I’m absolutely thrilled to share my review of the fabulous Heartaches and Christmas Cakes today as part of the blog blitz. Heartaches & Christmas Cakes is now available to buy in Ebook in the UK and in the US now.
Book Description:
Heartaches and Christmas Cakes: A wartime family saga perfect for cold winter nights (Wartime Bakery Book 1)
December, 1940: All that Audrey Barton wants is her family together for Christmas. But the war changes everything…
The Barton family bakery in Bournemouth has been at the heart of the town for generations: Audrey and Charlie Barton have never been rich, but their bread and cakes – and their love and advice – have enriched the lives of others in the town for many years.
When war breaks out, it doesn’t take long for trouble to arrive on the bakery doorstep. Audrey’s brother William has joined up to fight, and William’s fiancé Elsie fears she may lose him before their life together has even begun. Audrey’s stepsister Lily comes to stay, but Lily is clearly hiding a dark secret.
And a silent and strange little girl is evacuated to the town – will Audrey get to the heart of what is ailing her?
Audrey battles to keep hope and love alive in tumultuous times. But when disaster strikes at Christmas, will her efforts be in vain?
This is the first book in a heartwarming and romantic new saga series, perfect for fans of The Gingerbread Girl, Nadine Dorries and Ellie Dean.
My Review:
Frequent followers of my blog will know about my love for historical fiction, particularly ones that are based in World War Two. I absolutely adored Heartaches and Christmas cakes and the authors description of life at a small bakery during the early part of the war.
I was immediately drawn into life at Barton’s bakery in Brighton and loved getting to know all the people there. The way the book is written gives the reader a fly on the wall view of life at the bakery and I quickly felt that I knew the characters intimately. The book features some fantastic female characters who, although affected by personal tragedy throughout the war, are very good at just getting on with it and supporting one another. I particularly liked Audrey and Elsie who I felt were particularly strong, together and capable women with hearts of gold. Both women go out of their way to help others despite suffering themselves. Their gallant efforts to try and make everything OK and keep everyone happy bought tears to my eyes at times.
The author cleverly integrates actual war events into the lives of the characters, without it every seeming forced or unnatural. Through them we learn about the aftermath of Dunkirk, the battle of Britain and other war hardships like the Blitz and the treatment of evacuees. I haven’t read a lot about the aftermath of Dunkirk so I found the description of that particularly fascinating. It would have been easy to make this book very happy with everything working out for the characters but the author doesn’t do this and instead the characters experience grief and hardships the same as many during the war which made the novel seem very realistic. It was very poignant to read about some of the personal tragic stories that are mentioned in the book as you are aware that they probably did happen to people during the war and that people did suffer like that.
Being set in a bakery, there is a lot of information about rationing and how it affected bakeries which I found very intriguing. The rules that the baker had to follow like only being able to cook certain things and the interesting things they had to use as alternatives to icing sugar were things that I didn’t know about before.
This was a fascinating book that I loved reading. I simultaneously wanted to read more to find out what happened next and slow down so it didn’t end. If you like world war two fiction or saga’s from an unusual angle and enjoy learning new facts about the war then you will love this book. It’s well written, with fantastic characters managing to be both heart warming and heart breaking, a brilliant read!
Huge thanks to Kim Nash and Bookouture for my copy of this book and for inviting me on the blog tour.
About The Author:
Amy Miller is the pseudonym of Amy Bratley, who started her writing life working on magazines and newspapers. She has previously written three women’s fiction novels published by Pan Macmillan, the first of which was a bestseller in Italy. Her day job is being a freelance managing editor of both a vintage interiors magazine and a food magazine, two subjects she’s passionate about. Amy lives in Dorset with her husband and two children.
Author Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmyMillerBooks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmyBratley1
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