December felt like the perfect time to continue this post series. There are so many festive books centred around baking, cooking and food in general. It will come as no surprise that these are some of my all time favourite festive books – what can I say, I love food.
A Recipe for Christmas by Jo Thomas
A Recipe for Christmas is the only Jo Thomas book I have genuinely enjoyed. Her books have been a real hit or miss for me over the years (I’ve read four of her Christmas romances), but this one was great. Probably due to the amount of cooking and baking it involves.
Our main character, Clara, signs up for a chocolate-making course after moving to Switzerland with her boyfriend thinking it would be a simple cooking class. However, she’s actually applied for a place at one of the top chocolate-making schools in the world. So you can imagine just how many intense yet incredible chocolate-making scenes there are (take a shot every time I say ‘chocolate-making’ in this post).
These scenes are so detailed you can imagine how each chocolate would taste and there are a lot of different chocolates being made. Not only in the culinary school but out of it as well. I believe there’s also other baking going on, but I could be remembering wrong, I read this book over a year ago. There’s a lovely scene on Christmas Day where everyone bands together to make the meal.
The 12 Books of Christmas: A Recipe for Christmas by Jo Thomas
Synopsis: Take one woman longing for the perfect Christmas . . .
All Clara has ever wanted is Christmas surrounded by loved ones, full of warmth and delicious food. So when her new boyfriend asks her to move to Switzerland, she can’t help but say yes! After all, what could be more perfect than Christmas in the Alps?
Add a dash of surprise
She quickly signs up for a chocolate-making course, imagining a workshop like something out of a festive advert. Instead, it’s chocolate-making bootcamp! And her boyfriend isn’t all he seemed either . . .
And enjoy a magical festive treat!
Despite it all, Clara begins to make friends – including the aloof yet intriguing Gabriel. With all of the ingredients at her fingertips, will she finally be able to whisk up her Christmas dream?
The Gingerbread House in Mistletoe Gardens by Jaimie Admans
I’ve read three of Jaimie Admans’s festive books and you really can’t go wrong with them. I’d probably say this was my least favourite one, but it’s still a four star read.
This book has a LOT of baking. I’m talking about creating a life sized house from gingerbread. Not the most economical Christmas attraction as I’m pretty sure to make the gingerbread dense enough to be structurally stable you’d have to add a ton of flour, which would make it pretty inedible. However, it’s such a fun idea and would definitely gather the social media attention the characters need to keep the Gardens from being demolished.
You don’t spend a lot of time at the bakery, however, a bakery is the perfect setting for a festive romance. You get a few scenes of Essie making products for the shop and also creating the gingerbread bricks, but a lot of the story takes place in Mistletoe Gardens, which is beautifully festive.
The 12 Books of Christmas: The Gingerbread House in Mistletoe Gardens by Jaimie Admans
Synopsis: In Mistletoe Gardens a legend anyone who kisses underneath the mistletoe will be guaranteed another year of love…
When local baker Essie Browne discovers that Mistletoe Gardens is to be demolished in January, she’s determined to save the place she loves so much. So Essie proposes building a life size gingerbread house to bring in the crowds…just how hard can it be? Well, quite hard actually. Essie can bake gingerbread blindfolded, but she hasn’t got a clue how to build an actual house with it! She needs help – and fast!
Enter local builder, Joss Hallissey. Essie is convinced that with Joss’s help, they can pull this off. There’s just one tiny problem, Joss hates Christmas, gingerbread, and… well, just about everything else too. Joss the Grinch makes it clear that her idea is ludicrous and pointless, but he reluctantly agrees to help with her plan. Will the gingerbread house be enough to save Mistletoe Gardens? Or will Essie’s chance for a magical kiss under the mistletoe be lost forever?
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