The Baker’s Man/ Jennifer Moorman

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Contemporary Fantasy/ Fantasy/ Chick-Lit

Approximate word count: 65- 70,000 words

Availability   

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO Paper: Yes

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Jennifer Moorman was born and raised in Tifton, Georgia and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. She majored in English/Creative writing at MTSU. I picked this up from her website. “My life is a writer’s journey through the ramblings in my cluttered mind, the stories demanding to be written, my travels along forest pathways, and my search for the ever-elusive unicorn and the end of the rainbow.”

The Baker’s Man is her debut novel.

For more, visit Moorman's website.

Description:

“Moorman weaves the tale of a young woman whose grandmother’s secret—and the ancestry of her grandfather—are about to change her life forever.”

Anna O’Brien has inherited more than her grandmother’s talent for baking and her bakery. When her boyfriend of two years accepts an architectural job with a firm in Napa Valley, with no plans to include her, she is forced to face an uncertain future. One late night in the bakery with her best friend, Lily, they have a little too much to drink and follow a mysterious recipe of her grandmothers with a secret ingredient. The next morning she wakes up to find Elijah, a handsome stranger, baking donuts in her kitchen and things rocket out of control.

Appraisal:

I found this book to be a magically enchanting tale that weaves in just enough reality to suspend my disbelief. Anna has always lived her life to please others, but when Baron decides to take a job across the country, she decides she needs to take charge of her own life and follow her heart. Anna has internal and external forces pulling her in different directions; she knows she wants to continue making pastries, but perhaps not in her hometown of Mystic Water. There is a perfect place by the sea and an offer has been made, but to move there will disappoint the hometown folks, her mother, and her friends. The relationship with Baron is also unsettled, they were both comfortable with each other and neither is ready to give it up, although they know it is over. Anna’s biggest problem is she is not ready to believe this mysterious force that draws her to Elisha is real, she doesn’t trust the magic. When her friend, Tessa, falls head over heels for Elisha, Anna tries to take a step back. This story explores friendship, forgiveness, and the possibilities of following your own heart. When Elisha, her dough-boy, starts growing into his own person things get very complicated and there are a couple of unexpected twists. The dialogue reads true and humor is expertly woven into this heartwarming journey.

I couldn’t help but love Jennifer Moorman’s prose, each of her characters and places had distinctive smells that Anna identified with them. Her mother smelled of ripe cherries or rotten cherries depending on her mood, her father like green pine or freshly cut grass. Elisha smelled of rosemary, cinnamon, spicy chocolate and melted sugar. How could you not love that?

This is one of those stories I had trouble assigning a genre to, so I went back to Donna Fasano’s guest post defining romance and chick-lit. I decided it was chick-lit with a strong romantic element, although I do not claim to be an expert on this subject. But I will tell you, if you like foodie fiction or chick-lit you will love this story.

Format/Typo Issues:

I found no significant errors or issues.

Rating: ***** Five stars