Books I've Read: Mom Com

 

I was tired this weekend so I decided to read a something really unchallenging to rest my exhausted brain.  I saw this one at the library and thought it looked like good choice - what's better than cakes and romance?

It turns out, this one might have been too sweet even for me...  

Maddi has just disgraced herself on national television after appearing on a reality baking show.  She returns home to her mother who has summoned her with some vague intimations about her recently deceased father's will.  With her is her nine-year-old son, Spence, whose father still lives in her hometown.

Also back in her hometown is Wilder, Maddi's childhood best friend who became much more than that while they were in high school.  It does not take long before Wilder and Maddi run into each other and the chemistry between them begins to spark again in both the good and bad ways it always has.  

So it's an unwelcome shock for Maddi to discover that her father's will leaves his beloved bakery not to Maddi alone. but to both Maddi and Wilder.  And there are are strict rules around them both staying to work there built in.

At home, Maddi wrestles with her past and tries to do the right thing to win approval from her mother who has been vocal over the years about how disappointed in Maddi she is after Maddi fell pregnant in high school, skipped college and moved away.  And then there's the confusion of having both her high school boyfriends in town and falling right back into their own pattern of rivalry.

This was the fluffy read I needed this weekend, but somehow I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to.  Is it just me or do the heroines of these books always sound alike?  I feel like every book like this I've read recently has a main character with a similar voice - someone who feels like a screw up, yet demonstrates a real inner strength and determination.

I didn't hate it, but the book somehow irritated me, something I've found in a lot of this type of book recently.  Maybe I need to stop reading them...

So I'm not strongly recommending this, but if you like this kind of book-candy, it's not the worst of its kind...

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Adriana Mather comes a heartwarming tale of love, family, and pastry perfection.

Maddi DeLuca is coming home for the holidays with her nine-year-old son, only it’s not the triumphant return she might have hoped for. She recently broke down on a reality TV baking show, letting the entire country know she feels like a colossal failure. And she can be certain her mother will remind her of all the ways she hasn’t lived up to expectations over the years.