From the blurb:

Three years ago, Kate Sullivan was prepared to tell her best friend, Eric Wagner, that she had developed romantic feelings for him. But before she could, he abruptly ended their friendship. Now Eric has walked into Kate’s bakery and back into her life – but why?

Will Kate finally get the chance to heat things up between them? Or will their relationship only ever be “cool to the touch”?

Baking Love is Lauren Boyd’s first published book and I was excited to read it when it was released earlier last month. It is a great read and a sweet, engaging story filled with fun and humour. Baking Love is the story of Kate, who has recently inherited her grandmother’s bakery in Hillsborough, and her love for her best friend, Eric, with whom she lost contact when he went to college in New York a few years before and got a girlfriend. The book is told entirely from Kate’s point of view, with some amusing internal dialogue which really allows you to understand Kate’s wit, strength and tenacity.

One day, while at work in the bakery, Kate meets with a bride to discuss her wedding cake and Kate cannot shake the bad air that sits between them – what is this woman’s problem?

She opened one of the photo albums on the table and turned it around to face Cecilia and Loraine. “This album as pictures of the wedding cakes we’ve done.”

“I’m not looking for something that’s been done,” Cecilia frowned. “I’m looking for originality.”

“Of course.” Kate opened the note book that was lying on the table and picked up the pen next to it. “Tell me what you’d like.”

Cecilia’s furrowed brows relaxed into a more satisfied expression. “I want my wedding cake to be unlike anything anyone’s ever seen. I want white cake, white frosting, and white fondant. I want pale yellow beadwork, lacework, scrollwork, and fondant flowers. It goes without saying that the decorations should be tasteful and not tacky.”

Yet you said it anyway.

When it turns out that Cecilia’s fiancé is Kate’s old best friend, Eric, Kate begins to understand – Cecilia does not want to use her bakery for her cake, it was Eric’s idea. Kate resolves to put her feelings for Eric aside and give her best friend the best wedding cake ever, despite his fiancé’s frostiness.

It is soon clear that there are some unresolved issues between Kate and Eric – not the least that Kate was in love with Eric before he went away, but was too afraid to tell him in case it ruined their friendship – and regret that they had lost touch since he left. It is clear that both of them want that friendship back and the friendly banter between them leaves them both at times confused about the status of their friendship. But are wedding rehearsals and preparations the best time to discuss these?

There are some great fun moments in the book, coming from awkward situations and wedding-related craziness which will have you chuckling away to yourself, and they really add to the depth of these characters and the connection between them. It really is a most enjoyable book to read and I look forward to reading more from Lauren Boyd. Although there is one warning for readers of Baking Love – it will make your mouth water with the most amazing descriptions of cakes and frosting…

Baking Love is available now from Amazon; click on the book cover below to visit the store.