The Bake Off by Susan Willis
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Take the format for a popular TV baking competition, add a turgid, utterly predictable love interest and this is what you get. The regional version of the Great British Bake Off in this book rips off the original programme entirely, even down to the language the judges use and the set up of the studio. Not sure if that was meant to endear it to me but it just made me think the author had no original ideas in her head at all. The characters are incredibly shallow and the book is riddled with inconsistencies (the award ceremony is “packed” despite each of the three finalists only being given two tickets for guests? But then Nicola talks about having her son, friend and work colleagues there.) The author also seems to have a serious issue with the use of commas – we have huge long sentences that are almost unintelligible for lack of commas, and then come across “Come, on!”
I think the moment I read “Not only was he comparing the competition but he was also the main judge in the bake off…” on page two I knew this was going to be a frustrating read. You can imagine my relief when the book suddenly finished abruptly on 70% and was followed by three recipes and the first three chapters of another book by this author! Suffice it to say I didn’t bother sampling it …
