Book Review: Eat Dessert First

By Melissa Smoot

Can a plus-sized, big-hearted baker discover the recipe for happiness?

Abbey Reilly has heard “you have such a pretty face” enough times to know that it’s code for “if only you’d lose weight.” Giving up her architectural career to care for her ailing mom and working in a bakery to make ends meet, she is convinced no one will ever find her attractive. So she’s stunned when a handsome regular customer not only shows interest but asks her on a date.

Devastated when she learns her would-be beau is married, Abbey resigns herself to a lonely future. But the insecure woman can hardly believe her luck when she draws the attention of a dreamy guy at a bachelorette party… until his horrible ex plots revenge.

Will Abbey claim the confidence she deserves and find a keeper who recognizes her true beauty?

With light humor and loving insight, Michelle Paris weaves a delightful tale of learning to believe in yourself. Juggling elder parent care, tight finances, and hating the image in the mirror, Abbey Reilly will charm any reader fond of rooting for an underdog. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

This is the second book I have read by Michelle Paris, and I really loved it from start to finish. Her main character, Abbey, with her kind heart and all-around sweetness, seems like someone I would want to be great friends with. After leaving her beloved job as an architect in Philadelphia and moving back to her small town in Maryland to take care of her ailing mom, Abbey takes a job as a baker to help make ends meet. Her love for her family and her determination to take care of her mother made her very relatable to me. 

When Abbey meets Jax Lawrence, Abbey’s life seems to get more and more complex. She deals with her mother’s illness, her younger sister’s selfishness, and some questionable characters popping back into her life. Her relationship with the handsome and rich, Jax Lawrence, starts to make her question her own self-worth. Caroline, the owner of Sweet Caroline’s bakery, where Abbey works, finally gets Abbey to see that there is so much more to her than her size. 

You will fall in love with the characters in Eat Dessert First. Well, most of them. I know that so many people can relate to feeling inadequate or a lack of self-confidence. This is an absolute must read!

Thanks to Michelle Paris for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Also by Michelle Paris: New Normal (reviewed here)

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