Emma (SCR)
Written on Nov 17, 2014
We start off with Natalie, she is mysterious to say the least. She has just arrived in the lovely little village of Winstanton, in Scotland. She is going to look after the Sugar and Spice bakery. Her 'job' lasts from the 1st to the 24th December with the rest of the year in preparation and research. Her job will involve helping four people in this village: Jacob, Rebecca, Meredith and Stanley.
Jacob is down on his luck. He's just graduated from university but is struggling to find ANY job. The downturn in the economy has made it very difficult. I thought he was a good guy and very hard working. I thought he was a bit blind at times but aren't most men? His sister really helped to bring out the best in him.
Rebecca has just been dumped. Her 'lovely' ex had been cheating on her, she has to spend Christmas with her folks and to top it all of she had to leave her beautiful flat. Suffice to say Rebecca is definitely not in the Christmas Spirit. I really liked Rebecca and felt quite sorry for her.
Meredith is an Ice Queen. She is an unfeeling workaholic. She runs her poor assistant Sophie ragged and trusts no one. If I was Sophie I would have stood up to her long ago. Her sort don't last long with me but I unlike Sophie probably would have been fired. It was really nice to see her change throughout the book.
Stanley is a very sweet old man.The poor man is facing his first Christmas without his wife. Edie sadly passed away a few months ago and Stanley doesn't feel like he has a purpose any-more. He also feels very lonely. I was very happy when he made some new friends and that his Christmas ended up being not so lonely.
All I could think throughout this book is how much I wanted cake. I am A HUGE fan of Christmas Cake, Mince Pies, Christmas Pudding, Yule Log...any kind of Christmas themed cake (and non-christmas themed cake really) and with Natalie making the Cakes of the day all I wanted was to pop in to Sugar & Spice and buy them all.
I really enjoyed this book and keep asking myself WHY oh why have I not read this sooner!!!! I am annoyed with myself because last Christmas (I gave you my heart...Wham moment haha sorry had to be done) I saw it on twitter and it was a book I always meant to get to but with my ever increasing TBR pile I just didn't and then Christmas was over and the TBR pile got bigger and bigger. So I urge you not to make the same mistake as me, read this book now!