The Baker by Serena Yates

Title: The Baker
Series: Workplace Encounters, #6
Author: Serena Yates
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Novel (133 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (15 July 2015)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4Hearts
Blurb: Ian Wallace works as a baker for his tyrannical father in the family-owned Scottish Bakehouse in Casper, Wyoming. He wants to represent the bakery in the upcoming Tartan Day competition, but his father refuses to reveal the secret ingredients that make them so successful—unless Ian gets married and has a son, proving he is fit to continue the family line.

Just before New Year’s Eve, Cameron Lewis, a former Marine turned police detective, comes into the bakery for donuts for his department and some black buns for himself. Cameron is hooked, and as his visits become more frequent, they stir Ian’s father’s suspicions. But threats can’t stop Ian from donning his kilt and entering the competition anyway—to show his father what he can do on his own.

Though he might not have the secret ingredients, Ian and Cameron might still discover a recipe for happiness.

ISBN: 9781634762113

Product Link:  http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6646

Reviewer: Prime

Review: The Baker is the sixth book in Serena Yates’ Workplace Encounters series. However, none of the books are related and are stand alone stories. This is the second edition of The Baker, with Dreamspinner Press re-releasing the whole series. I read the first edition and could not tell the difference for the most part (my memory is a tad dodgy, though). I could not find exactly how the word count has changed on this new edition.

Once again, it seems that the clunky wording which I criticised in the first few books is there but it is not the problem that it had presented before. Although the author’s writing style will not agree with everyone, it can be rather wordy at times. The blurb also continues to be good and accurate compared to the first few books.

However, the themes of the previous books (closeted MC and MC facing losing their job/business) are there are again but it was presented very differently than in previous books.

The story is about Ian, who comes from a very traditional Scottish family in Wyoming. I suspect the family remained traditional because of the family’s bakery which had been started up by Ian’s grandfather and passed onto his father. Ian loves the bakery and he loves baking. The bakery is famous in town, probably because of Ian’s a-hole father’s “secret recipes” which he refuses to tell even Ian, who is set to inherit the bakery.

Around New Years, things change. Ian hears about a new Scottish festival the town’s mayor wants to hold and have a bake contest with the bakery front and centre. Ian also meets Cameron, a police detective who discovers the bakery one day. Ian has to fight his chauvinistic and homophobic father for a job and the bakery he loves, as well as falling for the hunky detective.

This series is good for an enjoyable, light right where you don’t need to apply too much brain power to understand. This has a bit more drama in it than the other books, but nothing wholly unnecessary. The Baker is certainly the best book in this series, so far. I love both Ian and Cameron and their chemistry was wonderful!

* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *