Hello Friends :)
I pray today finds you all doing well, and I want to thank you all for joining for another book review here on The Preppy Book Princess.
If you've been reading my blog for awhile, then you're already probably quite aware that 2022 was basically the year that I fell head over heads for Erynn Mangum's wonderful Christian contempories.
I devoured so many of them last year, and today I'm finally getting the chance to share my review of the final title in the Lauren Holbrook series.
If you'd like to check out my reviews of the previous titles in the series, you can do so using the links below:
Now I hope you'll all keep on reading below for my full review of the final title. Will it live up to all the expectations? Was it the perfect send off to the series?
Bake Me a Match by Erynn Mangum:
Source: Library
Publication Date: June 15th, 2015
Genre: Christian Fiction/Contemporary
Series: Lauren Holbrook
Synopsis:
Annie McKay is loving her new job at Merson's bakery and cafe, loving the church she's attending and loving the people who have adopted her into their circle of friends. Life seems to be going great - even with the 3:45am alarm clock every day. At least, it's going great until she accidentally creates the town's newest delectable obsession leaving her crazy busy at work, running into old coworkers and then there's Zach, the attractive music pastor at church, who is always asking her out. It could be love, but that would open up a huge box from Annie's past that is best left locked up tight in the attic of her heart...and surely God wouldn't want her to be opening it back up. Right? With the help of good friends like Laurie Holbrook, a few hundred cinnamon rolls and a lot of prayer, Annie is about to discover that life isn't always taking the easy, smooth highway but that the back roads, though bumpy and painful, can also be full of fun.
(synopsis from goodreads)
My Review:
Erynn Mangum is a wonderful storyteller, and she's become one of my all time favorites over the past year. I'd really enjoyed the way she wrapped up the original three books in the Lauren Holbrook series, and I was hopeful that I'd end up feeling the same about this one.
Annie actually ended up surprising me by becoming probably my favorite protagonist of all the books I've read by Erynn. She has such a wonderful heart for Jesus, and I loved how the reader gets to witness her journey from being a loner keeping everything to herself to learning how to let others in, and grow so much in the process.
This book was probably one of the best illustrations of the biblical fact that we are all new creations in Christ; despite what we may be boggled down with from our past. I felt like I was learning this right along with Annie, and it was a heartwarming plot point to watch her trying to come to terms with it.
Annie and Zach's romance was spot on, and is probably also my favorite romance from any of the books. It felt authentic and heartfelt, and definitely gave off all the swoony vibes.
It's no secret that I obviously loved the majority of this story, but two factors kept it from being the five star read I was hoping for.
First, I honestly wish this one had been better edited before it was published. So many discrepancies existed throughout the bulk of the story, and it did get a little irritating after awhile. There were also numerous grammatical and spelling mistakes that grated on my nerves, and it did hinder my enjoyment a bit.
However, that being said, those issues wouldn't have been enough to drop the rating down to four stars. My main issue with this entire story was a conversation that happens between Annie and Lauren's oldest sister Laney about Lauren's other sister Lexi. From the first book about Annie, the reader discovered that Lexi and her husband Nate were having fertility struggles. The way that particular issue was handled in this story didn't bother me, but this particular conversation did.
Without giving away spoilers, the conversation includes a lovely statement from Laney to Annie about how "Jesus saved Lexi from experiencing traditional parenting" for another opportunity, and wow did that rub me the wrong way. I'm pretty sure that no one who has ever actually experienced infertility would appreciate it being described that way, and it felt like the author was just glossing over all the hard bits that would go into all these decisions.
That being said, I did honestly still love this story, I just wish the author had tackled certain sensitive issues a bit better than she did.
Final Rating: 4/5.
Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)
This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photo does not belong to me, and all rights to the respective owners.
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