Wednesday 24 July 2013

Giveaway: Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan



The Meet Me at the Cupcake Café Sugary Sweet Spotlight!
 

It is no wonder that the flirty and frothy food-themed novel, Meet Me at the Cupcake Café by Jenny Colgan is an international success: with relatable characters and scrumptious recipes at the start of each chapter, Meet Me at the Cupcake Café is pure delight to women’s fiction readers everywhere. This summer, Colgan is bringing her hilarious and heartfelt stories—with a dash of deliciousness—to the United States! To celebrate, Sourcebooks is giving away copies of this book ALL MONTH LONG!

Each day this month, look for opportunities to win a print copy of Meet Me at the Cupcake Café with bloggers all over the book blogging community. Additionally, there will be a few guest blogs and interviews with Jenny sprinkled throughout—a great way to get to know a new author!
 

Follow along all month long for a chance to win a copy of this highly-anticipated and deliciously delightful new novel!
7/1         Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell
7/2         Celtic Lady’sReviews
7/3         Books-N-Kisses
7/3         Chick Lit Central INTERVIEW
7/4         A Bookworm'sWorld
7/5         Delighted Reader
7/8         Beth Fish Reads
7/9         Booking Mama
7/10       The Book Binge
7/11       Simply Ali
7/12       Debbie's Book Bag
7/15       The BookishBabe
7/16       The ReadingCafé
7/17       Book Hounds
7/17       Cocktails and Books INTERVIEW
7/18       Peeking Betweenthe Pages
7/18       Fresh Fiction GUEST BLOG
7/19       Jenny Loves toRead
7/22       Anna's Book Blog
7/23       Ramblings fromThis Chick
7/24       Books and Quilts
7/24       A Bookish Affair
7/25       Broken TeePee
7/26       Thoughts in Progress
7/29       Books and Needlepoint
7/30       The Reading Reviewer
7/31       Reading Between the Wines
BONUS GIVEAWAYS IN AUGUST!!!
8/1         Book of Secrets
8/2         Luxury Reading
8/5         Radiant Light
8/6         Ruby’s Reads
8/7         Caffeinated Book Review
8/8         The Romance Dish
8/9         My Book Addiction and More

What could be better than a wonderful story interspersed with mouth watering recipes.  Meet Me at the Cupcake Café is a winner on both these points. Issy Randall grew up in her grandfather's bakery learning to bake from an early age. After she is laid off from her job at a local real estate firm, she decides to open a bakery/café, after all, everyone keeps telling her she is a natural in the kitchen.
 
Things don't go exactly as planned, but that doesn't stop Issy.  She keeps trying new recipes and baking more.  Along the way, she makes good friends with the women she hired to help run the café and with the banker who arranged her business loan.  If only she could get beyond her ex-boyfriend, who was also the boss who fired her, then life would be perfect.
 
Issy is the kind of person that I would include as a personal friend.  She cares for her elderly grandfather as well as the welfare of her staff.  She has a good grip on what it takes to run a business and turn it into not just a money making venture, but a fixture in the community. 
 
I'll admit, that while I was reading this book, I experience severe cupcake cravings.  In fact, it was so bad that I resorted to a boxed mix, the white cake with coloured sprinkles.  Oh, they were so good, but I'm sure they were nothing compared to the ones that Issy would have made.  Included in the book are numerous recipes from Issy's grandfather.  Most of them I found very appealing and would enjoy re-creating in my kitchen.

Now for the contest to win a copy of Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe: Leave a comment below  telling me your favourite food to bake (a link to the recipe would be appreciated but not required).  Be sure that I  have a way to contact you should you be chosen as the winner.  (Random drawing, open to Canada and USA)  For more chances to win, visit the blogs listed above for their contest.  Closes August 5, 2013.  **if you have difficulty in leaving a comment, send your entry via private email and I'll enter a comment for you.
 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jenny Colgan was a fussy eater as a child and didn’t even begin to learn to cook until she was 21, when her then boyfriend tried to teach her a few basics purely out of exasperation. While she is now able to make a variety of good, wholesome food for her family, she still can’t make scones. A former columnist for The Guardian, Jenny contributes regularly to national BBC radio and is the bestselling author of more than eleven novels, including The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris (coming out in the US in early 2014). She is married with three children and lives in London and France. For more information, please visit http://www.jennycolgan.com/ and follow her on Twitter, @JennyColgan.

Thank-you to Sourcebooks for sponsoring this blog tour and contest and for use of various book materials including my ebook copy.
 

19 comments:

Rita Wray said...

I love chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com

Peggy said...

Brownies! The problem is, then I have to eat them LOL! The recipe I use is from an old, old version of a Mennonite Cookbook, so no link available, but I think the biggest trick to these is to slightly underbake them so that they're moist and chewy.

Peggy said...

Not sure if my comment will publish, so this is a test

Heather said...

The recipe I use most is a one-cup brownie recipe.

I also do a great spice-cake, and an apple-cinnamon cake.


Audrey
(submitted by blog owner)

Colleen said...

I love to bake chocolate chip cookies. I just follow the recipe on the package, but I add a cup of oatmeal.

Angela - Bookaunt said...

I like Brownies with nuts the best and I just buy the box kind. Thank you for the chance to win.

griperang at embarqmail dot com

traveler said...

I enjoy baking marble cake. thanks for this lovely giveaway. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

petite said...

I bake chocolate cake during the winter. elliotbencan(at)hotmail(dot)com

Stacy at The Novel Life said...

I love to bake a homemade red velvet cake...old family recipe (the trick is to double up on the cocoa added to the mix!)
Would love to read this book! Have read so much about it throughout the blogosphere!

Carole said...

Good luck with your giveaway. One day I'll find some that are open to us downunder!

Joy said...

My favorite thing to bake is bread in my bread machine (especially this time of year when turning the oven on makes the house that much hotter). This is the recipe that I bake most often: http://www.joyweesemoll.com/2012/10/27/whole-wheat-flax-bread-weekend-cooking/

Cecelia said...

This book sounds fantastic, though I am a little bit wary about the cravings for cake - I'd probably succumb! Not that that would be a bad thing, but still... :)

(Diane) bookchickdi said...

This sounds like such a fun book! My favorite thing to bake is Jaques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies. The recipe is here. http://tendercrumb.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-favorite-chocolate-chip-cookie.html

Beth F said...

Such a cute book! Too funny that you were "forced" to bake! No need to enter me, I was part of this tour.

Tina said...

Cool giveaway! My favorite is Black Forest Pie. Here is the link:

http://tinaculbertson.blogspot.com/2009/06/black-forest-pie.html

Laurie C said...

My favorite thing to bake is cookies, but there's no single recipe because I like so many different kinds! lauriec AT baystatera DOT com

Marjorie/cenya2 said...

Double caramel cheesecake is my favourite dessert.
Love it.

cenya2 at Hotmail dot com

lmurley2000 said...

I love to bake cakes a lot of different ones

lmurley2000@yahoo.com

Heather said...

Contest is now closed