Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily and it reflects my personal opinion.
Billed as a Christmas romcom, Christmas runs throughout the book from the Christmas - themed cafe, the road with its Christmas tree and the main female character, Gretel, who refuses to acknowledge any change in the season or date. Gretel's obsession with living in the past has made her reclusive and I thought this characteristic was overdone to the point where I would suggest that if you've lost someone in your life recently (as I have) you'd be better avoiding this book with its continual reminders of death. Some of the writing style seemed odd, with some ignorance of grammar and made-up words such as 'womany' scattered throughout the text. I found some sections were repetitive when we're reminded of characters or events, even when they'd been introduced / happened within the last page. In all this book was not as good as I expected although I believe some readers will enjoy it so I've given it an average rating.

This is such a beautiful, cosy and heartwarming romance. I just couldn't put it down, Gretel and Lukas were such wonderful characters and such a lovely tale, full of festive spirit the author is brilliant in sharing the sight, sounds and even smells , that you fall into Christmas

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A brilliant read and one I really enjoyed. The characters are loveable and varied, the plot is one that is engaging and medium paced. I found myself completely drawn into the story and enjoyed the writing style.

I just couldn't warm to this story and I'm not really sure why!! Gretel and Lukas were both characters that I just couldn't quite relate to. I personally didn't find either of them very likeable and I thought the build up of the story was really slow so unfortunately I just could not finish it.

This was an absolutely gorgeous read and I would expect nothing else from the Queen that is Anita Faulkner!
I loved the idea of having to save the 'Gingerbread Cafe' and the circumstances in which Gretel and Lukas are thrown together. There is depth to the characters, but overall this is a lighthearted and uplifting story perfect for any cold winter day (pre or post Christmas!) I doubt you'll be able to put this one down once you've picked it up!

This is a good book. I enjoyed the flow of the story, it had well rounded robust characters, a good dose of fun and romance and is a all round general good read.

This was such a cute festive read with loveable characters and a great sense of community, a heartwarming story.

This was a brilliant cosy Christmas read. The setting of the quaint Cotswold village was perfect and the descriptions helped picture Green Tree Lane perfectly. The characters were likable and very varied. There was LGBTQ+ representation and it was so subtly done, it felt like reading about a community of crafters (which is definitely my thing).

The only thing stopping this fluffy romance from being 5* was that the romance aspect for me was too fast paced compared to the rest of the book. The two main characters go from strangers "who is this L Knight anyway" to love interests in a matter of days and it seemed a little unrealistic. In addition, the ferret had a bit too much page time compared to other aspects of the story but alas, I loved this and will be picking up more from Anita Faulkner again in the future!

I adored the characters and how they all came together to help and look out for each other. It made me laugh and cry at times and loved the humour interspersed with the darker parts and how inspirational the words on the page were and felt they spoke from the page while reading. This was such a lovely heartwarming and uplifting read with a sprinkling of magic or should I say gingerbread dust. This book will warm your heart on a winters evening and wrap you in a warm hug. It will definitely stay with me for a long time. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Well it’s getting really close to Christmas now and I suppose before now might have been the better time to start introducing you to some of my favourite Christmas reads this year but here we are!

Anyhoo. This is the story of Gretel. Gretel has lost someone who has always been there for her, Nell, a warm character who ran a cafe where it was eternally Christmas. If there was ever a premise to grab me straight away it was this! Add to this a relative of Nell’s who was the absolute anti Christmas character- a grinch if you will, but also not bad looking, and I was hooked! This book had it all, not least because Greta was attempting to run said cafe with my kind of baking skills;)

Great characters, a brilliant setting, some serious fireworks for me in terms of chemistry- this was totally one of my fave reads this year- talk about feel good loveliness-as lovely as Ms Faulkner herself, who is something of a queen in bookland (check out A Colourful Country Escape for a stunner of a book set in a stately manor home)! Thanks so much to Netgalley for this gem in return for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5

What a lovely, warm and uplifting story it was! Yes, there were moments that I thought I will never finish it, it was rather on the long side and sometimes it dragged a bit, but altogether I completely enjoyed it. The characters were brilliant, so real and realistic, full of flaws, problems, secrets and you couldn`t not like them and the sense of community was overwhelmingly positive. I've cheered them on their journey to achieve the happiness, I laughed with them and kept everything crossed for them, and that's a sign of characters truly well written, when you live almost vicariously through them.

The sense of place is great and I've never wondered why the characters love their little street so much, the author captured the atmosphere so well.

The author has managed to deal with so many important issues here, like grief, forgiveness, friendship, community, moving onward, sparkling a great dose of humour over them and writing about them with gentleness and understanding. This is my first Anita Faulkner book and it won't be be my last, that'S for sure. This novel is so warming and cosy, full of joy and happiness and Christmas. What's not to love.

