The Christmas Bake Off – Abby Clements

Format: E-book (Kindle)
Published: November 20th 2012
Publisher: Quercus Books
Pages: 25 Pages

The Blurb
With Christmas just around the corner, the residents of Skipley village are gearing up for the annual bake off, and tensions are high.

Winning means a lot to everyone involved – talented cake-shop owner Katie dreams of baking stardom, Rachel wants to prove she’s more than a stay-at-home mum, and John hopes his culinary skills will impress the woman he loves.

But when the judges discover that some cakes have been tampered with, the villagers’ loyalties are called into question – whose ambition would stretch to sabotage, and why?

The Christmas Bake-Off is an exclusive short story from Abby Clements, author of Meet Me Under the Mistletoe. This ebook edition also includes bonus recipes for cinnamon cookies and vanilla and almond biscuits.

Rating: 4/5

The Review
There were two things that drew me to this novel and they were Christmas and cake; I mean what more could you ask for? Nothing, that’s what.

Think all things ‘The Great British Bake Off’ and you’ll be on the right track. There’s two judges named Joe and Diana and they’re judging the village baking competition. During the event someone sabotages two of the entries and the competition is suspended – there is a ‘howdunit’ kinda of element to the story from here. You did want to find out who destroyed some of the cakes, but if the story was any longer I think you’d probably get a little bored.

This will be the second novel I’ve read of Abby’s and although it was a short story, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sometimes you just need something short and sweet and The Christmas Bake Off was certainly that, sweet. Not only did you get a story full of Christmas treats, you also got a selection of Christmas recipes to try yourself, too. I tried a few of the recipes but because I’ve eaten them all and selfishly not shared them with anyone – there’s no evidence left.

You can download The Christmas Bake Off from Amazon UK and Amazon US. (It’s currently FREE!)

Find out more about Abby at her website at www.abbyclements.co.uk and on Twitter @AbbyCBooks.