The cake shop in the garden - Carole Matthews

Fay Merryweather runs her cake shop from her beautiful garden. She whips up airy sponges and scrumptious scones, while her customers enjoy the lovely blossoms and gorgeous blooms. Looking after the cake shop, the garden and her cantankerous mother means Fay is always busy but she accepts her responsibilities because if she doesn't do all this, who will?

Then Danny Wilde walks into her life and makes Fay question every decision she's ever made.

When a sudden tragedy strikes, Fay's entire world is thrown off balance even further and she doesn't know which way to turn. Can Fay find the strength to make a life-changing decision - even if it means giving up the thing she loves the most? Life, love and family are about to collide in The Cake Shop in the Garden.

Well – what can I say – you had me at Cake and Carole Matthews!

Where to begin, because I just loved so much about this book. I actually began to ration my reading towards the close of the book, because I didn't want it to end.

Fay runs Fay’s cakes and her side kick is a “Goth version of the goddess Mary Berry” called Lija who is Latvian. I absolutely loved Lija, her wit was fantastic and she had so many one liners that just had me laughing out loud. She does use the “F” word a lot, rather like Gordon Ramsay – my favourite has to be “F**k me to hell, This is better than EastEnders”.

I settled into the book right away and warmed to the characters, except for Fay’s Mum – she was a piece of work, however Lija knows how to handle her. Carole certainly painted a picture I could clearly see in my mind’s eye and that I would love to have been in – perhaps minus Fay’s Mum. The other charming character was 93 year old Stan a great role model for us all and of course let’s not forget the cute dog Diggery.

Enter Danny and Fay’s world is turned upside down – leaving her with decisions to make. As you think it is all going to go one way, suddenly it all flips over and another twist in the story emerges.

I can honestly say that this book really got me thinking – what would I do if that happened to me? How could Fay’s Mother do that? – I got really angry at some of the characters too. You just need to read it to find out what I am talking about………

Oh – and be prepared to crave cake.

My thanks go to Net Galley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review. The Cake Shop in the Garden is published on 23 April 2015.