Lauren Hauser is home for the holidays, and she’s been given a challenge: preparing her grandmother’s pecan pie. The problem? Lauren’s not famed for her baking skills. In fact, while her sister would win Star Baker every week, and her mom at least knows a sieve from a spatula, Lauren’s bakes have always been more dangerous than delicious!
Still, no Thanksgiving would be complete without dessert…which is why Lauren finds herself searching for pecans on Thanksgiving Eve. Stumbling into a gorgeous stranger laden down with bags of pecans seems like a holiday miracle…but despite Jack’s kissable lips he’s frostier than a snow cone…and out of sight before she can say ‘Macy’s Parade’!
As the clock counts down to Thanksgiving dinner, Lauren is running out of time. And without her grandmother’s perfect pecan pie it won’t be a very Happy Thanksgiving! What Lauren needs is a knight in shining armour. And it might just be that the magic of Thanksgiving will find her one after all…"
Rating: 2.5/5
You can buy How to Bake the Perfect Pecan Pie as an eBook now.
Thanksgiving is obviously an American holiday, and not something we celebrate over here in the UK. However, thanks to the many American films and TV shows we all watch, we should all know that celebrating Thanksgiving is a big deal across the pond, so I wasn't completely in the dark about it all when I started this eBook which I got on Netgalley a few months ago. I hadn't read anything by author Gina Henning before, but was drawn to the gorgeous looking cover, and the story sounded good too.
Lauren has gone back home for the holidays to celebrate Thanksgiving with her family. She isn't a great cook, but looks forward to the meal that her sister always dishes up for her. However, this year there's something different. Lauren has been left a recipe by her grandmother, for her infamous Pecan Pie that she bakes every Thanksgiving. Lauren isn't known for her culinary skills, so she's understandably feeling nervous about the prospect of following in her grandmother's footsteps. Unprepared, she heads out of Thanksgiving Eve to find the pecans, but ends up bumping into someone else entirely. Will Lauren be able to make the pie in time for the big day?!
While I enjoyed the start of the book as I was reading, it did get a bit lacklustre for me as it went on, and I'll be honest and say my interest seriously started to wane as it went on. Unfortunately, I just didn't care much for Lauren, the main character, or the story around her, and I had to force myself some evenings to pick up my Kindle and carry on reading. Lauren wasn't an especially likeable person, preferring to stay away from her family if she can, although I did understand her nerves over baking the pie for her family, especially as they seem to have low expectations of her. However, once she met Jack at the pecan shop, it got a bit dull for me and I just couldn't care about their impending romance.
The family aren't especially likeable either, with a bit of a kooky sister in law, drippy brother and other characters who are quite frankly pretty forgettable. The entire story really does rest on these two, and whether or not Lauren can make the pie in time, but it just wasn't enough to keep me interested. It's a shame because as I say, it started out so well, but unfortunately just tailed off for about 1/3 of the way in. The romance story is good, but the whole pecan debacle just wasn't for me unfortunately. This is the first book in a series, with the second book 'How to Bake the Perfect Christmas Cake' being out now, and since I have it on my Kindle, I will give it a go and see if I prefer Lauren's story this time around. There will be a fourth book out this summer too. The book is well written, and I'm sure the story will appeal to others, but it just wasn't for me unfortunately.
Thank you to Carina for the Netgalley review copy.
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