Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan

Little Beach Street Bakery

Author: Jenny Colgan
Publisher: Harper Collins
Year: 2014
Genre: Chick Lit
Age: Adult 18+
Page Count: 421

Rating:

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This was our Cook the Books book club pick for May. We met a week early so it threw me off a little bit. I started reading the book then I went on a little long weekend trip so I decided to download it on audio & try that since I'd be doing some driving. I would not recommend the audiobook. I didn't like the reader. I've listened to readers with accents before & they have never bothered me. Some of the problems I had were that her voice seemed too old for the character & she tries to do male American southern accents as well & that just didn't work for me. I'll definitely be returning it. Other than that I really enjoyed the story, I'm looking forward to reading the other books.

Our main character is named Polly & she is going through a hard time & trying to do the best she can to recover & start her life over. Imagine moving to a beautiful town right on the beach...what better place to start over, right? Well not exactly...the town's people don't take too kindly to Polly except for a cute group of fisherman she meets on her first day. The town starts to finally take a liking to her after they discover her amazing talent for baking the most delicious bread. Too bad her mean old landlady owns the bakery in town but she orders everything in! Everyone hates it but they don't say anything because of a terrible accident years ago. Then between meeting the cutest beekeeper in the country, some wine & down time with her best friend, & an adorable baby puffin Polly makes it in the end. ADORABLE story!

The recipes in this book sound awesome! These books make we want to bake more & more everytime we read one. Next month we are doing something called "Recipe Parade" where we each bring our own book & a recipe then share together. I'm hoping that can give us some new attendees & some new book ideas.

Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke

Carrot Cake Murder

Author: Joanne Fluke
Publisher: Kensington Books
Year: 2008
Genre: Mystery
Age: Adult 18+
Page Count:  324

Audio Reader: Suzanne Toren
Audio Publisher: Recorded Books
Audio Year: 2010
Audio Length: 10 hours & 8 mins

Rating:

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This is the 10th book in the Hannah Swensen series by Joanne Fluke.

These books all typically follow the same basic format so instead of going over that I'm going to talk a little bit about some of the revelations I had while reading this book & share a recipe with you!

At one point in the story Lisa & Hannah are making cookie bars with marshmallows. Hannah remarks that they should be called smores bars instead of rocky road bars to which Lisa responds, what's a smore? OMG! I had a Sandlot moment you guys! First you take the graham...LOL Apparently Lisa had never been camping or in Girl Scouts or anything because she had a pretty rough childhood dealing with her mother that was sick & now she gave up her dream of going to college to come back home & take care of her father Jack because he has Alzheimer's. Hannah is just as astounded as I was until she hears the reason. Poor Lisa! Someone take her to the lake in a tent with a big ol camp fire NOW!

We also see some interesting things happen between Norman, Mike, Ross, & Hannah. Let me start with Norman. First off he has been going out of his way to please Hannah, I'm talking smoozing her cat, taking her out, the whole works. He also goes to Atlantic City to do some investigating in this book...all for Hannah! They also tell each other that they love each other in this book, it's a big deal! I'm still confused about how this whole love triangle...or is it a square now...is going to end the way it does so we'll see.

Next we have Mike. In this book much like a few books ago Mike is seen canoodling with the new PD secretary Ronni Ward. Hannah is way upset & jealous. This is perplexing to me because she is dating 3 guys, 2 of which asked her to marry them & she said no but they still continue to date her. So she is allowed to be mad & jealous but she yelled at Mike & Norman for doing the same thing in the past? Stupid...but whatever. I'm hoping that poor girl Ronni doesn't end up dead like the last girl Mike dated besides Hannah.

Then finally we have Ross. He's the big hot shot producer from Hollywood that Hannah knew/dated in college & reconnected with when he came to lake Eden to film a movie a few books ago. They have been keeping in touch & the book ends with Hannah going to meet him at the airport for a layover in Minneapolis. Get it...layover...LOL I don't know what actually happens, these are clean books & so far I don't think that has happened with any of the 3 guys, but I could be wrong.

I also saw some pictures from the Hallmark channel movies that are being made about these books & I was laughing. I haven't seen any of them since I don't have real TV but the pictures were interesting. Has anyone watched them? Are they good? I think it's funny that Allison Sweeney who plays Hannah looks NOTHING like the actual Hannah. I also didn't think Norman looked that close to how he is described either. Plus in most of the promo shots & covers it's Hannah & Mike...they must be trying really hard to get people to feel a certain way. I'd like to get my hands on them in the future.

