Publisher: Self-published, 113 Pages (April 30th, 2014)
From: from the author
Format: eARC
Add to: Goodreads
Order a copy: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK
Synopsis: Yolanda Carter comes from a family of artisans and lives in her deceased grandparent's cottage in Sherman Oaks, California. She works at a small cat shelter but dreams of owning a bakery. Her friend from high school, Teagan Mishkin, knows that Yolanda needs money and suggests better paying work as a cocktail waitress. The interview takes an unexpected turn and she stumbles across a scheme to close down the cat shelter.
The plan Yolanda concocts may be the only way to save the shelter. Helped by her parents, co-workers and friends, a rising young blogger also takes an interest in her plight. Will she bake the best brownies of her life?
Review: 3.5 stars - I was lucky enough to receive a review e-book from the author for this book. Having read another of her novels and mentioning that I would love to read more about an ‘internal’ storyline in that book, Lisa Maliga has written more about Yolanda’s Yummery and here it is- The Great Brownie Taste-Off.
We meet
Yolanda Carter, 26, she works at the Crown Street Cat Shelter; she has a
passion for baking and an ambition to open her own “Yummery”. She’s even named
her cat Miss Pastry Chef or Mischief for short.
What is a
Yummery you may ask? Yolanda’s explanation of a Yummery in the book is “Because I’m going to bake everything there
myself and it will be yummy” hence the name, rather than it being a regular
bakery.
Yolanda
knows that unfortunately her $9 an hour job isn’t going to buy her, her
Yummery; so when her friend Teagan tells Yolanda that her boss is hiring bar
staff and that they earn $100’s per night, she applies but it isn’t quite what
she expected. Thankfully Yolanda comes to an arrangement with the owner Rocky
Montoya to do office work instead of front of house. It is here that she finds
out the Crown Street Cat Shelter is under threat.
Rocky
Montoya who runs Wicked Fun Gentleman’s club is also linked to the Freeze N
Bake Corporation who want to change the cat shelter into a storage facility for
their frozen baked goods.
To try
and save the cat shelter Yolanda suggests a taste-off between her homemade
brownies and Freeze N Bake’s brownies. Rocky accepts the challenge- the winner
gets the cat shelter.
A few
nights later Yolanda has a dream. A black cat (Mr Whiskers, one of the
residents from the cat shelter) talks to her in her dream and tells her that at
the back of the spice cupboard in her kitchen is a green glass bottle and the
contents will make everything taste magical, by only using the smallest pinch.
When she wakes, Yolanda checks the cupboard and sure enough there is the bottle
from her dream. Yolanda’s mission to save the Crown Street Cat Shelter is now
on.
I won’t
tell you how the story ends, because then you will know all of the story and
i’ve already given away a lot of it. The main question I have to ask is what is
the magic ingredient- I am intrigued. I suppose I will have to wait for book 2
to find out.
Yolanda
from what I can tell is your average 26 year old; she likes nice things, and is
at the stage in her life when she wants to pursue her dreams. I, myself can
relate to this. She has been dating her boyfriend Zac for 10 months, and truly
wants to believe there’s something there between them, but because he can
sometimes be inconsiderate she also doubts the relationship. She is an animal
lover, like myself and if I was put in the same situation i’d do anything in my
power to save an animal shelter.
Zac- I
have to admit from the minute he popped up in the book I disliked him. He
annoyed me. He seems very self-centred and he only seems interested in Yolanda
because she looks good on his arm and can cook. He doesn’t encourage her to
pursue her dreams; he tells her that she should work in a Ralph’s bakery, not
open her own Yummery.
The other
characters in the book didn’t really leave that much of an impression on me.
But you can understand from reading about her parents that Yolanda comes from a
creative background- her Mum designs t-shirts and her Dad makes glass objects.
She also has creative friends- her friend Heather makes soaps and lotions. I
feel that having successful creative people around you would only increase
Yolanda’s need to open her Yummery.
I will
admit that on reading about the magic ingredient and the talking cat, I thought
the story may be going off track and be a little far-fetched; but it soon
righted itself.
It was another
descriptive but quick and enjoyable read; I can’t wait to find out what happens
next.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comment and let me know your thoughts on this post.