger.  



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1 comment:

  1. This sounds like a delightful book! Thanks for sharing.

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