Brunch at Bittersweet Café
(Supper Club #2)
by Carla Laureano
From the RITA Award-winning author of Five Days in Skye comes a sweet, romantic treat that will leave you hungry for more.
Baker and pastry chef Melody Johansson has always believed in finding the positive in every situation, but seven years after she moved to Denver, she can’t deny that she’s stuck in a rut. One relationship after another has ended in disaster, and her classical French training is being wasted on her night job in a mediocre chain bakery. Then the charming and handsome private pilot Justin Keller lands on the doorstep of her workplace in a snowstorm, and Melody feels like it’s a sign that her luck is finally turning around.
Justin is intrigued by the lively bohemian baker, but the last thing he’s looking for is a relationship. His own romantic failures have proven that the demands of his job are incompatible with meaningful connections, and he’s already pledged his life savings to a new business venture across the country—an island air charter in Florida with his sister and brother-in-law.
Against their better judgment, Melody and Justin find themselves drawn together by their unconventional career choices and shared love of adventure. But when an unexpected windfall provides Melody with the chance to open her dream bakery-café in Denver with her best friend, chef Rachel Bishop, she’s faced with an impossible choice: stay and put down roots with the people and place she’s come to call home . . . or give it all up for the man she loves.
My Rating:
She was the one who had wiped Melody’s tears and kissed her scrapes and taught her all the things a young girl should know and quite a few things she shouldn’t. But that was her grandmother.
I would call it an enthusiastic hobby, not an obsession.
Pete negotiated the extra stop with the driver in rapid, confident Spanish. Justin only caught a handful of words—he’d naively studied German in high school and college, which so far had only come in handy for reading labels on imported beer.
“I’m actually thinking I might be too dumb to date you.” That pensive expression disappeared in a flash, and she laughed. “Don’t worry. I still waste afternoons watching cat videos on YouTube.”
I think you’ll like Florida. I think if I were going to move away from Denver, that’s where I would go. Be one of those old men driving a golf cart to the grocery store in checkered pants and a paddy hat.
My Review:
Justin and Melody met by accident during a snowstorm in Denver and started a relationship knowing there would be an expiration date as Justin had plans in the works to invest in a new business venture and move to Florida. The storylines were entertaining and laced with humorous banter and oodles of mouth water food that quickly derailed my New Year’s diet efforts. Curses, I may have gained a pound or five during my perusal with all those tantalizing mentions of crusty European breads and desserts. I learned a lot of different things reading this book, I learned a considerable amount about baking and flying (the two professions of the main characters), I had no idea people tubed in snow, and I also picked up a new word that I had never heard before, Rochambeau, which is another name used for the game of Rock Paper Scissors. I will toss out the caution that this was a genre hybrid of Women’s Fiction, Family Drama, and Christian Romance. It was tame enough for my elderly mother’s book club and didn’t get uncomfortably preachy for me until the last 10% of the book, although that is probably just me as I tend to grow restless with dogma, whereas regular church attendees would be more at ease.
Empress DJ
About the Author
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Carla Laureano is the RITA® Award-winning author of contemporary inspirational romance and Celtic fantasy (as C.E. Laureano). A graduate of Pepperdine University, she worked as a sales and marketing executive for nearly a decade before leaving corporate life behind to write fiction full-time. She currently lives in Denver with her husband and two sons, where she writes during the day and cooks things at night.
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