Full confession, I am a sucker for cake and this cover was too good to pass up. I could almost smell the amazing-ness from the picture alone. I also love romantic books and right now I will take all the feel good comfort food—I mean books—that I can get!
I didn’t know that this book was part of a series, which of course I haven’t read the series, but it sounded like it would be a book I could read as a standalone with only a few characters from previous books making a few appearances. Which from what I gather from reading it, is entirely the case because I didn’t have any trouble jumping into this one.
Lately I have also really been digging the rom-coms and this book sounded like just the ticket to keep with my reading theme of late—so I baked a cake and sat down to enjoy this one.
Summary
From the USA TODAY bestselling author of the “heartwarming and refreshingly sweet” (Lauren Layne, New York Times bestselling author) On the Corner of Love and Hate comes a story about a baker who takes her chances on a new town…and an old love.
After selling her famous bakery back in New York, Parker Adams visits Hope Lake, Pennsylvania, to figure out her next steps. And soon she’s wondering why she ever loved city life in the first place. Between the Golden Girls—the senior women who hold court—and Nick Arthur, her equally infuriating and charming former flame, Parker finds a community eager to help her get her mojo back.
But even though Hope Lake gives her the fresh start she’s been looking for, Parker discovers that it’s not so easy to start over again with Nick. Their chemistry is undeniable, but since Nick is a freshly taken man, Parker is determined to keep things platonic. With a recipe for disaster looming, Parker must cook up a new scheme, figuring out how to keep everything she’s come to love before she loses it all.
Perfect for fans of Amy E. Reichert and Jenny Colgan, The Ingredients of You and Me is a scrumptious romantic comedy that lets you have your cake and eat it too.
Review
While this book had some other elements such a ‘finding yourself’ and friendship, for me it read a lot more like a romance which was just fine with me. I love romances so that was completely welcome. But I think the fact that Parker sold her New York bakery to kind of rebuild in a small town, made it seem like this book was more about self discovery. It did have some of those elements but the romance dominated the story for me.
In this small town, Parker must either avoid or confront Nick who she was sort of seeing before but now he has ghosted her. Nick now has a new girlfriend and for a good chunk of the book I kind of wanted Parker to just move on already, but she doesn’t and I kind of liked watching how that relationship evolved because of it. I mean if it had been me, I would have cut ties when he ghosted me, but the thing I love about reading is we get to explore characters who are unlike ourselves and who have their own reasons for doing things. It helps people—or at least me—-grow as a reader and watching how Parker and Nick came together was fun to watch and held my attention throughout the book.
Having not read the other books in the series, I cannot speak to how this one compares to the others but from what I have been hearing, people are loving this book and praising it as the best in the series. I would like to go back and read some of the other characters in this series because I truly enjoyed getting to know the ‘Golden Girls’ and Parker’s other friends in this one.
This book is a quick read that you could easily get through in a couple of days. It comes with a happy ending and tons of baking….what could be better during this strange time? Nothing if you ask me!
The Lit Bitch 
I’ve been following this series from the start and I’ve decided they are my next purchase. Thank you for being on this tour! Sara @ TLC Book Tours