After falling in love with Alexandra’s first novel Cupcakes At Carrington’s I was so incredibly excited to find out that there was going to be a second book based around the same characters. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to hear when it would be published, and, even without a working e-reader, I managed to download it from NetGalley and read it in just two sittings! I was addicted from the first page and I couldn’t stop reading. It was so brilliant to get back into these characters lives again and see how they’ve all grown and moved on from the first book.

Georgie and Tom are blissfully in love, Sam and Nathan are happier than ever and Eddie, is just, well, he’s just the glorious Eddie! When a TV crew turn up at Carrington’s and begin to film scenes for a TV reality show, Georgie isn’t sure what is going on. Why hasn’t Tom told her anything about this? Kelly, the TV producer, has brought her vile daughter along too and soon, everything Georgie thought was going right in her life seems to be going wrong. Armed with her two BFF’s Sam and Eddie, she finds out what is really important in life and may just be happily surprised by what Santa has up his sleeve for her this Christmas…

I LOVED THIS BOOK. In my eyes, Alexandra can do no wrong and this was just another example of why I love her writing so much. Her characters are believable and loveable (most of them (apart from the ones your supposed to hate!)) the pace of the novel is sublime and Alexandra manages to have incredibly moving scenes as well as some of the funniest and slapstick scenes ever. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of reading about Georgie falling over or Eddie doing something whacky; I find myself laughing so much. There is one scene in this book involving snow and a helicopter that left me in stiches; I love books that can lift your mood so easily!

The character development is fantastic. I really enjoyed finding out more about Georgie’s Dad and her childhood and spending more time with Sam was lovely; she’s such a beautiful character. Tom was a bit of a fleeting presence in this book, there are few scenes where he is present, but I still managed to fall head over heels in love with him again, one mention of that tanned chest and brown hair was all it took to set me off.

And, of course, how can you have a book about Carrington’s without talk about gorgeous handbags and delectable treats from Sam’s café? The type of cakes in this book had my mouth watering and I could have very happily had a mug of banoffee coffee, a red velvet cupcake and a slice of chocolate cheesecake. PLUS in the back of the book there are recipes for the cakes mentioned in the book; I cannot wait to whip up my own red velvet cakes!

I can’t say much more about this book because I’m just going to keep gushing and gushing about it. If you loved Cupcakes at Carrington’s then you will LOVE this sequel. If you haven’t read Cupcakes then I don’t know where you’ve been for the past year, YOU MUST READ IT NOW (and then read this one straight after).

A delicious, indulgent novel about cakes, Christmas and the gorgeous cast of eclectic characters that keep the doors of Carrington’s open every day.