Portobello Book Blog

From the first paragraph, One Winter’s Day had my mouth watering with thoughts of delicious, winter spiced baking. This is the story of Ama, Tessa and Natalie who run a wedding planning company called Wedding Belles in a town called Bellegrove in the southern part of the States. Ama creates those wonderful cakes which made my mouth water, Natalie designs beautiful wedding gowns and Tessa organises everything else, such as the venue, the flowers, the entertainment.

In One Winter’s Day, the women are working on a winter themed wedding and being seriously challenged, not by a demanding Bridezilla, but by her mum and future mother in law who both have very different ideas about what makes a perfect wedding! As the big day gets closer, it seems that everything which can go wrong does go wrong and it was hard not to feel for the women who were working so hard to give the bride and groom a memorable day. I think that gorgeous cover sums up the kind of wedding they hope to make possible for Nadia and Lyle.

As well as following the wedding preparations, we also follow the developments in each of the women’s love lives. Ama’s family are very traditional and keen for her to use a matchmaking site to find a nice Indian boy. She is not keen on this idea at all especially after meeting handsome biker Luke. Tessa has a crush on Blake, a jack of all trades who has been working on the building where the business is based. It seems, though, that he may be rather taken with beautiful interior designer Mac. And finally there is Natalie whose large Italian family is keen to see her settled and are delighted when she meets Chad, an adventurer who loves to travel. I enjoyed reading about the ups and downs of these romances and with none of them completely resolved, it looks like we might be getting to follow the story of the Wedding Belles in another book.

One Winter’s Day is an easy to read and enjoyable feel-good story. It’s just right to read by the fire on a chilly night.

My thanks to the publishers Bookouture for my copy of the book via Netgalley. One Winter’s Day is available now as an ebook and at the time of writing is only 99p for Kindle (please check before buying). You can order your copy online here: One Winter’s Day

From the back of the book

Twenty-eight-year-old baker Ama has always followed the rules. Life is like a cake recipe – you just have to do the right things in the right order. Or so she believes…

But as Ama stocks up on cinnamon for her Christmas orders, she meets tall, dark, handsome mechanic Luke, who sets her pulse racing. Who takes her out for a ride on his motorbike, and who is the first person who’s ever seen the gleam in her eye that reveals the adventurous heart she’s been trying to hide.
Ama knows she and Luke can never work though. He’s too wild and impulsive for her orderly life. And he’s her strictly-traditional parents’ absolute worst nightmare. She needs someone calm and sensible who shares their old-fashioned values.
As snow begins to fall, Ama tries her best to put Luke out of her mind, and concentrate on gingerbread and spiced muffins. But her latest commission, a towering cake for a winter wedding, just reminds her she’s lonely.
Ama doesn’t want to let her parents down, and she has never broken the rules before. But do her family know best? Or should she trust her heart?

About the author

Laura Briggs’ first stories were written in crayon about a rooster named Henry–but she was pretty young at the time, so it’s understandable. She eventually graduated to writing more complex plot lines and characters and writing her stories on a laptop. She tends to write stories with a romance theme, but as a reader she has a soft spot for mysteries, including those by Agatha Christie and Mary Roberts Rinehart. She also enjoys books by Jane Austen, Anne Tyler, Amy Tan, and too many others to name. In her free time, she likes to experiment with new recipes and tries to landscape her yard (a never-ending project).

Author Website: http://paperdollwrites.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @PaperDollWrites

Facebook: Author Laura Briggs