Love, Lies and Lemon Pies

What is it with cake these days? We all seem to be in love with the stuff, whether it’s the millions watching Bake Off, or the rise of the cup cake as object of desire. In this new series, Katy Cannon uses cake baking as a motif for a sweet story about teen life – love, lies, self-discovery and all.

A group of mostly misfits join the school’s new Bake Club. There’s the Goth, the shy one,  the poor little rich girl, the bad boy and our hero, Lottie, forced to join the club to keep her teacher and therapist off her back.  Lottie’s father died last year and they’re worried about her. They’re right to be: not only has Lottie lost her dad, but her mum has fallen into depression and is slowly filling their house with charity shop junk and rubbish, other people’s discarded treasures her only source of comfort. Baking is Lottie’s therapy. She loves the order, lining up and measuring out the ingredients – her cakes can be perfect if her life isn’t.  But as term goes on, and their baking skills improve, the Bake Club members all find comfort in their shared activity, and new friendships are formed, secrets and worries shared.  As plotlines go, this is a familiar recipe, but Cannon has a light touch and the result is delicious. The friendships feel real, the situations authentic.Teen girls will devour this, and come back for more.

Another bonus, there are recipes at the beginning of each chapter: you’ve read the book, now eat the cakes.