We've come to the end & I'm going to share one of the recipes with you. It seemed like there was quite a few recipes in this book, more than normal maybe. I picked this one cause they sound really good & they were eating them a lot in the book.

 

 

May 2019 TBR

This month I'm hoping to read 5 books, one of them I'm almost done with, one of them is for Cook the Books, one of them my mom gave to me, one is on my yearly series TBR, & the final one I've been waiting for like a year to come out! 

Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2001935.Carrot_Cake_Murder?from_search=true

I'm listening to/reading this book now & I'm about half way in. 

Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18213783-little-beach-street-bakery?ac=1&from_search=true

This is this month's Cook the Books pick. I need to start it soon so I can finish it before the night before. 

Good Riddance by Elinor Lipman

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37569327-good-riddance?ac=1&from_search=true

This is the book my mom gave me that she enjoyed. 

Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9418.Shopaholic_Takes_Manhattan?ac=1&from_search=true

This is #2 in the series & it's on my TBR series list for this year.

Mr. Lemoncello's All-Star Breakout Game by Chris Grabenstein

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40699666-mr-lemoncello-s-all-star-breakout-game?ac=1&from_search=true

I'm SOOOOOOO excited for this book! I loved the others in this series so I'm happy to see another one. 

  

April 2019 Wrap-Up

Where did April go? I've been having computer issues lately, among other things so I'm happy I managed to read 3 books this month. We'll see what happens in May with the start of summer. Here are the books I read in April.
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I started writing that a week ago! See what happens when no computer :(

Chocolat by Joanne Harris
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47401.Chocolat
This was our Cook the Books selection for April. I don't have a review for this because I only read the first 60 pages then skimmed the rest. I only gave it one star on Goodreads & I felt like that was generous.

Key Lime Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33436.Key_Lime_Pie_Murder?from_search=true
My review is here.
This is book #9 in the series & I have been enjoying them on audio. I can usually do 2 a month & I also did that this month but fell a little short.

Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33724.Can_You_Keep_a_Secret_?ac=1&from_search=true
My review is here.
I finally read this book! I explain a little more in my review LOL It was great as usual for her.

Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella

Can You Keep a Secret?

Author: Sophie Kinsella
Publisher: The Dial Press (Random House)
Year: 2004
Genre: Chick Lit
Age: Adults 18+
Page Count: 357

Audio Reader: Emily Gray
Audio Publisher: Penguin Random House
Audio Year: 2006
Audio Length: 10 hours & 45 minutes

Rating:

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Every time I read a book by this author I think they can't get any funnier, but some how they always do! I have tried to listen to this book on audio about 4 times. The timing is always wrong! I either get it with 2 or 3 others all at once, or I never get to it because it takes me longer than expected with my previous one. I finally got this one at the prefect time. I own a lot of books by this author & we have several at the library so that combo means I can read them all, but for some reason I really like listening to them on audio almost more than just regular reading. The same is true for the series Joanne Fluke writes.

I'm always saying how funny & great these books are so I'll tell you why in a little more detail...

Sophie Kinsella's characters are always relatable on some level. Take the main character of this book for example, Emma Corrigan. She's got a job that is a joke even though she's working her ass off, her boyfriend is almost perfect although slightly annoying, she has fabulous friends, & then one day that all changes. Of course this change involves a man...that's always the case, isn't it? We've all had jobs like that & we all know someone that spends too much time getting ready for a date & cares highly about what other people think. Most of these characters also remind me of me & my life...maybe that means I'll get a happy ending too? Lets hope its soon!

The stories also always have a happy ending which is comforting, although everything that you can possibly think of, & some things you can't happen too throughout. Up until the very last chapter or 2 you really don't know how it's gonna end. But no matter what happens there's a happy ending.

The audio readers are different for each book. They are always female & always have an accent. I like readers with accents personally but I hear frequently at work that many people do not.

This book & most of her others are less than 12 hours unabridged which means you can finish them quickly if you are a consistent listener.

The final thing I will tell you that is true for this authors books is the romance in my opinion isn't always realistic. I like that aspect of the books though. Similar to fantasy romance, I don't think an intern falling in love with a CEO after one chance meeting could happen in real life. But that's one of the things I love about these books.

Here's to more happy endings! 🍻