Cake (Cake #1)

When I first saw the blurb of this book in Amazon it seemed to me very attractive, and I had a feeling that I would love it. So, now, I’m in the pleasant position to state that I didn’t do wrong and I’m ready to read more by this new author in the future. She did a great first job.
The story begins at a rehearsal dinner, when two total strangers have to be paired up for their nearest’s upcoming wedding ceremony. They meet, they have an awkward fisrt conversation and despite her pranking him, they hit it off and finally have a great time at the wedding day. He leaves, she stays behind, although, they keep in touch and just like that, they start a beautiful relationship through the telephone. A connection seemed to be found between them and after a while Jake -who is a famous singer on tour across the Europe- asks from Casey to visit him in Europe for a weekend. The weekend becomes a summer and a love story takes shape smoothly and beautifully.
Well, is that enough when one of them has a hurtful past and many internal fights?
This is a journey with great dialogues, witty banters, internal back and forths, and main characters who are adorable and compelling.
Many emotions came along with the development of the book. I laughed, felt angry and stressed but by the time I finished the book I was happy and satisfied.
What else can I say? I loved it…
P.S. When I purchase the book I was wondering about the meaning of the title, now I know that it is brilliant…

Usually, I pick up books which are recommended by friends, but Cake was one I picked up on a whim simply because I wanted to listen to the audiobook narrators, Joe Arden and Andi Arndt, who are very talented together. This book surprised me in many ways. It’s not a typical rock star romance nor is it a typical new adult romance. This book has a young adult feel in a new adult romance world. There is excellent dialogue, an intriguing dual POV, a slow burn romance and one terrifying elephant in the room which I knew was going to be acknowledged by the end of the book. This book grabbed me from start to finish.

Jake is a talented rock star who meets Casey unexpectedly at his brother’s wedding. They are polar opposites of each other but discover an intense connection. Casey is attracted to Jake’s down-to-earth personality and loner status and Jake is attracted to Casey’s sense of humor. The two embark on a long distance romance in which their world’s collide, but Jake has a past in which he survived a horrific crime which could tear him and Casey apart.

I have to say the biggest draw in this book was the dialogue as I witnessed the development of Jake and Casey’s relationship. The intense discussions and the way they shared their pasts gave the book a young adult feel, but the couple are adults and embark on a new relationship at a time where change is prevalent in their lives. It makes for a good combination. The angst isn’t due to the couple themselves but by their circumstances. There isn’t a cheating, drug addicted rock star story here. These are two grounded people experiencing their first adult love.

I like how the author built up the slow burn of Jake and Casey’s relationship and the slow reveal of Jake’s kidnapping. It felt like that would be how someone’s horrific past experience would creep up on them in a relationship when they got close to someone.

I highly recommend both the book and audiobook of Cake. The epilogue is one you don’t want to miss and I loved the unique way the author tied in the title of the novel in the story. This is a good, solid new adult, contemporary romance without the contrived drama and silly head games typically found in this genre. It was refreshing!

This is the first novel in a series and a stand-alone. Its also the authors first book. I wasnt sure I liked the writing style at first because in the beginning, it was a mixture of show dont tell AND a lot of tell. Im not the biggest fan of the “tell.” However, I was won over as the story progressed. I loved the growing romance, the build-up to love, the humour (loads of humour!) and rapport between the hero Jake and the heroine Casey. Jake is now a successful musician, but also the victim of an unspeakable crime that happened in his youth. This book probably has one of the most realistic reflections on the effects of that crime, and a realistic portrayal of Jake who lives and fights the trauma of the crime. It is, however, mainly a love story and I enjoyed riding the wave of romance to love. I found the novel touching, warming and gripping. I loved it and recommend it.

Clever title!

I read this on Kindle and listened to it on Audible through the Whispersync option from Amazon. The narrators, Joe Arden and Andi Arndt did a great job voicing Jake and Casey. Jake had some intense moments and Im glad I listened to those as the narrators did superb voice acting giving the scenes more impact than I would have done reading them in my head. Wow.

This book had it’s unusual and interesting twists with the male MC that made it worth the read. Male MC was a rock star with a past that was different than any I’ve read which made me all the more interested in what happened. He wasn’t a drunk or drug addict looking for his next hook up. I liked both MC’s, but I what I didn’t like was there seemed to be a lot of unnecessary content about every day mundane talk that seemed to drag the book out. I really started feeling that about 50% in and started skipping paragraphs or pages so I could get to the good parts of the story that I wanted to read about. I also couldn’t feel the connection between the MC’s as much as I wanted to possibly because of all of the every day mundane happenings that took away from the love story the characters were supposed to have. Overall, decent read. I wouldn’t say 5 star worthy, but many others think so therefore it might be worth your time.

I read a lot. I listen to audio books even more. Most are enjoyable but forgettable. Great at the time but a week later, you struggle to remember the plot. This was a real rollercoaster of a book. The story is well thought out with a gentleness that flows throughout . Jakes’ story under pins the book and is truly horrific but it is told with a detachment that makes it bearable. It is savage but handled with compassion. I don’t think it was written to shock the reader ,more over to emotionally involve the reader. The end chapters made me cry. You end up thinking ‘when is Jake ever going to get a break’. However, it is true to life. As Jack Regan from the Sweeney said ‘Life is hard but nobody wants to know it’. Life is hard and it is harder for some than others. A beautiful book that is well wriiten.

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