The Cake Shop in the Garden

by Carole Matthews

[Leah]

Carole Matthews has long been a favourite of mine. She’s one of the Chick Lit Queens, and I really, really enjoyed her last couple of books A Place To Call Home and The Christmas Party. What I like is that, despite having written over 20 books (maybe even over 25) none of her books are ever the same. They’re always different and always enjoyable, so I was so looking forward to The Cake Shop In The Garden. AND it was blurbed by Mary Berry which is pretty freaking cool, actually.

The Cake Shop In The Garden was so, so different to the more serious A Place To Call Home, but they all have that special Matthews touch, and I enjoyed The Cake Shop In The Garden tremendously. In fact, I would quite like to go and live in Canal House, please. It sounded like such a delightful place to live – by the canal, with a riverboat for company and the garden where Fay serves her cakes sounded absolutely gorgeous and I am no green fingered goddess. I could imagine it all in my mind beautifully, and it’s my idea of heaven. I’ve never really been a big fan of the water, but Fay was just so passionate about the houseboat, that she turned me on to the idea, too!

It was very nice to meet Fay, even though it made me sad at least every other page when she was being treated like a slave by her bedridden (but not really bedridden) mother. I will never quite understand why someone would purposefully make themselves bedridden when there’s a beautiful life out there to explore. And it made me sad that Miranda was holding Fay back, stopping her from even doing some so basic as going out for the evening. It made me want to scream and shout, on Fay’s behalf, because Fay was far too polite to say anything to her Mum.

One of the best bits about the book though were the supporting characters! Not only is Fay absolutely fabulous, but we also had Lija, Fay’s assistant who was hilarious! Totally sharp, but it worked for her, if that makes sense. I couldn’t imagine Lija being soft, sweet or cuddly. In fact, that would just be bizarre! Then there was Stan, a regular at Fay’s Cakes. I wanted to hug him and hear all his old war stories. He reminded me a bit of Bruce Forsyth in the way all of Fay’s soups were his favourites. And I’m leaving my favourite til last (although Stan ran him pretty close!!!) Danny Wilde. Ahhhh, he stole my heart the moment he leaped off his houseboat, with Diggory. He was charming, sweet, funny, and just so delicious! Sigh.

I loved The Cake Shop In The Garden, even with all the bad stuff, you just hoped it would all come good for Fay, because nobody deserved happiness more than her, who spent way, way too much time putting other people first. It was such a delightful novel and I can’t wait for the next one, I’m back on the Matthews train and IT IS GOOOOD. (Especially as there’s a third Chocolate Lovers club book on the way yesss!!!!!)