The Sweetest Thing by Cathy Woodman

Morning, everyone! Today I'm a stop on the TLC blog tour for Cathy Woodman's The Sweetest Thing.

Oh, readers! This book hit the spot. As much as I liked my first outing with Woodman and Talyton St. George with Country Loving, I actually enjoyed The Sweetest Thing even more! Perhaps it was Jennie and her cakes, or the added personalities of her kids, I don't know (they do all play a role in Country Loving as well but this is THEIR story). And honestly I had some reservations after meeting Guy in Country Loving. He struck me as being a little... difficult based on his interactions with Stevie and her father. No spoilers but Stevie's dad didn't make it easier. Guy comes off just as - dare I say snobby? - when he meets Jennie in the beginning of The Sweetest Thing as well, though, so it's not just Stevie's increasingly senile father that set him off.

But I should probably tell you about the book :)

After being essentially traded in for a younger model, Jennie finds herself a single mother to her three children. Having always been the stay at home wife and mother, she now finds herself in need of a fresh new start. And so she buys a run down (but charming) home in Talyton St. George and plans to open her own cake shop. She knows baking is her forte but now it's up to her to prove it to the villagers, many of whom aren't too happy about an outsider horning in on the local baking market. Plus she's got the kids to contend with as well as promises of a pony and a new dog. Then there's her neighbor, Guy Barnes, owner of Uphill Farm and previous owner of the very home Jennie purchased. Guy, like others in Talyton St. George, is certain city girl Jennie won't be able to cut it in the country but as time passes he seems to warm to her. Is Jennie ready for a new love on top of it all?

I think maybe this one appealed just a tad more than Country Loving simply because Country Loving is actually a later book in the Talyton St. George timeline. If, as it was with me, it's the first of Woodman's books you read or simply one you read prior to Sweetest Thing it means that you've already met Jennie and Guy. So you're not only returning to the setting once again and seeing all the peripheral characters that make up the scenery, you're actually getting to know Jennie and Guy in depth.

This really is a sweet book as well as one that will have you craving sweets (you have been warned).

Rating: 4/5

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Cathy and her books, be sure to visit her website here. And for excerpts and more be sure to visit Great British Reads.