Mini Reviews: Love Takes the Cake, The Perfect Arrangement, Love in the Details

Title: Love Takes the Cake

Author: Betsy St. Amant
Series: A Year of Weddings Novella #10

Genre: Christian Romance

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Source: publisher

She’s known for her delicious cakes, but there’s no recipe for dealing with the new man in her life.
Charlotte owns the best bakery in Louisiana, and clients come from near and far for her renowned wedding cakes. And while the wedding scene is Charlotte’s place to shine, her own love life is more dull than ever. After a string of failed relationships—and men who actually were too good to be true—she has decided to throw herself into her craft and leave love and marriage to her clients.
Will is a successful entrepreneur but devotes much of his spare time to caring for his ill mother. He knows he doesn't have much time left with her, so he has done everything he can to guard his heart from relationships. And what girl would understand that he needs to spend all his time with his mother? But when his best friend calls in his help for his September wedding, Will can’t refuse. He's always been there for those closest to him. And when he finds out they don’t have a wedding cake yet, he knows exactly where to go—the bakery owned by the beautiful, mysterious young woman he buys treats from.
Charlotte assumes Will is just another party boy who flirts with all the bridesmaids. But is Will hiding something that explains his behavior? And despite their reservations, will they be able to deny the chemistry between them? 

I loved this story. I'm a sucker for stories that take place in bakeries to begin with, and this one was the cutest.

Charlotte is a single mother, just trying to keep her business afloat. She already made a mistake involving a man, and isn't about to repeat that. But she can't help her attraction to the customer who comes in every Tuesday at 5:40. Will, too, gave up the dating scene to take care of his sister (the GR description is wrong), but something about Charlotte is making him rethink that.

I think this story was going for a Mr. Darcy vibe with Will. Although I could kind of see that, I didn't really think it fit. Although the misunderstandings did abound, P&P style. But I loved seeing them get to know each other, and work through their reasons, and learn to trust each other.

All in all, this was a super cute and fun story. I think it's one of my favorites from this series.

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Betsy St. Amant:

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Title: The Perfect Arrangement

Author: Katie Ganshert

Series: A Year of Weddings Novella #11

Genre: Christian Romance

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Source: publisher

Meeting Nick was truly an accident—but Amelia finds that he’s one of the few people she can count on.
Amelia Woods is a small-town wallflower who inherited her grandmother’s flower shop. Despite her success in business, her love life has ground to a halt. And then her temptation to spy on her ex-boyfriend’s wedding leads her to a horrifying fender-bender—with Nick, the groomsman who happens to be her ex’s new brother-in-law.
Meanwhile, William, Amelia’s younger brother, has proposed to his girlfriend. Amelia would be excited except she has evidence that the fiancée is not who she says she is. How can she be supportive and yet be the protective big sister too? It seems Nick is the only one available for any advice-giving, and he’s pretty good at it—and pretty fun to talk to. Amelia and Nick continue online conversations about everything, but always lingering in Amelia’s mind is the fear that he’ll realize who she is and what she was doing at the church that day of the accident.
As Amelia works to craft the perfect flower arrangements for other people—including a ninety-year-old “fairy godmother” named George—she begins to wonder if real love is better than the dream. And if it is, will Nick still be interested when he learns who she is?

I loved this one. It was fun and cute. I am more than ready for fall to come, and this one perfectly sets the tone for fall. I love stories set in flower shops (almost as much as bakeries) and so this was just perfect.

Amelia owns a flower shop in a quaint little town. She's quite happy with her life, until she rear-ends a guy... while spying on her ex's wedding. She quickly flees the scene, but this starts up an email exchange with the guy, who is cute and fun and just great to talk to. But she hasn't told him who she is or what she was doing that day.

I loved Amelia. She was fun and spunky and totally honest about the fact that she was a young cat lady, more than content to spend her days with her flowers and her nights with her cat and Netflix. I loved the email exchanges. They were fun and cute and I loved their interactions.

I will say, I feel like a big deal was made out of the brother's fiancée thing, and then it was dropped with no resolution. I mean, there was kinda, but not really. I also felt like the whole ex's wedding thing was drawn out too much. But other than this was a super fun and cute story and I loved every minute of it.

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Katie Ganshert:

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Title: Love in the Details

Author: Becky Wade

Series: A Year of Wedding Novellas, #12

Genre: Christian Fiction

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Source: NetGalley

When Josh returns to his hometown of Martinsburg, Texas, to help his best friend get married, he didn’t intend to run into church wedding coordinator—and ex-girlfriend—Holly. He can’t help but pine after the girl he never got over.
Holly broke up with Josh years ago in an attempt to ensure his future success. But she loved him then and still loves him now. As she helps him plan his best friend’s wedding, she can’t help but feel horrible for the pain she caused him. And even though she longs to be with Josh, she doesn’t feel worthy of his big-time lifestyle when she is more comfortable in her small town world. Will Josh and Holly be able to keep things as they are when their true feelings threaten to surface at every turn?

I loved this one. I thought it was such an interesting premise, different than anything else in this "series". I thought it was such a good story.

Holly and Josh were high school sweethearts, but Holly broke it off when Josh went to MIT to secure his future. Now, Josh is back in town for a friend's wedding, but Holly never stopped loving him. I liked that we get both point-of-views, as I think that added another depth to the story. We get to see how both characters feel, which really helps us get to know them better.

I was rooting for Josh and Holly the whole time. They both have gone through much hurt in the years since they've been apart, but they both realize they still have feelings for each other. Understandably, they aren't sure what to do with those feelings since it caused so much hurt the last time.

Even though this is only a novella, I thought this was a pretty fleshed out story. I loved getting to know both of these characters and walk through their feelings with them. All in all, I loved this story.

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Becky Wade:

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