Review: 3.5 Stars for The Marquess of Cake
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 14, 2013
I wanted to read this the moment I saw it. I have a huge sweet tooth, and I thought the premise of this one sounded adorable. And it was. Pastries and romance and a dashing marquess -- could there be a sweeter combination?Alys Redcake is perfectly happy with her life. She's quite happy to be past marriageable age and able to focus on her passion: her father's growing bakery business. As the chief decorator and maker of special occasion cakes, Alys's services are in demand among the Ton. She's proud to be a working woman, whether or not it is deemed unfashionable, and proud to have a measure of independence and a sense of purpose. But all of that changes when Michael Shield, the Marquess of Hatbrook, falls in love with her Scotch trifle, and her father decrees it's time for Alys to marry and settle into family life. Suffocated by her parents, a war-wounded brother, two sisters -- one chronically ill and the other chronically husband hunting -- and faced with a future saddled to a man she doesn't love and banished from her beloved bakery, the charming and handsome marquess who can't get enough of her sweets and wants to sample her more personal delights is becoming more appealing by the day. Perhaps a partnership with Michael, illicit and inappropriate though it may be at first, could provide a pleasurable solution to her dilemma and allow her to have her cake and eat it too!I thought The Marquess of Cake was super cute in the beginning, and I loved the sexual tension and honest banter between Alys and Michael, but just at the point they really came together, the large cast of supporting characters and a couple of subplots rose up to detract from the development of Alys and Michael's relationship, which ended up centering more on Alys's efforts to make Michael cut back on sweets for his health and Michael's seemingly sudden desire to stifle the independence and intelligence that had drawn him to Alys in the first place. So while the book started off very strongly, I thought the plot and romance development fizzled out a bit and didn't live up to its full potential. But it was still an enjoyable read, something different, something sexy, and quite satisfying in the end.**Originally reviewed for the Romantic Historical Fiction Lovers blog**