The Coincidence of Coconut Cake
The Coincidence of Coconut Cake book cover

The Coincidence of Coconut Cake

by
Price
$7.36
Format
Paperback
Pages
352
Publisher
Gallery Books
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1501100710
Dimensions
5.31 x 0.88 x 8.25 inches
Weight
10.4 ounces

Description

"Deliciously entertaining! Amy E. Reichert's voice is warm and funny in this delightful ode to second chances and the healing power of a meal cooked with love." -- Meg Donohue, USA Today bestselling author of DOG CRAZY and ALL THE SUMMER GIRLS"Amy E. Reichert writes like your best friend and reading her words is like having that friend whisper them into your ear. The Coincidence of Coconut Cake is a delicious story of food, love, and a wink at what people will do to have their cake and eat it, too." -- Ann Garvin, author of THE DOG YEAR and MAGGIE'S WATCH"Amy E. Reichert whips up the perfect recipe for a deliciously fun read. Combine humor and romance with a dash of drama, then let it simmer. The sprinkle of Wisconsin pride is icing on an already irresistable cake. Warning: do not read this book hungry!" -- Elizabeth Eulberg, author of THE LONELY HEARTS CLUB and BETTER OFF FRIENDS“What a wonderful treat! Delicious descriptions of food and love and Milwaukee (I know! Who knew?). A sweet, endearing read.” -- Megan Mulry, USA Today Bestselling Author of A ROYAL PAIN" The Coincidence of Coconut Cake is a smart and delicious debut—a read as satisfying as the last bite of dessert after a lovingly-prepared meal. The novel is as much a celebration of the midwest and regional food as it is a love story between chef Lou and food critic Al. I adored Lou and her quirky makeshift family of restaurant customers and co-workers. Their missteps and milestones kept me racing through the chapters, craving another course." -- Susan Gloss, author of the novel VINTAGE"Amy Reichert brings sweetness and substance to her delicious debut. Sign me up for second helpings!" -- Lisa Patton, bestselling author of WHISTLIN' DIXIE IN A NOR'EASTER“Amy E. Reichert takes the cake with this charming tale of food, friendship, and fate.” -- Beth Harbison, New York Times bestselling author of IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME“…Reichert's quirky and endearing debut skillfully and slyly examines identity and community while its characters find love in surprising places. Clever, creative, and sweetly delicious.” ― Kirkus Reviews "A delectable novel." ― Bookreporter “Highly recommended that you eat before reading this book…a light, fun read that feels a bit like eating dessert for dinner.” ― RT Book Reviews "Well-developed secondary characters and detailed descriptions of the Milwaukee food scene will leave readers hungry for more. Fans of Stacey Ballis and Erica Bauermeister will find lots to love." ― Booklist "This is a fun read peppered with dashes of humor, dollops of sadness and drizzles of sensuality." ― All You Magazine “Light, fun, and easily digestible, this sweet romance is worthy of second helpings.” ― Real Simple Amy E. Reichert, author of The Coincidence of Coconut Cake , Luck, Love & Lemon Pie , The Simplicity of Cider , and The Optimist's Guide to Letting Go, loves to write stories that end well with characters you’d invite to dinner. A wife, mom, amateur chef, Fix-It Mistress, and cider enthusiast, she earned her MA in English Literature and serves on her local library’s board of directors. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. The Coincidence of Coconut Cake Read more

Features & Highlights

  • You’ve Got Mail
  • meets
  • How to Eat a Cupcake
  • in this delightful novel about a talented chef and the food critic who brings down her restaurant—whose chance meeting turns into a delectable romance of mistaken identities.
  • In downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Lou works tirelessly to build her beloved yet struggling French restaurant, Luella’s, into a success. She cheerfully balances her demanding business and even more demanding fiancé…until the morning she discovers him in the buff—with an intern. Witty yet gruff British transplant Al is keeping himself employed and entertained by writing scathing reviews of local restaurants in the Milwaukee newspaper under a pseudonym. When an anonymous tip sends him to Luella’s, little does he know he’s arrived on the worst day of the chef’s life. The review practically writes itself: underdone fish, scorched sauce, distracted service—he unleashes his worst. The day that Al’s mean-spirited review of Luella’s runs, the two cross paths in a pub: Lou drowning her sorrows, and Al celebrating his latest publication. As they chat, Al playfully challenges Lou to show him the best of Milwaukee and she’s game—but only if they never discuss work, which Al readily agrees to. As they explore the city’s local delicacies and their mutual attraction, Lou’s restaurant faces closure, while Al’s column gains popularity. It’s only a matter of time before the two fall in love…but when the truth comes out, can Lou overlook the past to chase her future? Set in the lovely, quirky heart of Wisconsin,
  • The Coincidence of Coconut Cake
  • is a charming love story of misunderstandings, mistaken identity, and the power of food to bring two people together.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(551)
★★★★
25%
(459)
★★★
15%
(275)
★★
7%
(129)
★
23%
(422)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Why all the good reviews??

