Cake by the Ocean: Love, Loss, and the Taste of Redemption

by Lorna Barrett

'Perfect for fans of Cathy Kelly and Sophie Kinsella' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Indulge in a heartwarming tale of love and cake in picturesque Ireland!

MAUD
Grieving, Maud leaves her home and everyone she loves in Boston for the isolation of a cottage on the edge of the wild Atlantic Ocean in West Cork, Ireland. What she doesn’t expect is that the village of Inchahowen will welcome her warmly into their community and that she will rekindle her passion for baking. Even more of a surprise is falling in love with Tom Kennedy, a London-based architect. Can she put her tragic past behind her?

KATE
Kate reluctantly leaves a lucrative job in a telecoms firm in Dublin to return home and care for her dying father. Then she realises where her true talent lies – not in working for a faceless corporation but rather in baking cakes. With Maud’s help, she sets about opening OTT, her very own cake shop. But running her own business is challenging and Kate wonders if she has bitten off more cake than she can chew. Maud and Kate think they know where life will take them but fate has its own ideas, as they strive to move towards their happy ever after.

All the ingredients for a tasty read – sink into the many layers of this delicious full-flavoured story!

272 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 21, 2024

Reviews

[Deacon Tom (Feeling Better) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming in so many ways. The characters carry the story throughout. My favorite was Maud and how she showed so much courage to make such drastic changes in her life. The ending for her made me smile.

The descriptions of the land and villages was like a trip to Ireland. They were so well crafted that it made think they were painted.

Overall, a great book.

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

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cake by the Ocean is a pure delight. The story focuses on two successful yet relatable women, Maud and Kate, and the friendship that forms between them. The plot has many twists and turns, and while there is plenty of romance, I loved that the story was mostly about the women and their separate but entwined journeys of redemption and self-discovery.

The story did take a while to find its footing as we went through Maud’s meandering backstory, but once she made it to Ireland, I could not put it down. The book is full of vibrant side characters, all contributing to creating a world in which I was fully immersed.

If you love classic Irish authors like Maeve Binchy and Marian Keyes, this book will not disappoint. I can’t wait to go back and read the author’s other works.

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

[Daniela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This new romance deals with two strong heroines and their search for finding their own personal purpose, a fulfilling life and last but not least love. Maud, American by birth, is the older one of those two and she has to overcome some heavy obstacles fate has thrown her way. Kate, the younger one, is also a strong woman and she decided not to follow her career path as a business employee at a big company any longer, when the opportunity arose. Maud and Kate have also in common, that they enjoy baking and decorating cakes.

Additional to both the female MCs, there are two men arriving in their respective lives. One of them turns also out to be a MC with his own story, who has a lot of drama and struggles in his professional and private life. The other one, starts as a casual acquaintance and is simply a nice character without much struggles on his own. Making him a more complicated person would have been to much drama for the novel, so Ms. Barrett was exactly right here, when letting him be the relaxed and supportive one.

This novel connects two (and at some point even three ) individual narratives, which easily could have stand on their own, because each one has enough drama, personal challenges and chances for development.

Doing it the way Ms. Barrett did, helps to make the whole story more complex and also deliver more suspense, when changing into the other main characters’ stories at a special point.

The plot here is mainly told out of the narrators (third person) perspective, never the main characters (first person) point of view. This way there is always a certain distance to overcome, and even if it is a „classical“ POV to tell a romance novel, I experienced that it was a bit difficult for me here to built strong connections to the MCs.

One of the author’s great strengths is, that she never looses a strand in the complex narrative, even in the smaller details. For example, after the death of Danny, the cow farmer, there are important things happening in the story, but at a later point we will get to know, that indeed someone took over the care for his live stock. That might be a small fact, but mentioning such kind of things gives a story more sense of reality and I subjectively was content with the conclusion. On the other side, bringing too many of those little logic questions to a real but sometimes complicated conclusion, might be seen as a bit overly constructed, but that’s also a matter of the respective reader’s individual preferences.

Among others, one of my favorite small scenes in the whole book is, where Maud is going to buy steaks for a very special meal she wants to cook and the butcher is showing her a photograph…

I enjoyed reading this complex romance novel and recommend it for all readers who like their romance novels with a sense of reality and without typical and/or sentimental clichés.

I received an Advanced Readers Copy for free and leave this review voluntary.

[Euge Fernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maud lived in Boston with her husband Ted, until her father came with the worst news: a plane crash killed Ted. Devastated, unable to sleep or eat, she moved in with her parents until one day she decided to visit her grandmother who lives in Paris.
While in Paris, food was the reason she cheered up, the perfumes from bakeries and restaurants attracted to her up to the point when her mother encourage her to apply to a culinary school, THE culinary school: Le Cordon Bleu.
After graduation she found several jobs. She needed a purpose to life.
So she decided to move to Inchahowen a small village in West Cork where his father’s family own a land from generations.
There, she became the town baker having the best coffee for miles around and the cakes and creations are just a big attraction. The shop is an eclectic mix of New York industrial and Parisian chic overlooking the ocean.
Together with her sidekick, Kate, they make the most beautiful cakes.
This book narrates the stories of two successful women, Maud became the mentor of Kate up to the point in which she succeeded in the own business, in Dublin.
My first time reading the author I really enjoyed the setting and the characters, who both manage to find love on the way to success.
Thank you Booksirens for the ARC copy.

[Katherine Hayward Pérez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cake by the Ocean sounded like it would be a great comfort book.

It is, but it’s also a very heartfelt book, given that it deals with gritty issues in the lives of both of the female MCs. I really liked Maud. She’s been through a lot, with losing her husband and then her brother. I thought her job on the boat in the Caribbean was eye opening and I liked the way she met Warren.

I was wondering if things would work out for her in Ireland, and felt she was brave to move there. I liked her childhood memories that were scattered throughout her chapters.

Kate is another interesting character, but has a radically different backstory from Maud’s. This helped in making them well created characters.

Cake by the Ocean is emotional, exciting. heartbreaking, heartwarming and unforgettable.

Thanks to Lorna Barnett.

5 stars

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

[Suzykazoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was unputdownable! Maud’s life was perfect, until it wasn’t. Tragedy after tragedy left her reeling. But she always picked up the pieces and moved on to a better place. Kate mother died when Kate was very young. She was raised in a household with an alcoholic father, two sisters who were worthless. But she, too moved above her circumstances. You will be swept away with these two powerful women as they lived life to the fullest.

I received this book free from the author, publisher, or other source. My only obligation was to provide a fair and honest review.

[Kalford · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book. The characters were well developed. The scenery was so descriptive I could see it clearly. My only issue is that the end of the book feels completely rushed. It was like the last chapter for Maud had to be finished in 5 minutes. The rush was incongruous with the rest of the book. That said, I will now have to binge everything else Lorna Barrett has written

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

[Chris O'neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am glad I got the opportunity to read Cake by the Ocean thru BookSirens, the publisher and of course the author. I was not expecting the dual story of the 2 main characters and was pleasantly surprised to be on the journey with both of them. Its a fun read and it was great to see the growth of the older woman and her younger counterpart. it is well written and a good read!

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually a great read. Loved the way the characters grew through this book. The importance of a good relationship and how whiskey brings everyone together. It's definitely worth a read.