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Author: Jennifer Ross
Title: The Icing on the Cupcake
Release: April 6, 2010
Series: Novel
Reviewer: Chrissy
Source: Personal Library
Purchase: | Book Depository

In this delectable novel—complete with recipes—Jennifer Ross frosts a sweet story of a young woman fulfilling her dreams, one delicious cupcake at a time.

In Ansley Waller’s world of Southern belles and gentlemen, getting a diamond ring isn’t just important—it’s the ultimate goal. So when her fiancé, Parish, unceremoniously kicks her to the curb and cancels their upcoming wedding, Ansley is so ashamed that she decides to leave Dallas and make a fresh start. In a surprise move, she heads to New York City to live with her recently widowed grandmother, Vivian, whom she’s never met. In turn, Vivian gives Ansley a no-nonsense ultimatum: Rather than wallow in misery, either get a job or go home.

The Waller women have a tradition of baking their way out of sorrow. So Ansley mixes batch after batch of creative cupcakes—Black Bottom Heartache, Moving Blues Banana Caramel, Tres Leches Made Small. Before long, she’s opening up her own cupcake shop and even trying her hand at dating. But the ways of Manhattan’s eligible bachelors are altogether different from their Southern counterparts, and Ansley’s nearly fail-safe tactics fall flat. And worse, someone’s got a half-baked scheme to sabotage Ansley’s new life. It’ll take a cup of courage and a dash of Southern charm, plus a few secret ingredients, if Ansley hopes to pull off her recipe for success.

Recipes Included!

I love reading books about food, particularly books about baked goods. And when a fictitious book about food also contains recipes I’m pleased as punch to add it to be to-be-read list.

The Icing on the Cupcake is a tale of family, friends, heartache, mistakes, revenge, love, humor, and cupcakes. Each chapter ends with a different and intriguing cupcake recipe that really sends your appetite into overdrive.

With lovable and loathsome characters, vastly different settings, and recipe after recipe, Jennifer Ross not only paints a candid picture of the New York lifestyle but the Texas lifestyle as well.

Ansley is beside herself with grief. The love of her life, Parish, broke off their engagement because he claimed that she was too mean to like. Her dreams of becoming a Texas housewife have been shattered and she is left confused and in search for a new path to take in life. Her grandmother abandoned her mother and grandfather decades ago to move to New York, leaving Ansley’s mother broken and fragile. But Ansley decides to give her grandmother and New York a chance, hoping to discover a new way of life for herself and ultimately happiness.

Ansley befriends a southern belle named Dot and decides to use her life savings to open a cupcake bakery. Meanwhile, after the death of her husband, Ansley’s grandmother, Vivian, is in the middle of an IRS audit that not only reveals a sinister revenge plot against her but also the feelings that she is developing for Agent #1432 in the process. Can Ansley get her business up and running, save her grandmother from tax evasion charges, forget about Parish, and bring her mother and grandmother back together?

The Icing on the Cupcake is a cute read. Many of the characters are likable and the villains are loathsome. Jennifer Ross paints a quaint picture of Texas and a glitzy picture of New York through her writing. Each of the two settings brought something different and endearing to the novel.

With several recipes included and numerous mentions of food, The Icing on the Cupcake is sure to strike up an appetite for readers. Throughout the novel, the reader witnesses a change for the better in each of the main characters, bringing overall satisfaction to the reader by the end of the book. The plot was typical of its genre, but overall fun to read.

Chrissy fell in love with books at an early age. It all started with Judi Barrett’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. At the tender age of five she decided that she wanted to be a writer. Later, she graduated to books like A Wrinkle in Time, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and the Goosebumps series, participating avidly in her school’s Book It program. High school brought on new challenges and loves. She began writing for the school’s newspaper and literary magazine. The works of Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, and Shirley Jackson quickly overran her bookshelves. But when Chrissy was introduced to the world of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance, a grand love affair was set in motion. She is an avid reader of romance, urban fantasy, horror, erotica, and cozy mysteries. After working for the city library for six years and being surrounded by the works of greatly admired authors, she decided to devote her life to writing full time and hasn’t looked back since. When she is not devouring book after book, Chrissy loves to cook, bake, volunteer at the local animal shelter, and feed her addiction for horror movies. She lives in Maryland with her family and beloved pets.

Doll Chrissy

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