In the kitchen, baker and pastry chef Melody Johansson can create the most mouth-watering concoctions. In life, however, she can’t seem to make it past “go,” and after one-too-many disastrous relationships, she’s given up on love altogether. But when a snowstorm blows private pilot Justin Keller right to her doorstop, Melody dares to dream of life beyond mediocre.

Constantly jetting around the country, Justin doesn’t want a relationship. He has learned the hard way that the demands of a job in the air don’t mesh with a lasting romance. Not to mention, he’s preparing to move across the country and start a new business with his sister and brother-in-law. Yet something about Melody draws him.

Assuming that their interest will fizzle out with time and the strain of their unconventional work schedules, Melody decides to let things flow as they may. She also seizes the opportunity to open her dream bakery-café with her best friend, Rachel. However, as time passes, she finds herself falling in love with Justin and in a relationship that’s living on borrowed time.

Brunch at Bittersweet Café is exactly that…bittersweet. I love Carla Laureano’s writing style. She brings her settings to life in a way that makes the reader want to experience the places firsthand, and the imagery sticks long after the story ends. Despite having finished the book days ago, I can still close my eyes and in an instant see the world before me.

Melody’s best friends, Rachel and Ana, are the type of friends a woman wants at her side. I really enjoyed them. It was Melody, however, that I struggled to connect with and like.

From the get-go, Justin is upfront about his lack of faith. Disregarding this, Melody still pursues a romantic relationship. When her friends are understandably concerned and address the issues, Melody not only becomes defensive and angry, she views them as unreasonable and bad friends. She is even ready to cut them from her life if they won’t accept Justin. These things in and of themselves weren’t the problem. They are realistic. The problem came when the story ended with Melody “forgiving” her friends rather than acknowledging and learning that she and not they had acted unwisely.

As one would expect, being a book, everything ends up okay. Justin comes around on faith. Melody does grow up in one area (namely realizing that she can’t find happiness in a man or force a relationship), but the lack of tackling the other issues disappointed me. In real life, those types of actions and mentalities are dangerous and can lead to problems. I have seen friends and acquaintances enter a relationship with someone who didn’t share their faith — many times ignoring the advice of friends and family — and things didn’t end well, leading to heartbreak. So I would have loved to see these issues addressed more fully.

Fans of Laureano and the Supper Club series will still like this story even though it is not as strong as book one, The Saturday Night Supper Club. I do recommend staying away from a bakery while reading. I think I added a few pounds just from the descriptions of Melody and Rachel’s creations. I am now eagerly counting down the days until I can get my hands on Ana’s story!

“Brunch at the Bittersweet Café” by Carla Laureano is the second book in “The Saturday Night Supper Club” series. It can easily be read as a standalone. I read (and loved) the first book and I think readers will have a more enriching reading experience by reading the first book as well, as there are many familiar places and faces that show up in this installment.

Ms. Laureano does not just simply write about a subject, she writes about it! Meaning she goes above and beyond in her research about the subjects at the forefront of her books. In this case, those subjects are baking, aviation and the business side of opening a bakery. Ms. Laureano seems to know all of the ins and outs about each one and invites the reader into the kitchen, the airport and to come along in the process of opening a bakery. I learned so much about each topic. I warn you, reader, that she will make you hungry; many, many times.

I love our main character, Melody, who is very multi-dimensional. She has many quirks; she loves baking, books and vintage objects. She even takes bookstagram photos! She and her love interest also go on a date to a bookstore (yes please!).

This book contains some lessons that can apply to all of us. It talks about appreciating the things God has actually given us and trusting in God and not just His blessings.

Content: I give this book a PG-13 rating. Some examples of the content are: people drink wine; the word hell is used; there is mention of a person having an affair; a person curses, but the word isn’t actually written; there is talk of having sex in past relationships outside of marriage.

Rating: I give this book 4 stars!

Genre: Christian fiction; Contemporary; Romance

I want to thank TLC Book Tours, Tyndale Publishers and Carla Laureano for the complimentary copy of this book for review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I express in this review are my own. This is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s CFR 16, Part 255.

Breakfast at Bittersweet Cafe tells the story of Melody Johansson and Justin Keller. Melody is a pastry chef working late at night when a stranded motorist comes to the door of the restaurant. He is Justin Keller, a handsome pilot, and there is an immediate connection between the two. As they get to know each other they both also plan to pursue their dreams. Melody wants to own a restaurant in her hometown in Colorado, while Justin wants to work as a pilot in Florida. Is it possible for them to make a relationship work?

This is the second book in the Supper Club Series. I have not read the first book, but this novel worked well as a standalone read. (Of course, having enjoyed this book, I want to go back and read the first as well!)

I really liked both Melody and Justin. Justin was one of my favorite romantic protagonists in recent reads. I loved the description in the book: "He was funny, intelligent, perceptive. Surprisingly humble, which was not a trait she'd have associated with a guy who was practically the template for a romance novel hero" (p. 97). I loved the scene where Melody and Justin met at the restaurant after hours, and enjoyed their repartee and combination friendship-attraction.