The writing is weak. A poor attempt to copy the popularity of 50 Shades of Grey. The leading man is creepy not romantic. Seriously, skip this book. My entire book club hated it.
25 people found this helpful
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I Have A New Favorite Book and Author

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
This is a charming and touching old-fashioned love story. Luella is a chef who wants to succeed but unfortunately Luella will experience a few heart breaks in the career and love department. This story has a bit of a In The Good Ole Summertime feel to it, you old movie buffs will know what I mean but for more modern movie-goers think, You’ve Got Mail. Al, for some reason is a nasty and mean restaurant critic but at heart he is really a sweet guy and I could not help but love his character but he will do some much-needed soul-searching in this book. What I loved most about this book? The foodie theme and the setting, I have never been to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and now thanks to the author’s great description of this city I feel like I have been but definitely would love to visit (in the Summer). I truly enjoyed reading about Luella and Al and all of the side characters and was sorry to say goodbye to these characters.
25 people found this helpful
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Horribly Average and Predictable

Let me save you a lot of time and energy by saying this book isn't worth it. Predictable, slow, no depth, it felt like I was reading the script to a Lifetime Channel movie. I'm not sure why it has so many good reviews, it's just unimpressive, drab, and forgettable.
Firstly, the dialog is very one dimensional. What I mean is, you don't feel like the characters are actually talking to one another, it SOUNDS like one person's voice is speaking for multiple characters. It's all very cutesy, with little emotion or feeling.

The story moves along much too quickly. In the first thirty pages, the main character Lou has already broken up with her fiance, Devlin, and met her future love, Al. She mourns the relationship between her and Devlin, but the reader doesn't get a chance to attach to the characters at all. You're reading about how broken she feels, but you don't really care. And she doesnt even feel that broken! She's just like "aw sucks, anyway..." Not enough history was given about Lou and Devlin to make you care that they'd split.

The writing is very cliche. I didn't want to keep reading because it was gripping, I wanted to keep reading because I'd started and wanted to get it over with. The descriptions were bland, once-overed, skimmed through. A lot of it doesn't make that much sense, either. How are you going to date someone for weeks and not find out the name you know them by is actually their nickname? How are you not going to even know their last name? Not discuss work at all, therefore, not know what the other person does for a living? After WEEKS of seeing each other. It wasn't practical, therefore not realistic in the slightest.

The characters had zero depth. Lou's restaurant was inspired by her grandmother. Yawn. Her parents died in a car crash. Yawn. She has two best friends who have liked each other for years and have done nothing about it until now. Yawn. Same thing with Al. I wouldn't have known he was even British unless the author mentioned it. He has a brother whose the shining star of the family. Yawn. He falls in love with the chef of the only restaurant he's ever reviewed once. Yawn. He gets into a fight with Devlin, over Lou. Yawn. It was just cheesy.

I also felt a lot of the *GASP* moments of the book were just sort of passed over. There was no good build up, nothing made you question what was to happen next, nothing made you worry for the characters or hope they would end up together in the end. You knew it would happen, and it did, and then you just kind of sat there and wished you'd never spent money on this book but by then it's too late...
16 people found this helpful
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Ingredients not compatible enough to make for a good book

I honestly tried to read this all the way through but was not successful. The writing is horrible in my opinion, I don't know why some writers feel it necessary to constantly repeat the characters' names over and over in the same paragraphs, readers can usually follow a conversational dialog and know who is speaking and when the two people walking are Lou and Al, we are quite certain the coral summer dress being ruffled by the soft breeze is Lou's without this being specified. For me there was no dimension to the characters, therefore I had no attachment to them, I actually didn't even find them likeable. The fact that Al had written a poor review for a restaurant called "Louellas" and he's going around with someone named "Lou", yet doesn't make that connection was also really silly. The cover of the book is yummy, I saw another review gave the cake recipe 4 stars so I will definitely try it because I love coconut cake but sadly that is all this book has to offer in my opinion. UPDATE: Made the coconut cake recipe and it was sooooo goooooood!!!! Worth the price of the book!!!!
10 people found this helpful
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I'm Pretty Sure A Grown Englishman Would Know What Cheese Curds Are

While the cover drew me in and the summary promised an interesting romance, I can assure you it did not deliver. The author seems never to have met a Britishman in her life, and insisted upon writing him in an overly sentimental style that was neither attractive nor flirtatious. Of course his perfect hip muscles are mentioned for some reason and our heroine smells of vanilla and is perfectly slim in spite of her constantly eating friend Milwaukeean foods. The main character Lou, whose name Elizabeth, but she goes by Lou for some reason, is a bland chef who apparently thinks salmon and asparagus are the height of fine cuisine... She deals with her cheating fiance by simply ignoring him, offering no immediate confrontation or assertiveness, and I would not count her as a good example for young women or those who are striving to be empowered by their own internal strength. If my irritation at this book isn't yet evident, I will add that I cannot believe that a woman would need to explain to a grown man what cheese curds are, or that an Englishman would emmigrate to the United States with a freaking cast iron pan in his suitcase. Not intelligent, and not good. Time would be better spent reading something else. Anything else.
9 people found this helpful
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Wonderful story of second chances! LOVED... :)

