A review by pucksandpaperbacks
Sugar, Spice and Christmas Nice by Anne Hagan

lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

This was fine. Personally, I think it was too rushed. I liked the conflict added to save the bakery and Layla's brother changing his holiday plans. However, this is set in an Italian bakery in Philadelphia and as a fellow Italian-American from Philly, this didn't feel much like an Italian bakery. They sold cakes, cupcakes and cookies. But there was more of an emphasis and scenes where they're decorating cakes and cupcakes. I wish there had been more detail to incorporate Italian pastries, atleast cannolis were briefly mentioned. I did enjoy Destiny's storyline being a young, budding baker and her joy was infectious. I really liked her as a character!

The romance was sooo rushed! Paige and Layla dated for over four years but things got complicated when they had to be long-distance during their college years. The book states "Trust had been broken, words said that couldn't be taken back" and that's pretty much everything we know about the break-up. 

There's also a scene where Layla receives a box with Paige's old letters and memories from their relationship that is so unnecessary because

Paige says it wasn't her and must've been her mom who sent it.

Then, Paige confesses she wants to get back together and they just get back together!?!?!

I wish the plot point about the breakup had been more fleshed out because I was not rooting for this couple to get back together knowing they had barely addressed the cause of their breakup.

Thus, the end really bothered me because Layla

decides she's back to Baltimore with Paige for grad school to continue her pursuit of becoming a writer

. Last, Paige proposes to Layla at the very end. This all happened in the same year and few days.

I'd prefer to have had some flashbacks where we see these scenes more spaced out because the characters made a lot of big decisions very quickly and it irked me.