Meet Me at The Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan

Meet Me at The Cupcake Cafe is the first book I have read by Jenny Colgan. I have found the last few weeks when I have gone in to Whsmiths to find a new release book which I haven’t read I am stuck as there seems to be a bit of down time in the kind of books I like to read. What pulled me to this book was firstly there is a statement about the book from an author I enjoy ( Sophie Kinsella ) secondly the style of the front cover which is pink and cream which is very fitting considering the book is about cakes!!

Plot

Issy finds herself at a loose end when she is made redundant by her boss Graeme who is also her boyfriend. Heartbroken and jobless Issy needed to find a way to get her life on track and quick as she is not getting any younger. With a large redundancy package and the help of her Gramps who sends her the recipes for cakes he used to use when he was a baker she decides to take the plunge and open up her own Cupcake cafe. Issy has full support from her Gramps and from her bestfriend /flatmate Helena and also her new employee Pearl who faces her own troubles in life.  With the cafe up and running and word of the cafe getting around will Issy be able to find time for romance.  Will she pleased when Graeme arrives with an offer up his sleeve!!

My Opinion

Issy our main character is an absolutely joy to read about. She is very soft natured and seems to know what she wants in life but may just need a little push to get what it is she so desperately wants. As the reader we can only hope that things improve for her as the book goes along but this book just shows she is in for a bumpy ride! I felt like the character of Issy was very believable she could easily be the girl next door.

After reading the title to the book and reading the first few chapters I thought it was going to be a very basic and predictable storyline but I was wrong! There were a few twists and turns and some of the characters such as Graeme the ex and Austin the bank manager were hard to work out until the end of the book you wasn’t sure if they were hiding something.

Jenny Colgan had a way of describing the cafe which made you feel as though you were really sitting in this cafe with a coffee and cake in hand!

One of the things which has really stood out for me in this book and makes it different to all the other books out there is that at the beginning of each chapter there is a recipe for a variety of different cupcakes, I have never seem this in a book before so this is new to me and in my opinion was a nice touch although I have to say having these recipes to hand and reading this enjoyable book about this welcoming cafe did make you want to follow in Issy’s footsteps! The way Cohen talks about her cakes makes it seem as if she has a great passion for cakes either baking or eating!

I did find at a point in this book that I felt rather moved with the relationship between Issy and her Gramps and it was at this point I realised how real this book felt.

In my opinion this is a definite must read, a real page turner. There is a real mix in this book with a little humour, a lot of touching emotional parts with a little romance but not too much. After reading this book I will defiantly be on the lookout for more Jenny Colgan books in future.