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hannuhreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
4 stars.
🍰 The vibes:
- baking competition
- 77 year old FMC
- coming of age / finding yourself
- flashbacks
- secrets
🍰 My thoughts:
So as yall know I typically go into books fairly blind. I generally know tropes if someone I follow mentions any - but that’s typically all I know. I knew nothing about this book other than looking at the cover.
🍰 I went into it thinking this would be a happy, cozy book about baking. Yes, it’s that. But it’s also sad and quite heavy in a lot of aspects- and I feel like that’s important to know going into it.
🥧 Jenny is 77 years old and is about to celebrate 60 years of marriage to her lovely husband Bernard. As she looks back on her life, Jenny wonders if she really has achieved all that much. In effort to squeeze every opportunity out of life, she enters a baking competition thinking there’s no way she will ever make it. Well she does. And so begins a journey of fun baking times with delicious descriptions of baked goods. But the journey isn’t all sweet baking moments, because Jenny has a secret that she’s held onto her entire life that’s starting to come to the surface.
🥧 In this baking competition- with every new bake that Jenny bakes, it takes her back to memories of her past. Through each bake, we see Jenny begin to process her greatest secret and trauma. So of course that will pull on your heart strings. So buckle up.
🍰 I’m not sure why but I really have a hard time when a character knows a secret the entire time and keeps dangling it in front of me while NOT telling me. I’ll chase for a bit but then I just get sassy. Just tell me already.
🍰 There are secrets in this book. Deception. And it made me so uncomfortable but I was also invested for sure. It almost felt like watching a train wreck in some ways. I was emotionally damaged and was shaking my fists a bit, but was I intrigued? Yes.
đź–¤If you love the baking show vibes in this, but want a romance more than a drama- try Rosaline Palmer Takes The Cake. Or if you want a baking show competition in a thriller format- try The Golden Spoon. I really loved both of those books and recommend.
‼️ check TW for this one if you have concerns.
🎧 I did half audio / half ebook and while the narration was great, the flashback scenes were very confusing to differentiate on audio whereas it was obvious on page (italicized). Because of this, I think I would recommend avoiding audio and sticking to reading this one.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Pregnancy
kelly_e's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Title: Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame
Author: Olivia Ford
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4.00
Pub Date: January 30, 2024
T H R E E • W O R D S
Redemptive • Gentle • Delicious
đź“– S Y N O P S I S
Nothing could be more out of character, but after fifty-nine years of marriage, as her husband Bernard’s health declines, and her friends' lives become focused on their grandchildren—which Jenny never had—Jenny decides she wants a little something for herself. So she secretly applies to be a contestant on the prime-time TV show Britain Bakes.
Whisked into an unfamiliar world of cameras and timed challenges, Jenny delights in a new-found independence. But that independence, and the stress of the competition, starts to unearth memories buried decades ago. Chocolate teacakes remind her of a furtive errand involving a wedding ring; sugared doughnuts call up a stranger’s kind act; a simple cottage loaf brings back the moment her life changed forever.
With her baking star rising, Jenny struggles to keep a lid on that first secret—a long-concealed deceit that threatens to shatter the very foundations of her marriage. It’s the only time in six decades that she’s kept something from Bernard. By putting herself in the limelight, has Jenny created a recipe for disaster?
đź’ T H O U G H T S
There's no denying older characters in books is one of my favourite tropes. Add in some food elements, and of course, I had to add Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame to my most anticipated 2024 releases. I just knew this book would deliver so many things that work for me before I even picked it up.
Jenny was an absolute star! I really loved getting to know her and her story. Ford utilizes parallel storytelling (snippets of the past interwoven into the present) to give us Jenny's back story and it worked perfectly. As for Bernard, her supportive husband, I absolutely adored him. Honestly, I just want to hang out with these two. The other characters, especially the other contestants, could have used more development.
This novel is predictable in the best way possible. It certainly wasn't hard to figure out how things would go once I knew what Jenny's secret was. My one issue is that for a lighter-hearted story it was longer than it needed to be. I just wanted to get to the reveal, likely because I knew what to expect.
Olivia Ford's experience in the entertainment industry made the baking contest realistic and she gave the reader just enough of it without it bogging down the narrative. All of the food descriptions were absolutely delicious. I seriously wish a sample of each of Jenny's creations could be delivered to me while I was reading.