This deliciously romantic story is going straight to the top of my favorites list for 2015! I enjoyed each and every page and literally did not put the book down from start to finish. This author put together a story that is simplistic in nature but at the same time sends out a powerful message of not taking for granted an opportunity to take a risk on true love. Settling for someone less than you deserve should never be on your bucket list! :)
I adored Lou's character... she is goal orientated, goes after her dreams, and despite the many road blocks she encounters as the story progresses she continuously picks up the pieces of her life and plows ahead. These are qualities I admire in people in real life so I completely respected her character and was rooting for all things to work out for her in the end.
Al is a guy who is completely devoted to his career, but not really that devoted to Milwaukee. Nope, this British man considers this to be a miserable place to live... that is, until he met the young woman who smelled of Vanilla and Coconut and opened his eyes not only to experiencing new things but also opening his heart. I love how his character slowly transformed from looking at the world as a glass half empty to a glass half full. Oh, the difference it can make.
I absolutely fell in love with the way this couple fell in love. The simple outings they went on together started out as friendship but turned into something so much more. I loved how enjoying the simple things in life brought them together. The gift of time and taking a minute or two to indulge in life's little pleasures is the best way to start out as a couple. That beats a store bought gift any day of the week!
There are some delightful supporting characters that will also grasp at your heartstrings. The staff that worked with Lou were more like family. I love how they supported her all the way through, even when it hurt. I particularly loved the elderly German couple who frequented Lou's restaurant and acted as her surrogate parents.
The author decided to take my emotions on a roller coaster ride at the end however, the tears were flowing! I love it when that happens... :) I wish I could tell you why but it would be too spoilery so can't tell..... nope, just can't. It was heartbreaking but also heartwarming and I loved the beautiful message that came out of the despair. A lovely ending with a promise of second chances... because everyone deserves a second chance. That was the point where this story came full circle and completely won me over.
So, this is a beautifully written story that is mostly about taking chances, never settling, believing in second chances and most of all Blooming where you are planted! That was something Al had never thought could happen to him, but he found that sometimes it's not the place you live that makes you happy, it's the people you have walking next to you that makes each day worthwhile.

I truly cannot recommend this story enough... this is a keeper and a book I will definitely be reminded of every time I eat a slice of coconut cake! Now, where is my blender??!! :))
7 people found this helpful
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Such a yummy read!

I was extremely impressed by this book. I'm not sure what I expected going in, I've read plenty of positive reviews before picking it up, but for a debut novel, Reichert just blew me away.

Such a cute storyline and incredible writing in this book. Set in Milwaukee, the city and all of the things it has to offer provided much of the purpose of the plot, and I loved every bit of it. There aren't many things I miss about living up north, but Summerfest and cream puffs and cheese curds would show up on the list of things I miss every once in a while (when I forget about the cold and the snow). Milwaukee does have such great character, I loved how Reichert chose to use it in such a way to mold this story.

I loved Lou and after a while I loved Al too, as well as the conflict that brings them together or the one that pushes them apart. I loved the details in the supporting characters - Sue and Harley and the elderly German couple who were regulars at Lou's restaurant. They truly heightened the story and really tied it together nicely. The descriptions of the food were mouth-watering. I have never once wanted to try coconut cake until this book. That recipe sounds delicious and I may just have to give it a shot.

This is a story about fighting for your dreams, never settling, finding the good in things, friendship, love and second chances. You won't be disappointed if you give this one a read.
6 people found this helpful
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Don’t waste your time

Worst book I’ve ever read. Painfully, cringingly bad. How on earth it EVER got good reviews is beyond me.
3 people found this helpful
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I found the two main characters quite annoying by the end

What began as a somewhat entertaining story quickly become predictable and sappy..... I found the two main characters quite annoying by the end. Forced myself to finish it because it was for book club.
3 people found this helpful
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Warning: Eat Before You Read

The Coincidence of Coconut Cake was in my shopping cart for several weeks prior to it's release date, and it was a book I was particularly excited about. I am the host of a family book club, and I selected this book for the month of August. It's a really quick read, with a couple of excellent plot turns. My family adored the characters, and the lightheartedness of it. The descriptions of the different meals throughout the book were excellent, but be sure to eat before reading (some will leave you drooling)! I thought Amy E. Reichert's writing was really solid, and I enjoyed the book a lot. I think it was wrapped up a little quick at the end, almost like a Hallmark movie, but I thought it was a lot of fun. The book left a little smile on my face, and I was glad I read it!
3 people found this helpful

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