Review and Giveaway: The Cake Therapist

Neely is a talented pastry chef who can taste feelings.  She decides to return to the small town she grew up in to open a bakery and to run away from a broken marriage.  As her business catches on, she becomes part of the community and senses the worries and troubles of others.

Olive and Edie are two young girls in the 1930s trying to make it on their own.  Their story merges with Neely’s in an unexpected way.

The Cake Therapist by Judith Fertig alternates between Neely’s story in the present and Olive and Edie’s in the past, with Neely’s story being told in the first person and Olive and Edie’s in the third person.  It takes a while for the stories to connect but they eventually do in a satisfying way.

Neely is a sympathetic character who was easy to relate to.  Her descriptions of her baked creations made my mouth water.  I didn’t mind the hint of magic realism surrounding her “gift” since it was written subtly.

I found Olive and Edie’s story a little hard to follow at times but it all come together in the end so it wasn’t an issue.

There was a lot going on in this book.  Besides the two major storylines, there were several subplots that I felt could have been developed a little more.  I have to admit I liked the book a lot but can’t say I loved it.  Still, if Fertig continues Neely’s story in another book, I’d happily read it.  If you like foodie fiction, you’ll probably want to give The Cake Therapist a try.

As a special treat, Tandem Literary is allowing me to give away copies of The Cake Therapist and Bake Happy, both by Judith Fertig, to one lucky reader!  To enter to win THE CAKE THERAPIST and BAKE HAPPY, simply fill out the entry form.  Contest is open to those with a US address only – one entry per person, please.  I will use random.org to determine the winner.  Contest ends at midnight EDT Thursday, July 09, 2015.    Comments are welcome (and appreciated) but will not get you an entry in the contest.

I will link this up to Weekend Cooking which is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend.

Review copy provided by Penguin Random House.  I am an Indiebound Affliate.