Review: 'Cupcakes at Carrington's' by Alexandra Brown (2013)

Georgie Hart loves her job – running the luxury handbag concession at Carrington's Department store in the pretty seaside town of Mulberry-On-Sea, and treating herself (once too often!) to a red velvet cupcake with buttercream icing in Carrington's café.

But Georgie is thrown into disarray when Carrington's is plunged into a recession-busting makeover, cueing the arrival of femme fatale Maxine, who wields the axe in her immaculately-manicured hands.It spells a recipe for disaster for Georgie and soon she is fighting not only for her job, but also for the attentions of her gorgeous boss, James. And when hot newcomer Tom arrives, who may or may not be the best thing since sliced bread, Georgie must decide where her loyalties really lie…

The gorgeous cover of Alexandra Brown’s novel grabbed my attention from the first moment I saw it. If I wasn’t already convinced this was a novel for me, the title definitely did: ‘Cupcakes at Carrington’s’. Nothing yummier than a batch of cupcakes straight from the oven, and ‘Carrington’s’ simply sounds like a fabulous place to be. The perfect addition to my chick lit collection, without a doubt. And reading and finishing the novel within a couple of hours only confirmed that statement!

The story is centred around lovely twenty-something Georgie Hart (what an amazing name; I’d switch it for mine in a second!) who has a fabulous job every woman is jealous of: she works as a sales advisor on the Women’s Accesories department at Carrington’s, specialty: handbags. Georgie adores her job at the large and fancy department store in the seaside village of Mulberry-on-Sea, and she loves the red velvet cupcakes sold upstairs in Carrington’s cafe by her best friend Sam just as much (if not more!). However, Georgie’s life is suddenly turned upside down when it is announced that Carrington’s is dealing with the effects of the recession and the store will be forced to go through some changes. The arrival of bitchy Maxine soon results in Georgie finding herself in a struggle to make sure she can keep her job. Next to that, George finds herself stuck between two guys: her handsome boss James, whom she has always had a secret crush on, and new addition to Carrington’s, Tom, who also causes butterflies to fly around in Georgie’s stomach. While fighting for her job, dealing with her personal life and searching for that prince Charming, Georgie soon comes to realise everything may not be what it seems...

As soon as I started reading this novel, I didn’t want to put it down. From the lovely images in my head of Carrington’s (and those red velvet cupcakes, yummy!), to everything going on in Georgie’s life and the amazing characters... I just wanted to keep turning those pages to find out what was going to happen to not just Georgie, but everyone. One of Alexandra Brown’s strengths is definitely her way of describing and developing her characters. I ended up falling in love with almost every person introduced in the story (or hating them with a passion, in the case of Maxine), from Georgie herself (she is just so sweet and friendly and makes me want to run over and hug her) to her best friend Sam to the slightly mysterious Tom (who somehow made me start to blush every time his name was mentioned). An extra amount of love goes to Eddie, though, who is Georgie’s gay best friend and was just a fabulous character who made me laugh out loud multiple times!

Overall, simply a fabulous mix of enjoyable characters in a setting I personally loved (it slightly reminded me of ‘Miracle on Regent Street’ by Ali Harris, which is a book I really really liked) and brought together with a storyline I couldn’t wait to figure out and hear more about. I can’t believe this is Alexandra Brown’s debut novel, which means there is probably so much more in store for us readers. For starters, the sequel to this novel, 'Christmas at Carrington’s', which will hit the shelves at the end of this year. I simply can’t wait!

Rating:

9/10