Eat Dessert First
by Michelle Paris
Genre: Women’s Fiction/ ChickLit
Age category: Adult
Release Date: 7 May, 2024
Blurb:
Baker Abbey Reilly has heard you have such a pretty face enough to know that it’s code for but an ugly body. At thirty-three, she has been particularly unlucky in love and convinced that no one will ever see beyond her plus-size. So she’s stunned when a handsome regular customer not only shows interest but asks her to dinner.
Let down and devastated when she learns her would-be beau is married, Abbey is resigned to live a lonely existence. Until a sweet encounter with a dreamy guy at a bachelorette party gives her hope that her luck in the romance department has changed. But his horrible ex-fiancee has different plans.
Can this big-hearted baker find the recipe for happiness and romance?
With light humor and loving insight, Michelle Paris weaves a delightful tale of learning to believe in yourself. Juggling elder parent care, tight finances, and deeply ingrained insecurities, Abbey Reilly will charm any reader fond of rooting for an underdog.
Eat Dessert First is a heartwarming story of hope. If you like relatable heroines, chasing a dream, and maintaining hope while searching for happiness, then you’ll adore Michelle Paris’s sweet story of fulfillment.
Links:
– Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203648702-eat-dessert-first
– Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/eat-dessert-first-by-michelle-paris
– Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Eat-Dessert-First-Michelle-Paris-ebook/dp/B0CRQ85T11
– Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/eat-dessert-first-michelle-paris/1144471139?ean=9781627205122
– Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ebook/eat-dessert-first-2
– Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/eat-dessert-first-michelle-paris/20981701?ean=9781627205115
– Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Eat-Dessert-First-Paperback-9781627205115/5265923557
*****
Review:
There were so many characters to love in this story. Jax for his wooing of Abbey, Caroline for her support, Magda for her no nonsense attitude, and Abbey for her journey to seeing her true worth.
It’s hard to be a bigger girl, especially during those formative teenage years. Kids can be cruel and those wounds from our youth can leave long term scars. There are so many moments of “I’ve been there” in how Abbey views herself, how she interacts with others, and how her insecurities are laid out so baldly. There are some sweet moments and a lighthearted touch here and there, but it’s not easy for Abbey and takes pretty much the entire book.
**minor spoilers ahead** But I felt like it would have been better for Abbey to grow a little more earlier in the story. She could have really embraced who she was, learned to look at herself in a more positive light. I also feel like there needed to be more resolution to Abbey’s relationship with her sister. There is A LOT to unpack there and we just don’t get that. It’s a throw-away in the epilogue and really needed more to feel like it had been addressed. And as much as I love Jax and his patience in pursuing a relationship with Abbey, I’m surprised that he was willing to keep coming back. I get why she felt the way she did but she sure did not give that man a fair shake. He was almost too perfect but it’s a woman’s fiction novel not a true romance so as such the focus, rightly, was on Abbey.
While there were a few things that I think could have been handled either differently or with more detail, I enjoyed Paris’s newest. She gives readers supportive friends and a kind hearted beau, to allow Abbey to slowly work her way to seeing herself the way they do. And it all leads up to a deliciously feel-good HEA.
*****
Author Info:
Michelle Paris is an award-winning Maryland writer who writes about hope with humor. Eat Dessert First is her second novel that deals with a serious subject told with a mixture of heartfelt and comedic moments. Her debut novel, New Normal, loosely based on her own experience of being a young widow, received First Place in The BookFest Fall 2023 Awards and was a Finalist in The Independent Author Network Book Awards. Michelle’s personal story of overcoming grief was featured in the Wall Street Journal. And her essays about grief and mid-life dating have appeared in multiple editions of the Chicken Soup for the Soul and in other media outlets. She is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and the Maryland Writer’s Association. Currently, Michelle is enjoying chapter two of her life with her new husband, Kevin, who keeps her from being a cat lady but only on a technicality. For more information, please visit http://www.michelleparisauthor.com.
Author links:
– Website: https://michelleparisauthor.com/
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/maparis916
– Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelle.paris.7399/
– Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Michelle-Paris/author/B0BS4DWT8H
– Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/29748888.Michelle_Paris
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