The clash of cooking titans!

Synopsis

It’s the festive showdown to end all festive showdowns …
“Queen of Chocolate” Beatrice Wodehouse, known for her decadent desserts, is ready to go head to head with her social media nemesis, clean lean baking machine Charlie Simmonds, in the Great Christmas Cook Off TV show.
Beatrice is fed up of Charlie’s sanctimonious attitude and is ready to show him that food is there to be enjoyed. Surely she’ll blow his keto, low sugar, low-carb mince pies out of the water with her chocolatey creations?
Except filming for the Cook Off turns out to be anything but sugar, spice and all things nice when the contestants realise there’s a festive saboteur in their midst – leading to melted ice cream, trifle mishaps and private stories leaked to the press.
As the countdown to the final commences, suspicions run high and sparks are bound to fly – and not just from the flaming Christmas puddings!
Part of the Spotlight series but it can be read as a standalone story.

My review

Beatrice Wodehouse has been named the Queen of Chocolate as she is known for her decadent desserts. Now she is ready to participate in The Great Christmas Cook Off TV – show, where several bakers are trying to win the title.
Too bad that one of the contestants is Charlie Simmonds, her nemesis. They both adapt different attitudes, as where Beatrice believes that chocolate can bring heaven on earth (in moderation though!) and Charlie hangs on to his keto, low sugar and low carbs recipes.
But their own personal battle is nothing compared when there appears to be a saboteur in their midst, as the episodes are filled with melted ice – cream, salted dough and also very personal stories leaked to the press, causing the tender friendship built between the two enemies to break before it had the chance to grow into something even more? 

Ooooh how much I enjoy reading Helen Buckley’s books! Each story is amazing and then she writes a book filled with chocolate to be even more amazing! 

I completely understood Bea and how she feels that chocolate can truly bring you in a state of bliss. Whenever she was cooking/ baking in the book, I somehow was able to smell those delicious, decadent scents, making my mouth watering. 

But this story goes way further than just two rivals in a shows, adapting different credos…  

Beatrice has her reasons of why she finds comfort in the sweeter the better. And slowly seeing those reasons made me even like her even more than before. Because despite the family she grew up in, she find her own tribe, friends that are there for her no matter what, that understand her in ways her own parents never did. 

But even if it doesn’t show, Charlie has his own demons to fight. And him using low carbs, no sugar etc come from a deep grief that he is still carrying around. And okay, I am still not a converted person, as I need my daily shot of chocolate, I could understand what Charlie’s purpose was. 

I have to admit, I as very curious and even a bit evil to discover which dish would end up in disaster and how. Of course I felt sad for the contestant, yet it was a tiny bit funny too. And the saboteur didn’t come as a real surprise for me. 

It was lovely to see how despite their initial dislike for each other Bea and Charlie start to spend more time together and start to realize that they aren’t the enemies they thought they were. It warmed my heart to see how they were able to reveal their secrets to each other. But it also broke my heart to see how those secrets are spilled to the press, only causing a breach of that tender bond which I was very eager to develop even further.  

I felt that this story also managed to address serious topics but without a level of becoming too ‘teachy’. The characters are not only facing during the show some kind of bullying, but even during their childhood. But the author makes it also possible for the readers to understand the importance of growing up in a loving family (or the results of when you don’t). And with Charlie’s backstory it made me think about the consequences of overindulgence.
But also in this book we see that having a different belief, doesn’t mean that the counterparty is wrong. And that we all have to try to understand and accept the their different opinion. 

And all this you can get, with an amazing slow burning romance (the only thing that slowly burns in this book!) in one marvellous story, that will make you drool for all the deliciousness and heating your heart for the growing bond between the two main characters.
This author delivered again a perfect story about yes celebrities, but also so recognizable and likeable and real.