Vanity Fare by Megan Caldwell

Morning, readers! I'm a stop on the TLC blog tour for Megan Caldwell's Vanity Fare: A Novel of Lattes, Literature and Love this morning.

Molly Hagan's husband has left her and she needs to get a job -- quick. Said husband has just informed her that he's lost his job and can no longer provide child support and Molly's insurance is running out. Fortunately a friend comes through with some temporary contract work that involves copywriting for an up and coming bakery in the city. The chef behind the concept is a hot (literally and figuratively) Englishman hoping their location near the New York Library will draw crowds. Molly's well read and has an English major so the job seems just about perfect. With just one exception, the chef's business partner is a bit of a cold fish. But when Molly begins to connect with both men, things start to get very interesting. Little does she know, they're both hiding things from her.

Vanity Fare is super cute! Molly is addicted to coffee and romance novels, spends much of her time worrying about how best to provide for her son, and is funny to boot. This combination makes her the kind of heroine I can really get behind!

The progression of the story is pretty great. I don't know that I'd have invited Nick into my life as quickly as Molly did with this story -- that was the only thing I had a little tough time swallowing. Other than that, I was laughing out loud and drooling over the descriptions of the pastries inside.

The book does include a few recipes for some of the mentioned baked goods. Unfortunately, baking at high altitude comes with many challenges and temper tantrums on my part so I didn't try any of them. I'd be interested to hear how they come out if other readers are inspired to try them though.

If you're in the mood for a light read that's both filling and funny, I'd highly recommend checking this one out (sorry, I'm not as good at puns as Molly is!). Just be prepared and have some cookies handy :)

To see what others on the tour thought, visit the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Megan and her work (she also writes romance as Megan Frampton) visit her website here. You can also like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter and Pinterest.