The Gingerbread Bakery is a second chance romance with cozy holiday vibes and the fifth book in the Dream Harbor series. It’s sweet and spicy and, other than a few quibbles, I enjoyed my time with this found family in Dream Harbor.

Annie is a do-gooder who loves everyone in Dream Harbor except for Macaulay (Mac). She has a bakery in town and he owns the local pub. She isn’t happy to see he is one of the groomsmen for Logan and Jeanie’s (from The Pumpkin Spice Cafe) wedding. Annie and Mac have a past that no one else knows about. The story goes back and forth between the present and the past which is set right after they graduated from high school.

Logan’s grandmother, Estelle, has disappeared and they are asked to find her before the wedding. She said there was something she needed to take care of but no one knows where she went. Annie has avoided Mac since he moved back to town three years ago but as they search for Estelle, they begin to talk to each other and the story of their past unfolds.

After they graduated from high school most of their friends left for college. Annie took some business classes, sold cookies online, and made plans to start a bakery that specialized in gingerbread men. Mac worked for his father at the pub but was restless and wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life. He decided he wanted to travel and would leave town after the holidays. When they saw each other at the local holiday market, she gave him a gingerbread man and he asked if she would like to hang out with him until he leaves. They spent a sweet month together that Mac calls his favorite Christmas ever. It was fun to read about their holiday light tour, delicious food, and young love. I won’t give away what happened after.

In the present time, Annie makes a huge, incredible gingerbread house for the wedding and Mac helps her transport it to a barn at the Christmas Tree Farm where they are having the wedding. It sounded so festive and it was fun to see the characters from the previous books in the series come together to celebrate. I love their found family.

There were times when Annie seemed immature but she was young and heartbroken and I liked her more after they finally talked and shared with each other about what happened. (If only they had talked sooner.) Everyone in town knew they were meant to be together (even the book club!). I wished I could see more of them after they got together but hope to find out how they are doing in the next book, The Daisy Chain Flower Shop, coming in May.