This is a slow burn romance between Briley Anderson and her next door neighbour Leah Daniels. Briley is a property developer who loves to bake in her free time, she’s also shy and hopelessly attracted to Leah who is sixteen years her senior, divorced, mother of two and a grandmother. Will Briley be able to overcome her shyness to approach her neighbour and will Leah give a chance to a much younger woman?

‘Add romance and mix’ is a very sweet story, as sweet as the baking goods made by Briley. So much so that sometimes it sounds too good to be true. The main characters show almost no flaws and seem upbeat in a ‘loves conquers all’ way even when life throws them a big curve ball. There’s nothing wrong with upbeat characters like that but the story sounds a bit unrealistic. The secondary characters follow the same pattern of ideal behaviour. It is quite obvious in Leah’s teenage boy and the two year old toddler. The conflicts or tantrums are just mentioned as an afterthought but in the plot’s interactions they act like ideal children, the same as the adults. The story delves a lot in inconsequential details but rushes past conflicts and challenges. Again, too sweet and too good considering the circumstances.

Overall, an ok read if you like baking and don’t mind a bit of ‘too good to be true’ characters. 3 stars.

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.