Icing on the Cake

Liz Talbot is struggling to keep her bakery afloat and really doesn't need another complication in her life. Then her ex-husband suddenly dies and leaves her half of the advertising agency they had started together years before. The complication? She must share ownership with the twit who stole her husband and doesn't appear to have the brain God gave a gnat. Brandi, who signs her name with a little heart above the i. But underneath the apparent twittiness, is a mercenary bent that threatens to undo the agency, the bakery, and maybe everything in Liz's life. Liz is smart and knows her way around a loaf of bread and an ad campaign, but she is also woman enough to throw caution to the wind and go after what she wants. And what she wants is to get her share of the ad agency and invest it into making the No Bagel Emporium a success. And, oh, there's that amazing man who makes her hot just to look at him. Maybe she should get serious about him, too. The secondary characters are just as nicely drawn. Liz's twin daughters who couldn't be more opposite if they had been born in different centuries. Shamar, head of the night crew at the bakery who looks more like a hip-hop start than a baker. And, Sally, Liz's mother who once was a Rockette and don't you forget it. This is another rollicking good tale from the author of A New Lu, with terrific characters, snappy dialogue, great humor, and enough plot twists for two books. A great summer read no matter where you find yourself this year.

Fantastic story. But the ending was over so fast.....all the events leading up to it , the other woman- she was a threat and just didnt seem right for her to give up so easy. But all in all I loved the book.

Fun story, older ChickLit, well written and funny. It's rare that you get a book that is ligh, entertaining, but also well written. This is one of them!

Left by her ex-husband who recently married a women half her age, Liz Talbot returns to new jersey where she runes the no bagel emporium. Barndi, the younger wife is much hated by Liz, but when her husband suddnely dies Liz is tied to Brandy for the near future. Ted has never changed his will after his first marriage and left his 15 million dollar estate to Liz accidently. However New Jersey law permits Brandi to sue for half the estate. As a result Liz and Brandi are thrown together to run Ted's ad agency (worth about 13 million of the estate). They can't sell it as the agency has been doing poorly in the last few months and they must work together to build the agency up in order to sell it. Thus Liz owns a failing ad agency to go along with her failing bakery Liz's journey from her backery back to the ad agency and back to the backery is a long one. Along the way she meets an attractive hunk at a wedding, but soon marks him as off limits after she slept with him since he is food consultant Marcus James, who could make or break her beloved bakery and might assume her guilty of using him. Poking jabs at America's carb craze, ICING ON THE CAKE is a delightful middle age chick lit romance that any chick lit lover will enjoy. The novel is light and funny while touching on many issues of a divorced mother with two grown daughters. I love the fact that the book is about a bakery and learned quite a bit while loving every minute of the book.

Tired of advertising and even more so of her spouse Ted, Liz Talbot returns to her Jersey Girl roots when her grandparents move to Phoenix leaving her the Bagel Emporium in Upper Montclair; as always supportive Ted ditched his now physically laboring spouse for Brandi, a younger yuppie model. Meanwhile after five years of baking with carbs in spite of the bakery's public enemy number one Atkins and other diet fads, her enterprise is in financial trouble. Ted proves much more supportive in death than in life as Mr. Ad Agency accidentally dies, but never changed his will from Talbot wife one to Talbot wife two. Thus Liz owns a failing ad agency to go along with her failing bakery while the outraged widow two files lawsuits faster than bagels can be made with the substance of the middle of a bagel. Thus she owns two businesses going under while also caring as the sandwich generation for her twin daughters and her mom. Liz obtains a respite when she meets an attractive hunk at a wedding, but soon marks him as off limits after she slept with him since he is food consultant Marcus James, who could make or break her beloved bakery and might assume her guilty of using him. Poking jabs at America's diet flavor of the month, ICING ON THE CAKE is a delightful middle age chick lit romance starring a wonderful bread maker whose first person perspective is amusing yet poignant as she observes the chaos that revolves around her threatening to engulf her like a black hole. Liz makes the tale as she struggles with her two businesses, her relatives, her late ex husband's widow, and her heart with the ICING ON THE CAKE being the cat fight. Harriet Klausner