Hello Friends :) and Happy Thanksgiving To All My Fellow Canadians
Thanksgiving looked a little different this year. Obviously Covid 19 affected everyone's get togethers, and also for me recovering from surgery, it went a little differently than the norm.
However it was still so nice to get to visit with at least a small amount of my family, and I also had the chance to finish reading the book I'm going to talk about with you all today.
The Key to Love by Betsy St. Amant:
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Publisher: Revell
Publication Date: October 13th, 2020
Genre: Christian Fiction/Contemporary
Synopsis:
The only thing Bri Duval loves more than baking petit fours is romance. So much so, she's created her own version of the famous Parisian lovelock wall at her bakery in Story, Kansas. She never expects it to go viral--or for Trek Magazine to send travel writer Gerard Fortier to feature the bakery. He's definitely handsome, but Bri has been holding out for a love story like the one her parents had, and that certainly will not include the love-scorned-and-therefore-love-scorning Gerard.
Just when it seems Bri's bakery is poised for unprecedented success, a series of events threaten not just her business but the pedestal she's kept her parents on all these years. Maybe Gerard is right about romance. Or maybe Bri's recipe just needs to be tweaked.
Novelist Betsy St. Amant invites you to experience this sweet story of how love doesn't always look the way we expect--and maybe that's a good thing.
My Review:
The Key to Love is another recent read that I'm very conflicted about how I ended up feeling about it. On one hand, there were quite a few elements that I adored. I loved the small town bakery setting, and how the bakery was inspired by Paris and included its own Love Lock wall. I adored the two elderly sisters who ran the bakery, and how they become semi famous for their eccentric matchmaking attempts. They were as different as night and day, but I loved how their playful banter indicated just how strong of a sisterly relationship they truly shared. I found quite a few of the townspeople to be the perfect compliment to the story, and in particular I really enjoyed the town pastor and Mr. Mac. The characters and setting truly came together to give this story an almost idyllic small town cozy vibe and I loved that.
However, I never really did care for either Bri or Gerard as characters, and I found that they both had extremely worldly and materialistic world views, and I never really saw that change. I also didn't enjoy how their relationship goes from hating each other to being obsessed with each other in the blink of an eye, and it left the bad taste in my mouth that most of their relationship seemed to be built on physical attraction and not much else. Some of the scenes between the two of them were way steamier than I was expecting from a Christian fiction title, and I'm finding some of the edgier content being included in new Christian published titles to be extremely disheartening.
Since I wasn't a fan of the main characters or their romance, it's probably not surprising that I didn't end up loving this one. While there were some elements that made it an enjoyable read, it's not my favorite by this author and I don't see myself ever rereading this one.
Final Rating: 3/5.
Thanks so much to Revell for allowing me to read and review this!
I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Revell) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thanks for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)
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