A beautiful, cosy romance full of warmth. The lead character had been through a massive trauma in her life and struggled with daily life ever since. All she needed was love and friendship. Her journey to finding these things was heart wrenching and wonderful.
Another sparkly read from the pen of Anita Faulkner

As always another fabulous read from Anita, loved the storyline and the characters were great, loved how the gingerbread cafe brings together the whole community not just at Christmas but all through the year even through the struggles they all face, can the legacy of the cafe live on despite swingy Bob trying her best to claim it in order to get a cheap coffee chain brought in instead, this is where community comes together
Fab read and great characters and a brilliant storyline, highly recommend

What a gingerbread scented mug of hot chocolate. That was a lovely story, festive read and story of growth all wrapped up in a snowman mug. This was a lovely book, I loved the gentle strength of Gretal and although I could picture her as Miranda in my mind. She was funny, beautifully self depreciating and smart.
Lukas is deep, dark and brooding. He has charcoal hair and fiercely driven by his career.
On paper they are polar opposites. This book is warm, community driven and such a good read. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

An unputdownable read from the beginning to end.

A Christmas story about love, loss and finding friends within a community with people from different backgrounds.

I loved reading about the mouthwatering, delicious foods such as lebkuchen, cinnamon hot chocolate, gingerbread etc.

The story drew you in to the warmth the cafe had I loved reading how the characters made items with different coloured glass.

I recommend this book.

I absolutely adored this from start to finish, a really accomplished Christmas story about loss,love and finding community amongst the weird and wonderful! Lots of delicious treats such as lebkuchen, gingerbread, cinnamon hot chocolate, warming winter soups etc entice you in to the warm cosiness of the cafe and charms you in to believing in the character development.

I had an advanced reader copy courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher.

I have to admit, I wasn’t sure about this at first. The heroine was so weird that I found it difficult to engage with her but I persevered and I was so pleased that I did. This was a fabulous, heartwarming story and I loved it. Lucas and Gretel were just perfect and although there seemed to be rather too many other characters, the author did handle them very well. A fabulous read.

The Gingerbread Cafe by Anita Faulkner is everything that I could ask for in a Christmas novel! It is oozing with Christmas decorations, trees, and fabulous music, and I could smell the gingerbread and Christmas spices all around me as I visited the cafe! The cast of characters are so lovely, and the love stories and friendships are heart-warming. This book is so uplifting, full of new beginnings, Cotswold village life, Christmas and of course, love, and gave me all the warm glow that is Christmas. It’s beautifully written, and is an absolute joy to read.

A beautiful written Christmas story. I love greta and her different Christmas jumpers I feel like we would get on so well. I was on and off with Lukas all the way through until the end 4 stars

This is Anitas second book but I feel like I've been reading her books for years. Some of the characters feeling like friends, or at least people I'd like to be friends with.

Gretal is such a lovely character, she's shy and enjoys her job, but a lot changes and she doesn't know what to do.

This is such a cosey read, I have always wanted to try stained glass making and it's lovely to read about the craft club. I also love baking and this book doesn't disappoint on that point either.

After reading this authors debut book a colourful country escape I was honoured to be given the opportunity to read her next book. The gingerbread cafe is so much more than a Christmas book it is a beautiful written story of love and loss and off letting go and starting again and how anything is possible with a little help from a few good friends or in this case a village.

Loved all of 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 where 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.

What a wonderfully festive book this was. It was lovely to see Gretel become more confident and reach her true potential, making a new family of friends. A wonderfully villainous character thrown in there to keep things interesting, I couldn’t put this book down. Thank you netgalley.

If you’re starting to look for new books this festive season, you could look no further than Anita Faulkner’s latest offering.

It’s so warming and cosy and full of joy and love and happiness and, of course, Christmassyness. It just screams Christmas. Simply gorgeous.

The idea of running an all-year Christmas cafe sounds idyllic to me. For someone who loves Christmas and loves baking, it’s a winner. Granted, I can bake a darn sight better than Gretel and I especially love baking Christmas food, but I love Gretel’s enthusiasm and passion for getting it right. I disliked Lukas at first, he was really grating and instantly unlikeable (which I assume Anita was aiming for) but he quickly became a dream of a character.

I was a big fan of Angel Gabriel, Gretel’s pet ferret. I don’t know why, as his character didn’t contribute much to the story as such, but he sounded so cute and fluffy. I just wanted to be curled up, with a mug of spiced hot chocolate, a freshly baked gingerbread man and a cuddly ferret.

I loved the development of Gretel and Lukas’ relationship. In these type of happily-ever-after books (which are quickly becoming my favourite genre), you know everything will end up okay but you love to see the journey there, and their journey just felt really natural and hopeful.

It was a bit of a slow burner for me, with characters and plot points starting up, but once I had fallen in love with it, I fell hard.

I’ve never felt so warm when reading a book. The sounds and smells and tastes just evoke Christmas and love and friendship and family.

I adored Anita’s debut book, A Colourful Country Escape, and I can see her improving with each work and I can’t wait to follow her career.

I'm sorry but I just can't get into this book.

From the moment I saw the cover and the read the description, I was excited about reading this book but that's where it ends. The main character is really unlikable and just wants a pitty party. She has no common sense, manages to alienate everyone around her and is so argumenative. The book in this format is also really hard to read. I won't be posting a review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and The Little Brown Book Co UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Anita Faulkner is a relatively new author on the block, but, having already read her debut, A Colourful Country Escape, I was brimming with excitement to read her soon-to-be-released The Gingerbread Cafe, and I was not disappointed one bit!
Gretel is stuck in a time warp, replaying all that is Christmas in her life every day because it's the safest way. Memories she doesn't want to forget about people she has lost, all attached to the festive season.
And what better place to be able to relive them than in the village's all-year-round Christmas-themed coffee shop, The Gingerbread Cafe, run by Nell, a person who has been her surrogate mother for many years.
Then illness takes that one person who grounds her but leaves her with a gift she had never expected. the ownership of said cafe. Or rather, shared ownership with Nell's grumpy nephew, Lukas, an up-and-coming head chef with aspersions much higher than a lowly cafe, themed around the season he hates the most. And worst of all, the Will conditions state that they are stuck with each other and the cafe for a while before they can be rid of one another.
I loved the way this story developed and how each main character found themselves, more and more as the pages were turned,
Gretel needed to learn that she could live in the now and that not all memories had to be lived constantly, and Lukas had to find a way to fulfil his real dreams, not those he was expected to have,
No story is complete with a decent cast of characters, and the village of Mistleton was not lacking, I tell you! The other shop owners of the village, as we came to get to know them, each brought much colour and wisdom to the journey Gretel found herself on, as well as Amber, the mysterious, sort-of waitress, with her strange uniform, and straight-up wisdom, even though her mouth needs to be reined in sometimes.
And then, our villain of the piece, Francesca Wimple, or Swingy Bob, is determined to strip all the local villages of their individuality and character by turning everywhere into franchise-run high streets.
The review wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention Angel Gabriel, Gretel's pet ferret, who plays a starring role in the story with his little squeaks and quirks.
I feel all gooey inside after reading this. I finished it in a day, and now I really want to go to Mistleton, sample all the gingerbread goodies and hot chocolate in the cafe, and visit the other wonderful independent shops that line Green Tree Lane!
A wonderful second book by this author who is fast becoming an instant buy fave of mine!