Sweet Occasions by Linn B Halton - A review!

When an opportunity comes along to read a book by Linn B Halton I practically bite her hand off! As per usual this book did not disappoint!

Book Blurb

Shortlisted in the UK's Festival of Romantic Fiction reader's award 'Best Author Published' category

Katie's relationship has had more than its fair share of problems. After a difficult few years things begin to pick up and Katie finally realises her dream of opening up a bakery. Sweet Occasions specialises in novelty and celebration cakes, plus the most inspiring range of cupcakes anyone could possibly ask for!

Utilising her passion and skill helps to inject happiness back into her life, but it's short-lived as things begin to fall apart. The reality is that you need to run a business with your heart AND your head. Help is at hand in the shape of her partner, Steve. He has the necessary experience, but does Katie want to tie herself to him financially, as well as personally?

Then one rainy, wintry day a bedraggled customer steps inside the door to order a cake ...

Sometimes a turning point centres around one single moment in time: sometimes it takes two Christmases and three birthdays ...

A heart-warming story that deals with many of life's most difficult issues: being a single dad when a relationship falls apart, the impact of life-changing illness, dealing with the loss of a loved one ... and the search for a soul mate. 

My Review

 

Sweet Ocassions is a beautiful book. Katie is a lovely young woman who is struggling to make her bakery business a success. However, in the background is her pushy businessman boyfriend who wants Katie to take the business in a whole new direction. Then, one Christmas a soaked and frozen Adam comes into the bakery to buy something nice for his grandmother. Katie takes pity on him when she sees he is nearing a state of hypothermia! A strange sort of friendship begins. A friendship that only sees the pair meet up a couple of times a year when Adam visits his grandmother.

Both Katie and Adam have one thing in common. Both are desperately unhappy. Katie is caught in a relationship that has kept her there through a sense of duty and Adam is a lonely single father who is struggling to juggle what he wants out of life with the needs of his daughter. The only real family he has apart from his daughter is his frail grandmother and she is the bond that ties him to Katie. She adores the cakes that Katie bakes and soon something as simple as a cupcake is the link that Katie and Adam have to one another.

This book explores differing forms of relationships and the ties that bind. Duty and guilt are mistaken for love and two people with a clear attraction to one another are drawn together by their mutual desire to escape what life has become. Both want and need each other but just don't know it. The book is set over a couple of years and I loved how the characters were allowed to grow and develop. Adam's grandmother is a wonderfully spiritual woman who always has words of wisdom for Adam. Linn B Halton has nurtured them all and loved them and turned them into wonderful individuals with the worries and fears of real life! And like real life, love doesn't always bloom instantly. Sometimes real life gets in the way! Sometimes the timing isn't right. Love, fear, death, grief and the fragility of relationships are explored in this wonderful book.

Told from the different perspectives of each of the central characters I loved how the story was told and  how it developed. It flows at a natural pace, much like Adam and Katie's friendship. This book will  leave a lasting impression on your heart. A lovely book that was hard to put down and equally hard to let go once the final page was turned.

BUY