As owner of her beloved Gingerbread Bakery, Annie Andrews should have a love life to match her business; sugary and sweet. But instead, she’s locked in a game of words with the irritatingly upbeat bar owner down the street.
Mac Sullivan has everything he wants, except the girl he dreams of. It’s easier to argue with Annie than get her to talk to him but with Jeanie and Logan’s wedding coming up, they’re about to spend a lot more time together.
As the snowflakes fall and with romance in the air, will Annie see that the one she loves to hate might just be her perfect match after all?
The Gingerbread Bakery is a cozy romantic novel with an enemies to lovers dynamic, small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed!
My Review
Annie and Mac have a long history of love and hate, and both of them still live in the cozy small town of Dream Harbor. The story spends a lot of time jumping between their past and present, slowly revealing the full extent of what went wrong and what still lingers between them.
The backdrop for the book is Jeanie and Logan’s wedding from The Pumpkin Spice Cafe. There is so much prep leading up to the big event, and all that forced proximity keeps pushing Annie and Mac together. Their bickering is strong, their annoyance is obvious, but the memories and tension make it clear that there is something deeper underneath it all. The angst between them is so palpable every time they are near each other that it makes the whole story feel tight and emotional.
Both then and now, Annie and Mac are basically walking miscommunication tropes. They cannot seem to get on the same page no matter how hard they try. And yet, their chemistry is smoking hot every time they share a scene. Their past keeps haunting them, and those immature decisions they made years ago are still shaping their future. This book leans heavily into slow burn enemies to lovers with a strong mix of holiday vibes and a sweet second chance romance.
I kept wanting them to finally talk it out and figure things out. I knew it would not happen until the end, but the anticipation was strong. The story includes a lot of time jumps, and while the mischief in the present is funny, especially the kitten chaos and Logan’s grandmother, I sometimes wished we stayed in the now a little more.
I loved the second chance romance elements and the found family vibes. What threw me a bit was how disjointed the overlapping timelines felt. We did not need every conversation from the past written out in detail, and since most of the book focuses on jumping back and forth, we do not really spend much time with their jobs, their current routines, or the bakery. That felt odd to me and definitely lowered my rating. Slow start and strong finish is not always my favorite writing style.
I do love Laurie Gilmore books and I will absolutely continue picking up the next one the moment it releases. As for Mac and Annie, their story was cute but did not quite hit the mark for me. Their history felt dragged out and a bit overdone, especially since the enemies to lovers dynamic was clear by the first third of the book.
if you would like to read The Gingerbread Bakery by Laurie Gilmore you can find this book on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn on qualifying purchases,
If you like this book you may also enjoy books with these tags and categories: enemies to lovers, second chance romance, and Winter.
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