Overall, Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame was an absolute delight. It's a coming-of-old, feel-good story with depth, filled with tender moments and with high entertainment value. It's that gentle reminder that it's never too late to peruse a dream or doing something for yourself. Olivia Ford is an author I will be keeping an eye on.
📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• baking shows
• yummy food
• coming-of-old stories
⚠️ CW: infidelity, misogyny, sexism, death of parent, pregnancy, adoption, grief, chronic illness, medical content, medical trauma, sexual assault, alcohol
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"It's strange, she thought, how recipes outlive the people that wrote them and yet they almost bring a part of that person back to life, as if a tiny piece of their soul lives in those instructions."
"'Recipes are very precious things. They contain little pieces of history, of nostalgia, and of people - exactly as they were at the time when they wrote them. In reading their words and following their methods, they were by my side. I thought I was alone when I headed into the barn, but I never really was.' She paused, thinking of her recipe book, of him. 'I suppose what I mean to say is: keep writing them down, keep making them, and keep passing them on.'"
Author: Olivia Ford
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4.00
Pub Date: January 30, 2024
T H R E E • W O R D S
Redemptive • Gentle • Delicious
đź“– S Y N O P S I S
Nothing could be more out of character, but after fifty-nine years of marriage, as her husband Bernard’s health declines, and her friends' lives become focused on their grandchildren—which Jenny never had—Jenny decides she wants a little something for herself. So she secretly applies to be a contestant on the prime-time TV show Britain Bakes.
Whisked into an unfamiliar world of cameras and timed challenges, Jenny delights in a new-found independence. But that independence, and the stress of the competition, starts to unearth memories buried decades ago. Chocolate teacakes remind her of a furtive errand involving a wedding ring; sugared doughnuts call up a stranger’s kind act; a simple cottage loaf brings back the moment her life changed forever.
With her baking star rising, Jenny struggles to keep a lid on that first secret—a long-concealed deceit that threatens to shatter the very foundations of her marriage. It’s the only time in six decades that she’s kept something from Bernard. By putting herself in the limelight, has Jenny created a recipe for disaster?
đź’ T H O U G H T S
There's no denying older characters in books is one of my favourite tropes. Add in some food elements, and of course, I had to add Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame to my most anticipated 2024 releases. I just knew this book would deliver so many things that work for me before I even picked it up.
Jenny was an absolute star! I really loved getting to know her and her story. Ford utilizes parallel storytelling (snippets of the past interwoven into the present) to give us Jenny's back story and it worked perfectly. As for Bernard, her supportive husband, I absolutely adored him. Honestly, I just want to hang out with these two. The other characters, especially the other contestants, could have used more development.
This novel is predictable in the best way possible. It certainly wasn't hard to figure out how things would go once I knew what Jenny's secret was. My one issue is that for a lighter-hearted story it was longer than it needed to be. I just wanted to get to the reveal, likely because I knew what to expect.
Olivia Ford's experience in the entertainment industry made the baking contest realistic and she gave the reader just enough of it without it bogging down the narrative. All of the food descriptions were absolutely delicious. I seriously wish a sample of each of Jenny's creations could be delivered to me while I was reading.
Overall, Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame was an absolute delight. It's a coming-of-old, feel-good story with depth, filled with tender moments and with high entertainment value. It's that gentle reminder that it's never too late to peruse a dream or doing something for yourself. Olivia Ford is an author I will be keeping an eye on.
📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• baking shows
• yummy food
• coming-of-old stories
⚠️ CW: infidelity, misogyny, sexism, death of parent, pregnancy, adoption, grief, chronic illness, medical content, medical trauma, sexual assault, alcohol
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"It's strange, she thought, how recipes outlive the people that wrote them and yet they almost bring a part of that person back to life, as if a tiny piece of their soul lives in those instructions."
"'Recipes are very precious things. They contain little pieces of history, of nostalgia, and of people - exactly as they were at the time when they wrote them. In reading their words and following their methods, they were by my side. I thought I was alone when I headed into the barn, but I never really was.' She paused, thinking of her recipe book, of him. 'I suppose what I mean to say is: keep writing them down, keep making them, and keep passing them on.'"
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, and Medical content
Minor: Death of parent, Death, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Sexism, Infidelity, and Misogyny
adoptionkdailyreads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Pregnancy, and Medical content
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Blood, and Infidelity
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