"Meet Me at the Cupcake Café" review
By Becky Gulc
Narrowing down an extensive wish list of books to just four for a week-long holiday in the sun is never an easy task – Jenny Colgan’s "Meet Me at the Cupcake Café" was however instantly top of my holiday list this year from the title alone (shallow but true), it didn’t disappoint. Prior to spotting this book I had read just one of Jenny’s previous novels – "Looking for Andrew McCarthy" which was just a genius concept for me as someone who had a serious teenage crush on Andrew at the time of "Mannequin."
For anyone who loves to bake and cannot leave the house without gravitating towards the ever-expanding Patisserie Valerie’s and Hummingbird Bakeries on our high streets "Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe" is the perfect book for you. Best still, it won’t affect your waistline…well, unless you act upon the numerous recipes listed quite comically but accurately in this book. You’ll be ensuring your friends hand this book back when they’ve read it!
This book is about new beginnings. In the current climate we all know someone who is facing redundancy if not ourselves – this book explores how 31 year old Issy deals with being made redundant from her mundane but longstanding office job. Possibly the worst thing for Issy is not being made redundant itself, but being made redundant by Graeme, her successful but unworthy boyfriend/secret love.
The book follows Issy as she does what many of us can only dream of – taking what is a fun hobby and making it into something she can make a living from. Her journey is far from easy and there are some great characters built into this book that you feel for, laugh with and swoon over! Whilst being quite a light-hearted read many of the characters in this book haven’t had an easy life and you really do route for them to succeed and find happiness albeit in a variety of forms. Issy’s relationship with her Grandpa is central to the story and is moving and heart-warming throughout – we learn early on that Issy was raised by her grandparents and it is her Grandpa that instilled Issy’s love of baking and his recipes and ethos are an integral part of Issy’s vision for the Cupcake Café.
I do believe that if you love chick-lit and love baking or just eating cakes then you will enjoy this book. The description is rich throughout; you could really picture the café; the surrounding area of Stoke Newington and most importantly the cupcakes. The sense of community, or lack of at some points hangs very true and you will be able to relate some of the characters to people you see but maybe have never spoken to wherever you live. The book may be a tad predictable but that didn’t detract from the enjoyment of it one bit. Overall this book is an uplifting read with strong characters and enough twists, turns and recipes to keep your mouth-watering until the very end!
