Saturday 11 April 2015

The Gingerbread Cafe Trilogy by Rebecca Raisin




Don’t miss the exciting new collection

The Gingerbread Café Trilogy 
by Rebecca Raisin

Enjoy the warmth, cupcakes and hot chocolate of The Gingerbread Café series, and follow Lil’s journey to happily ever after…

Lil has every recipe down, from gingerbread men to cinnamon muffins. So when gorgeous outsider Damon opens a shop opposite The Gingerbread Café, Lil refuses to let him steal her customers without a fight – no matter how much he makes her heart flutter.

When it comes to love, Lil’s never quite got the method right! But it looks like this time, deviating from the recipe might just lead Lil to the magic ingredient she’s been missing all along…

Don’t miss this delicious series from best-selling author Rebecca Raisin – the ultimate romantic indulgence.




Book One - Christmas At The Gingerbread Cafe


What They Say:


The icing on her Christmas cake! 

Christmas is the season the Gingerbread Café in Ashford, Connecticut was made for…but owner Lily couldn’t be feeling less merry if she tried. She’s spent another year dreaming of being whisked away on a sleigh-ride for two, but she’s facing festive season alone – again. And, just to give her another reason to feel anything other than candy-cane perky, a new shop across the road has opened… Not only is it selling baked goods, but the owner, with his seriously charming smile, has every girl in town swooning.

But Lily isn’t about to let her business crumble — the Gingerbread Café is the heart of the community, and she’s going to fight for it! This could be the Christmas that maybe, just maybe, all her dreams – even the someone-to-decorate-the-Christmas-tree-with ones – really do come true!


What I Say:

When I originally wrote my review below I had only been blogging for a couple of months and there is so much more to be said about this wonderful beginning to Lily and Damons story.


This is set in a small town in America, where Lily runs a small town cafe that also sells homemade goods, she is preparing for her busiest time of year while nursing a broken heart.  I instantly like Lily she is hard working and sassy.  She is determined to stand up for herself.
Damon opens a shop across the road from Lily and instantly infuriates her by selling the same products she does. To be honest, I would be really annoyed as well.  This kicks off a mini-war between the two, while the sparks begin to fly as their attraction takes over, neither of them seem willing to give in until Cee-Cee suggests they work together, this is where the book gets really interesting. 
This is a lovely feel good Christmas  about overcoming your past and moving on with your life and looking to the future.   I liked the fact they both had a past to deal with, even if their history is  slightly different.  I really did fall in love with Lily and Damon through this book and couldn't wait to read more.


Book Two - Chocolate Dreams At The Gingerbread Cafe

What They Say:

Chocolate…the most irresistible temptation?


The Gingerbread Café is all a buzz! This Easter, Lily and the rest of the town of Ashford, Connecticut are planning a truly decadent Chocolate Festival. Cooking up a storm, CeeCee and Lily are not just baking a batch of their sinfully delicious chocolate-dipped gingerbread men, but an excess of chocolate truffles, squidgy, cinnamony hot cross buns and melt in your mouth chocolate eggs. The Gingerbread Café staff have definitely enjoyed the tasting process!

Add in Damon’s cute-as-a-button seven year old daughter, Charlie, up for a visit and Lily’s perfect Easter may just be around the corner. Until her ex-husband Joel turns up demanding twenty thousand dollars… Suddenly the future of the Gingerbread Café is not so clear…and Lily finds herself eating far more of The Gingerbread Café’s treats than her skinny jeans allow…

Can Lily concoct a brilliant plan to save her beloved café, convince Damon she has no feelings for Joel and still throw a Chocolate Festival the town will be talking about for years? There’s only one way to find out...

Welcome back to the warmth, cupcakes and hot chocolate of The Gingerbread Café – your home away from home.

What I Say:



I first met Lil, Damon and CeeCee at Christmas when I read Christmas at the Gingerbread Café, I loved that so when I was sent this copy I couldn’t wait to get started.

It is now the week before Easter, Lil and CeeCee are busily preparing the café for an Easter festival they have decided to hold to boost the Town’s visitors.  As soon as started reading about the Gingerbread Café, I could picture how it looks and the smells from all the wonderful cooking they were doing.


Lil and Damon are now living together; they are more in loved than ever.  Everything seems to be going so well, until Lil’s ex husband Joel turns up, demanding money from Lil.  Lil is distraught and doesn’t know what to do, not wanting to involve her friends she tries find a way to pay off Joel.


I love the relationship between Lil and CeeCee, it shows that in times of trouble you can turn to your friends.  I wont go too much into the story as it would give it away.


I loved the way they were making loads of things for the Chocolate Festival, I've become addicted to chocolate since reading this, you could tell Rebecca had done her research around making items with chocolate.


I also liked how new characters were brought into the story Sarah from the bookshop, how nice would it be to live in a town with a lovely Café like the Gingerbread Café and a bookshop almost next door.


In this we are also introduced to Damon’s daughter Charlie, she is a lovely little character, I also like the way that Rebecca portrayed the family to show that not all breakups are acrimonious.


Rebecca left us all guessing and hoping that Lil would be able to keep the cafe.

I loved the ending and hope there will be a follow up book then we can all see what happens.



Book Three - Christmas Wedding At The Gingerbread Cafe

What They Say:

You are invited to the wedding of the year!

Snow is falling thick and fast outside the Gingerbread Café and inside, its owner Lily is planning the wedding of the year. Her wedding! She never dreamt it would happen, but this Christmas, she’ll be marrying the man of her dreams - in a Christmas-card-perfect ceremony!

The gingerbread is baking, the dress is fitted and the mistletoe’s in place – for once, everything’s going to plan. That is until her mother-in-law arrives... Suddenly, Lily’s famous cool is being tested like never before and her dream wedding is crumbling before her eyes.

In the blink of a fairylight, the Gingerbread Café has been thrown into chaos! Lily thought she had this wedding wrapped up, but with so much to do before she says ‘I do’, can Lily get to the church on time – and make this Christmas sparkle after all?

What I say:


We are back in the sleepy town of Ashford just in time for Lily and Damons wedding but as you can see things the best laid plans do always work that way.

I've struggled for weeks about what to write in my review because I really don't want to give too much away, so let me just say there are tears of happiness, tears of sadness, accidents and misunderstandings but all this wouldn't do this really wonderful sweet book justice.

As in previous reviews, I love Lily and Damon but the stand out character for me is always CeeCee.  We get to meet some new characters, both Lily and Damons parents.  Becca who is going to be working in Missy's salon, and the hot and broody Clay from Bec's next book, even a Jo gets a mention, excited to say the least is an understatement.  This book has everything you could want from a Christmas read, I cried (Christina Perry's Thousand Years), I laughed at certain parts or the story with CeeCee and then we have a lovely wedding.

I've become quite good friends with Bec over the space of the last Twelve months and I am sorry this is the last of Lily and Damons story (I keep nagging her to write more), what I would say to anyone is read this series of books you won't be disappointed. 

The other thing I have seen is other bloggers have commented that the blurb gives away too much and have taken away stars for this, it's abit harsh as Bec didn't write the blurb and I don't think it does giveaway too much Ashford rocks!

5 out of 5 stars



About The Author






Rebecca Raisin is a true bibliophile. This love of books morphed into the desire to write them. She's been widely published in short story anthologies, and in fiction magazines. And now she is focusing on writing romance.

Rebecca aims to write characters you can see yourself being friends with. People with big hearts who care about relationships and believe in true love.

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