haewilya's review
1.0
I would have put 2 stars since I like Alys and Michael. Sort of. But most of the book was just all over the place for me. Not the mention the lack of family feeling for a series centered on a family (and not a dysfunctional one at that). The last parts were a bit better. Slightly.
witandsin's review
3.0
3.5 stars - My review cross-posted from Wit and Sin: http://witandsin.blogspot.com/2013/06/review-marquess-of-cake-by-heather.html
Michael Shield, Marquess of Hatbrook, has a sweet tooth, which is why Redcake’s Tea Shop and Emporium is his favorite place in London. It doesn’t hurt that Michael’s also captivated by cakie Alys Redcake. Alys has no interest in anything other than decorating cakes and working at her family’s business, but that doesn’t stop Michael from pursuing her. The attraction is mutual and when Michael decides he needs to marry, he can’t picture anyone other than Alys as his bride. Can he convince her to be as passionate about a life with him as she is about the cakes she bakes?
Don’t start The Marquess of Cake when you’re hungry, or Alys’s creations will have you hunting for pastry in the middle of the night. Even if you don’t have a sweet tooth like Michael, The Marquess of Cake is still delicious thanks to Alys and Michael’s romance.
Alys is a woman who was raised to work hard and her family’s rising fortune has turned her world upside down. Alys is happy being a spinster and decorating cakes, but her father is determined she marry and there’s nothing she can do to change his mind. I appreciated Alys’s passion for her work and it saddened me a bit that conventions of the Victorian era dictated she had to give a lot of that up, even though Michael does come up with a compromise for her. The titular marquess is a handsome hero with a taste for Scotch trifle. What was most interesting about Michael (to me) was that Heather Hiestand made him hypoglycemic. The way Alys came to recognize his health problem (though obviously it was never named or formally diagnosed, given the time period) and how she and Michael ultimately addressed it made The Marquess of Cake unique, in my opinion.
Aside from the romance, The Marquess of Cake has family drama aplenty. I admit, I wasn’t very fond of Alys’s sisters, particularly toward the end of the book, and I really had to question Michael’s judgment given his choice of friends. I was, however, interested in Michael’s sister, Beth, Alys’s twin brother, Gawain, and her cousin, Lewis. All in all I found The Marquess of Cake to be a highly entertaining read and I’m looking forward to the next book in the Redcakes series.
Michael Shield, Marquess of Hatbrook, has a sweet tooth, which is why Redcake’s Tea Shop and Emporium is his favorite place in London. It doesn’t hurt that Michael’s also captivated by cakie Alys Redcake. Alys has no interest in anything other than decorating cakes and working at her family’s business, but that doesn’t stop Michael from pursuing her. The attraction is mutual and when Michael decides he needs to marry, he can’t picture anyone other than Alys as his bride. Can he convince her to be as passionate about a life with him as she is about the cakes she bakes?
Don’t start The Marquess of Cake when you’re hungry, or Alys’s creations will have you hunting for pastry in the middle of the night. Even if you don’t have a sweet tooth like Michael, The Marquess of Cake is still delicious thanks to Alys and Michael’s romance.
Alys is a woman who was raised to work hard and her family’s rising fortune has turned her world upside down. Alys is happy being a spinster and decorating cakes, but her father is determined she marry and there’s nothing she can do to change his mind. I appreciated Alys’s passion for her work and it saddened me a bit that conventions of the Victorian era dictated she had to give a lot of that up, even though Michael does come up with a compromise for her. The titular marquess is a handsome hero with a taste for Scotch trifle. What was most interesting about Michael (to me) was that Heather Hiestand made him hypoglycemic. The way Alys came to recognize his health problem (though obviously it was never named or formally diagnosed, given the time period) and how she and Michael ultimately addressed it made The Marquess of Cake unique, in my opinion.
Aside from the romance, The Marquess of Cake has family drama aplenty. I admit, I wasn’t very fond of Alys’s sisters, particularly toward the end of the book, and I really had to question Michael’s judgment given his choice of friends. I was, however, interested in Michael’s sister, Beth, Alys’s twin brother, Gawain, and her cousin, Lewis. All in all I found The Marquess of Cake to be a highly entertaining read and I’m looking forward to the next book in the Redcakes series.
anachronistique's review
DNF at about 14%. I can take less fat shaming language in a book literally about a bakery family.
island_reader's review
4.0
Cute story. I absolutely adored Michael and Alys together. It was a bit slow in the first half of the book, but I'm glad I stuck it out. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series about Michael's brother Judah.
turophile's review
3.0
I loved the frame of this book, but something about the construction just didn’t work for me. It’s set in the late Victorian era, as the English are beginning to see slight cracks in the lines between the Aristrocracy and everyone else, mainly because the aristrocracy is running out of money and needs to look for marriages outside the title class to sustain their estates and life styles.
