Review: Courtship of the Cake by Jessica Topper

Title: Courtship of the Cake (Much "I Do" About Nothing #2)
Author: Jessica Topper
Date of publication: 2 June 2015
Genre/themes: Contemporary Romance

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My rating: 3.5 stars

Synopsis

“Always a bridesmaid, never a bride” has suited Danica James just fine…until the mysterious man who crashed her sister’s wedding steals her heart, leaves a slice of groom’s cake under her pillow, and then disappears.

Hoping to forget her unforgettable fling, Dani takes a job as a backstage masseuse for a rock music festival, not expecting the tour’s headlining bad boy to make an offer she can’t refuse. Nash Drama needs a fiancée—and fast…

Mick Spencer is the best wedding cake designer in New Hope and the town’s most eligible bachelor. But despite the bevy of bridesmaids he’s sampled, Mick can’t get the evening he spent with Dani out of his mind.

So when she shows up for a cake tasting at the Night Kitchen—with his former best friend’s ring on her finger—Mick vows to charm the woman of his dreams into choosing a sweet and sinful ever after, with him.

Review

This is the second book in the I DO series and I can say these stories shape out more like women's fiction, family sagas, than romance.

It's Danny's story whom we met briefly in the previous book. We see that she is not the confident, clear-headed Dany from What Would Dany Do that Laney thought of her. She is a normal person with strengths and weaknesses, she is a little lost and confused, a lot of caring and full of love.

This is a compelx story, overwhelming at times with its diversity of characters and intricate relationships between them. Yet, it was engaging. I cared about Dany, and Mick, and Nash, and everybody in New Hope. I felt the complexity of the story reflected real life, it's messy, people make mistackes and hurt each other, but there is also forgiveness, acceptance, love, hope. 

Despite having two guys as lead characters in teh story, it's not a love triangle, there is no real competition, they are both involved in Dany's life in an important ways. I wanted more of the romance, wanted Mick and Dany to spend more time together. It seemed the author tried to cover too many issues in the story and the love/romance got lost inbetween them. I feel some of the events/characters could have been skipped, there was some jumping from character to character which was rather distracting.

All characters, Dany, Mick and Nash had one too many issues stemming from their past. They all needed to deal with them in order to move on with their lives but I felt some of the problems were superficially treated and far too easily and conveniently resolved. The whole subplot with Dany and Jax didn't fit the story and the dramatic twist towards the end was uncalled for. 

Overall it is a well wrtitten romantic story of one woman's journey to herself and to love, it's smart and full of tender emotion. Fans of the author will enjoy this installment in the series and I'd recommend it while keeping in mind that the romance is not the main focus of the story, it's rather women's fiction with romantic elements.

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