Pupcakes: A Christmas Novel
By: Annie England Noblin / Narrated By: Amy McFadden
Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
Misleading summary, but it’s still a quaint tale, with just the merest hint of Christmas and an exasperating romance
The Publisher’s Summary leads one to believe that Pupcakes is going to be about the store Pupcakes and its owner Brydie running the show, looking after the pug Teddy Roosevelt, with a smattering of romance with the doctor Nathan Reid thrown in.
Uhm, it’s not. Pupcakes doesn’t come into being until the last 5 minutes of the novel, and mostly it’s about Brydie being on her own again after a divorce from her philandering first love. She’s starting over in a new town, and while she used to baking in her own successful bakery (which was sold during the divorce), she finds herself making ends meet through seasonal employment for a big-box grocery chain store. There she interacts and comes to love her co-workers, plus it’s about her friendship with soon-to-be mom, Elliott and with Teddy’s owner, the elderly Pauline who is living and dying in an assisted-living facility.
The romance part is the most exasperating bit of the audiobook, capably narrated by Amy McFadden (who, however, uses a growly voice for Nathan, most unsettling). I’m going to be generous and say it’s because she, Brydie, is so inexperienced with men that she flies off the handle and doesn’t know how to address someone else’s ideas running counter to her own. And she does plenty of that; flying off the handle, I mean. Every time she makes strides with Nathan, she does something incredibly snappish and bolts away, leaving devastation in her wake.
But enough about that. The real charm of the story comes through her baking for the ones she loves. And from her branching out to bake the perfect dog treats, ones that suit the needs of her growing acquaintanceship. Gluten-free? No problem. All-natural ingredients? Ditto. She’s the hit of the baying, slobbering town. And her growing closeness and devotion to the sad Teddy is super sweet too.
But she does a lot of stupid things like breaking promises (what’s the use of promising something if you have every intention of going back on it as soon as you can come up with even the slightest excuse to?). It doesn’t endear Brydie to the listener. Plus, it starts off with Halloween and trudges through a Thanksgiving dinner before finally settling in on Christmas for the very, very last bit. So why bother calling it a Christmas novel (and in retrospect, I think I coulda gotten away with reviewing it for Thanksgiving Day audiobooks, for all that that is covered)?
There’s a nice bit with her evolving relationship with her once-distant mother, and with her coming to terms that her dearly-departed dad might not have been quite the man she’s built him up to be in her memories. She has to come to see that a great dad might not always be a great, or even decent, husband to someone. And that maybe his continual imbibing of alcoholic beverages could’ve gotten in the way of an even better relationship with him.
Pupcakes ends on Christmas and with a result that I sincerely questioned. I mean, Nathan is a super busy doctor, she’s a super busy and successful baker… do they really have the time for each other or for the choices they make?
Still, a nice listen with a smattering of good-hearted profanity that you might like as an easy-listen. It was a nice way to spend almost 10 hours. I just wished there were more in the way of starting a bakery/business. And I certainly wished Brydie thought a bit more before she hauled off and snapped people’s heads off…
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