Our heroine, Alys Redcake, is the red-headed eldest daughter of a Sir Bartlett who inhertited a run down mill, converted it into a mass production baking facility and opened his own highly successful tea-shop, bakery in London to complement his other businesses. He acquires that minor title in recognition of his success after pulling himself and family up out of poverty. And now that he’s a sir, he refuses to allow his daughter Alys to continue working as the chief pastry chef. He wants to marry her off so that he can find titled gentleman for her two younger daughters.
Our hero, Lord Michael, is a Marquess whose father and predecessors dragged the mainly into near financial ruin. Through his business acumen, he’s brought back the family name and fortune. He’s as handsome as they come and is addicted to sweets particularly those from the Redcake Bakery. Unfortunately, he suffers from what appears to be diabetes.
The set-up is there for an excellent story, and it certainly isn’t bad. I just wish there’d been more. I listened to a SBTB podcast with a successful author who spent years writing romances before she finally landed a contract. She started off writing historicals, but moved onto other genres because she just didn’t have the “voice” for the period tales. She also mentioned how she loved working with her editor who forced her to dig deeper into the characters.
I wish this author’s editor would have done the same in this book. Despite the historical trappings, I never felt like I was venturing back 100+ years because the voice seemed too modern. The conflict set-up was intriguing, but never fully developed.
I liked the book, but really wanted more. 2.75 / 5 on romance scale
island_reader's review against another edition
4.0
Cute story. I absolutely adored Michael and Alys together. It was a bit slow in the first half of the book, but I'm glad I stuck it out. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series about Michael's brother Judah.
jen286's review against another edition
4.0
The Marquess of Cakes was a fun read. It is set in the Victorian era, which I love, but the writing and story are more modern at the same time. You wouldn't pick up this book and think it was really written then, but it was fun to read. It has been updated a bit and is kind of ridiculous but I really enjoyed it.
Alys loves making cakes. She works at her father's tea shop and cannot imagine anything else. She is older for the time period and has no intention of marrying. She doesn't need or want a man in her life. She just wants her cakes.
Hatbrook has a weakness for sugar. He needs to eat something every hour or he gets shaky and ill tempered. Usually that something is a sweet of some sort. He really is a bit obsessed with sugary treats. He does not really have any interest in getting married and all that, he just wants to work and eat treats. When he first sees Alys he is intrigued. She smells like cake and entices him just with the way she is. They keep running into each other and they are both intrigued by the other.
Of course everything is not just sunshine and roses. Alys' father gets a bump up in society so things start to change, namely Alys can no longer work in the the tea shop and now her father wants to marry her off. Even though she is upset she knows that her working would hurt her sisters chances for a good marriage. She does try to help them out as much as she can all the while growing closer to Hatbrook. Their romance grows and there are some issues long the way, but you still get that sudden ending where everything is perfect and everyone in love that I love so much in older romances. All along the way you have the normal society things that would be in a book from this time, but they way they were written was a little lax. I loved it. Really a fun, kind of ridiculous, victorian read.
This review was originally posted to Jen in Bookland
Alys loves making cakes. She works at her father's tea shop and cannot imagine anything else. She is older for the time period and has no intention of marrying. She doesn't need or want a man in her life. She just wants her cakes.
Hatbrook has a weakness for sugar. He needs to eat something every hour or he gets shaky and ill tempered. Usually that something is a sweet of some sort. He really is a bit obsessed with sugary treats. He does not really have any interest in getting married and all that, he just wants to work and eat treats. When he first sees Alys he is intrigued. She smells like cake and entices him just with the way she is. They keep running into each other and they are both intrigued by the other.
Of course everything is not just sunshine and roses. Alys' father gets a bump up in society so things start to change, namely Alys can no longer work in the the tea shop and now her father wants to marry her off. Even though she is upset she knows that her working would hurt her sisters chances for a good marriage. She does try to help them out as much as she can all the while growing closer to Hatbrook. Their romance grows and there are some issues long the way, but you still get that sudden ending where everything is perfect and everyone in love that I love so much in older romances. All along the way you have the normal society things that would be in a book from this time, but they way they were written was a little lax. I loved it. Really a fun, kind of ridiculous, victorian read.
This review was originally posted to Jen in Bookland
balletbookworm's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting concept involving an aristocrat with hypoglycemia and a baker in Victorian London. The middle section of the novel - once Alys and Michael are out of London and in Sussex and relatively alone - is the best. The opening felt rough and a bit too modern, the resolution/reconciliation of Alys and Michael at the end of the book felt rushed. I would have liked an expanded look at how the class differences between the H/h were an obstacle or bonus. Cute though - and for those of us with a pastry/cake habit very bad for the waistline. :P
I'd like to see how the second book works in moving Michael's brother into the hero role.
I'd like to see how the second book works in moving Michael's brother into the hero role.
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