A truly lovely story full of personal growth, moving onward with life, a great sense of community, new friendships and above all gingerbread.

Well and Christmas which is a big theme throughout and by the end you are left with a sense of the true meaning of the Christmas spirit.

I enjoyed trying to work out the truth about Amber, seeing how Gretel grew in confidence as the story progressed, and all of the other fabulous shop owners in the small town.

It's heartwarming and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this story. This may be the first book I've read by this author but if she writes more with sense of place, and more delicious sounding sweet treats then count me in for more.

Thank you to Sphere and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

This one of the warmest, coziest and most delicious Christmas books I've ever read. Relatable characters that you really care about, both weird and wonderful. It doesn't hurt that it's filled with loads of Christmas treats like gingerbread, hot chocolate and warm soups, you will be starving by the end of it! Definitely a great one for getting you into the Christmas spirit.

This story is mainly about Gretel and the Gingerbread Café. At the start of the story Gretel has never baked before and is stuck in Christmas every day of the year, refusing to let go for fear of losing memories along with all the Christmas stuff. I love Christmas, probably more than the average person, but I can see how Christmas every day might stop some one from living a full life in other ways. I loved seeing how Gretel grew as she stepped out of her comfort zone and the comfort, joy, giggles and love her new friends brought her and how her relationship with Lukas changed her. I feel like I know all of them and could very happily live there in the street with them.

I loved that this story focused a lot on friendship, the community coming together and then also had romance and some mystery (Amber) and some excitement, will Gretel be able to keep the Café? Basically this book had a bit of everything, it warmed me, made me smile and made me giggle and it was full of Christmas and baking,

I was blown away by Anita’s debut novel which I loved every second of, so I had never expected that this second book would top that, but it did! If you love Christmas or just lost this genre of books, you will be sure to love this story!

A lovely cosy read for this time of year. A cast of mostly likeable characters and a real sense of community. This story also covers more difficult subjects of grief, self doubt and dealing with past problems and the recovery. I found the book a little slow in the middle section but plodded on and happily it had a satisfying ending.

Gretel and Lukas are jointly left the Gingerbread Cafe, which is a year long festive cafe. The characters are lovely to get to know. It's a book that deals with grief, personal growth and follows the Gingerbread Cafes struggle to carry on! A wonderful setting with a real sense of community

A cosy and heartwarming read with a fantastic ferret who almost steals the show! A festive read that has community at its heart, it makes you want to curl up into a chair and sip on hot chocolate.

I couldn't give the book 5 stars however for the one line mention of chef Lukas' 'borderline' OCD need for order.

As someone whose son has OCD and knowing many sufferers of this debilitating condition, there is no such thing as borderline OCD. OCD is a pervasive, debilitating mental illness that can be very distressing for those that have it. It's never fun, quirky or a personality trait.

Where as once we may have found it okay to refer to someone as being a bit OCD if they liked things nice and tidy today it is deemed an offensive and lazy description for someone who likes order in their life. I would implore the publishers to amend the following line.

'His borderline OCD need for order' - change to his need for order. OCD is not appropriate in this text. Especially as it's never again mentioned in the book and once things are quickly ordered Lukas gets on with his day.

A cosy Christmas read full of cinnamon, hot chocolate and warmth. If you’re a fan of Christmas romances with heart then this is the perfect read.

A cosy Christmas read that left me wanting all things gingerbread. An interesting mix of characters, I would have liked to have explored Gretel more - the narrative of her being a recluse failed at points. But to do so would have changed the balance of the book. A very enjoyable Christmas read. Thank you.

This was a wonderful Christmas story that was so close to getting fullmarks . It had a wonderful Christmas theme running through it. I especially loved the story line about how difficult it is to run a Christmas cafe . Especially if your not comfortable being around people. It was brilliant how the story Brought out and built great friendships and relationships. I loved how the characters were relatable and realistic. I really warmed to the characters and found myself being emotionally invested in their progress. I loved the sense of community and all thr friendships that developed in this book. Also that the author created a character that you love to hate. It is definitely a brilliant book to read on the run up to Christmas to get you in the mood. It's really heartwarming, cosy and full of wonderful drama. I was easily drawn into this story and it really made me smile. I definitely recommend reading this book if you love Christmas novels. 

So much praise goes out to the author and publishers for creating such a wonderful story that definitely out me in the mood for Christmas. I will definitely be looking out for more books by this amazing author. 

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog today https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/the-gingerbread-cafe-by-anita-faulkner-little-brown-books-4-stars either under my name or ladyreading365