Oh, how I wanted to give this book an A. It had sooo much going for it – snappy dialogue, terrific characters, a ton of laugh out loud moments (for me anyway). But there were some flaws in this near perfect debut that were enough to make me hesitate. They were minor and didn’t ruin my enjoyment, but I could see them sending others into the stratosphere. In the spirit of fairness, I gave it a B+.

One of the things that worked best for me is the heroine. I love zany heroines. Characters like the ones you find in an SEP novel or Kristin Higgin’s book. Women who are perfectly competent but always seem just a step away from landing themselves into a truly comical, disastrous situation. Sadie Spencer is just such a heroine and I adored her. Life has handed her a bucket full of lemons. Her husband dying in car wreck. Her cooking show being cancelled. The contract running out on her cookbooks – and the publisher having no desire to renew. Her beloved mother dying of cancer. But she has turned all her lemons into lemonade; she pours the love she had for her mother and husband into her daughter and she turns her cooking talents into meals for her very own restaurant. She has a lot of balls to juggle but with her best friend Jasper at her side, she keeps them all in the air.

Then her no account father comes back to town. And it turns out that a rival is planning to open another restaurant and has been scoping out her place, pretending to be an ordinary customer. Sadie goes into hyperdrive, spying on her potential rival via a slowly budding friendship and dealing with her dad. But then Jasper throws a wrench in the works: He’s in love with Sadie! While Sadie is still reeling (and dealing) with this surprising news, the town busybodies (not her biggest fans) tell Sadie of the new dessert cook off being planned. Sweets are Sadie’s cooking weakness; in fact, she’s a disaster with baked goods. Can she deal with a new love affair and beat her new rival at the bake-off?

Sadie and her daughter Kylie are both high strung people. They have lots of energy, which they normally channel into healthy outlets, and that energy means there is always something going on around them. They also have a tendency to be OCD, becoming engrossed by one thing to the exclusion of all else. The novel concentrates a lot on Sadie letting go – letting go of being perfect, letting go of her obsession with desserts, and letting go of her past with her father. I liked that Sadie didn’t enter into instant forgiveness mode with that last one. I felt it was important for there to be some recrimination for the things he had done and we got at least a little of that.

Jasper is the perfect counter part to Sadie. A school teacher by trade, he is a fantastic after school sitter for Kylie. He is calm and collected where Sadie is hyper and emotional. He is patient and giving and kind, where the mother and daughter can be demanding, whirlwinds of energy. In short, he is a really good beta hero with a romantic streak. And lest you think he is too much of a sweet heart, he does know when to put his foot down to keep from being taken advantage of. It’s rare that I like a beta hero but Jasper was so well drawn I couldn’t help but fall for him. He just seemed so real (though granted on the wow! side of real ;-) He was the kind of man we all want to take home to meet the parents.

I liked how Kylie was handled. She is a little chip off Sadie’s block but definitely her own person. Her portion of the plot is well balanced; she doesn’t take over the story but she is integral to it. And she is not there just for the cuteness factor, as there are moments when like a real child, she is anything but cute!

On a scale of 1 to 10 the religion factor in the book is about a 4. It is handled naturally through visits to church and conversations between characters about God. I appreciated that the author didn’t interrupt her story for a sermon but rather wove faith into the very lives of the characters.

What kept the book from being a complete A for me were mostly tiny quibbles. Dmitri’s surprise background seemed more than a touch unrealistic to me. It gave me a moment where I was yanked out of the story and was like, “Oh, yeah?” Sadie being a disaster with desserts didn’t ring true. I could understand that she would never be on Cake Boss , but I found it hard to swallow that she virtually killed with her confections. There is a lot of space between award winning and catastrophic. I should know – that’s right where I land ;-) I just think a professional chef wouldn’t land in the disaster zone of any area of cooking. While some might find it embarrassing that their treats land in the average range that is a far cry from nearly killing elderly people with cookie crumbs.

I also didn’t feel like the author used her fantastic location quite enough. I mean, Hershey, PA? A name that conjures chocolaty decadence? I appreciated that she didn’t slow the story down with endless scenic descriptions but I wish she had done just a little bit more to include the nature of the town in the tale.

That was it, though. Other than those minor flaws, the book was a terrific light-hearted read for me. If you are in the mood for something fun and enjoy Inspirationals, don’t hesitate to pick this one up.