Published by Revell on October 13, 2020
Genres: Fiction, Christian
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
The only thing Bri Duval loves more than baking petit fours is romance. So much so, she's created her own version of the famous Parisian lovelock wall at her bakery in Story, Kansas. She never expects it to go viral--or for Trek Magazine to send travel writer Gerard Fortier to feature the bakery. He's definitely handsome, but Bri has been holding out for a love story like the one her parents had, and that certainly will not include the love-scorned-and-therefore-love-scorning Gerard.
Just when it seems Bri's bakery is poised for unprecedented success, a series of events threaten not just her business but the pedestal she's kept her parents on all these years. Maybe Gerard is right about romance. Or maybe Bri's recipe just needs to be tweaked.
Novelist Betsy St. Amant invites you to experience this sweet story of how love doesn't always look the way we expect--and maybe that's a good thing.
Just the cover of The Key to Love made me want to read it. I found the story to be slightly less appealing than the cover, but still – it’s an overall sweet story. Abrielle, (Bri) is a baker at a Parisian cafe in the middle of small town Kansas. She bakes, or so she thinks, to keep her mother’s legacy alive. This is the story of how she finds her way, and some important truths she learns along that journey.
I didn’t feel overly connected to either Bri, or to her protagonist reporter frenemy, Gerard Fortier. They hated each other, but they were drawn to each other, and it just kind of went back and forth, and didn’t feel entirely believable.
While I like reading stories about flawed characters, because it just makes it all feel so much more realistic, something about these two people was just too much. I couldn’t really connect to them, and found them to be mostly unlikeable to the point of being unrelatable.
I also felt this story lagged at times. There were times I wanted to lay the book down and give up on the story. And yet, as I kept reading, there was still something about there that made me want to keep reading, just to see what the ending would be.
I would’ve enjoyed more details about the bakery, the baking process, and especially about their products – the macarons, or even the famed petit fours (what exactly are they, anyway?!). They do receive more than their share of mentions. But you can never have too much of macarons! Reading about both of these delightful pastries appealed quite a bit to my sweet tooth, and I would have been glad to sample either one right along with the characters!
I did enjoy the storyline, and found the book to be a sweet, light, easy read. I think it could be an excellent escape if you need to get away from reality for a bit!