I am a foodie and one of my not-so-secret dream jobs would be owning a little bakery. I loved the baking details in this book! They were just perfect (even though they sometimes made me hungry -- i.e. for Butterscotch Bars!).

This was such a satisfying read about likable, decent people that I really cared about. It just flew for me as a read, and I recommend it for anyone who enjoys contemporary romance and Christian fiction ... and especially for other foodie readers!

Brunch at the Bittersweet Cafe is the second book in the Supper Club series. This one is Melody and Justin's story. It holds up well as a stand alone. I haven't read the first one, The Saturday Night Supper Club, but I didn't feel lost. For the most part, I thought this was a sweet clean romance. Their initial meeting was cute . However, Justin drove me crazy with the the way he treated Melody. He was so hot and cold that I began to not love the relationship. I know that Justin had a lot of baggage, but I felt like Melody deserved better. I was happy that he redeemed himself in the end. If you are looking for a clean christian romance, do check this one out.

Favorite Quotes:

She was the one who had wiped Melody’s tears and kissed her scrapes and taught her all the things a young girl should know and quite a few things she shouldn’t. But that was her grandmother.

I would call it an enthusiastic hobby, not an obsession.

Pete negotiated the extra stop with the driver in rapid, confident Spanish. Justin only caught a handful of words—he’d naively studied German in high school and college, which so far had only come in handy for reading labels on imported beer.

“I’m actually thinking I might be too dumb to date you.” That pensive expression disappeared in a flash, and she laughed. “Don’t worry. I still waste afternoons watching cat videos on YouTube.”

I think you’ll like Florida. I think if I were going to move away from Denver, that’s where I would go. Be one of those old men driving a golf cart to the grocery store in checkered pants and a paddy hat.


My Review:


Justin and Melody met by accident during a snowstorm in Denver and started a relationship knowing there would be an expiration date as Justin had plans in the works to invest in a new business venture and move to Florida. The storylines were entertaining and laced with humorous banter and oodles of mouth water food that quickly derailed my New Year’s diet efforts. Curses, I may have gained a pound or five during my perusal with all those tantalizing mentions of crusty European breads and desserts. I learned a lot of different things reading this book, I learned a considerable amount about baking and flying (the two professions of the main characters), I had no idea people tubed in snow, and I also picked up a new word that I had never heard before, Rochambeau, which is another name used for the game of Rock Paper Scissors. I will toss out the caution that this was a genre hybrid of Women’s Fiction, Family Drama, and Christian Romance. It was tame enough for my elderly mother’s book club and didn’t get uncomfortably preachy for me until the last 10% of the book, although that is probably just me as I tend to grow restless with dogma, whereas regular church attendees would be more at ease.

I love a novel that inspires me to do something or to try something. This novel inspired me to try making macaroons. There was a bit of twist as you were not sure how things were going to work out for the characters but a bit of twist keeps you reading and wondering. This was an excellent book.

Deb’s Dozen: Romance, pastries, and pies cannot surmount what Melody Johansson believes are lies.

Brunch at the Bittersweet Café reintroduces us to baker par excellence, Melody Johansson. Melody embodies a delightful character from the first book of the Supper Club series, The Saturday Night Supper Club. She has been biding her time working in a bakery while she ponders what she wants to do with her life. Working as the pastry chef with Rachel Bishop at Paisley, Melody had felt duty bound to quit when the owners fired Rachel for a bad review. But now Rachel has a nice condo conversion. Their other best friend, Ana, works as a big-time publicist. And Melody just slings dough at a small-time bakery.

Justin Keller, knew he shouldn’t have driven his 1967 Mustang GT to the airport in the winter. Now Denver is in the midst of a blizzard, and his car is stuck in a snow drift. He knocks on the door of a nearby bakery to use their phone (wouldn’t you know his died and he’d forgotten his charger in the last hotel). Melody lets him in, and sparks begin to fly. She ends up driving him home and wondering if he will turn out to be like all the other male romance disasters she’d been involved with in the last few years.

Melody inherits a nice sum of change from her grandmother along with her house. An investor is backing Rachel, so the two of them decide to open a breakfast and lunch café. The story rolls along describing the ins and outs of that decision, lots of baking, and some bits of romance. You’ll love getting to know Melody, Rachel, and Ana further. And Justin, well, let’s say he’s a major piece of the action. You’ll enjoy reading Brunch at the Bittersweet Café—a sweet romance. Five stars.

Carla Laureano, a RITA award-winning author with three series—the Supper Club series, Discovered by Love, and the MacDonald Family Trilogy, writes inspirational romance and young adult books. Prior to turning to writing as a career, she worked as a sales and marketing executive. She and her husband live in Denver—she writes during the day and cooks things at night.

Tyndale House Publishers gave me a NetGalley Advance Reader Copy of Brunch at the Bittersweet Café, but I was in no way obligated to write a review.