From the publisher:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Adriana Mather comes a heartwarming tale of love, family, and pastry perfection.
Maddi DeLuca is coming home for the holidays with her nine-year-old son, only it’s not the triumphant return she might have hoped for. She recently broke down on a reality TV baking show, letting the entire country know she feels like a colossal failure. And she can be certain her mother will remind her of all the ways she hasn’t lived up to expectations over the years.
Ten years ago, all Maddi dreamt of was running her father’s beloved bakery in their tiny coastal town of Haverberry Cove, MA. Her best friend, Wilder Buenaventura, had his own dream–a life with Maddi. And for one brilliant moment when they were seventeen, those dreams collided. They baked together. They loved each other insatiably. But like a fallen soufflé, their relationship imploded, taking their lifelong friendship with it.
If she had her way, Maddi would have stayed in California, hiding her head in its beautiful white sands. But at her mother’s request, she has returned to her hometown to help deal with an urgent matter concerning her father’s will and his nostalgia-filled bakery. What Maddi doesn’t know is that this issue also mysteriously involves the one person she’s spent forever trying to forget–Wilder. Now she finds herself forced to make an impossible decision: give up her father’s bakery and her lifelong dream, or find a way to coexist with Wilder without murdering him with a cookie cutter.
“Mather makes her adult debut with this delightful tale…Romance fans will delight in the story, the addition of sweet bakery treats, and the showdown between the judgmental town, the snooty Buenaventuras, and the pull of the love that got away.” —Library Journal (starred review)
“A delicious second-chance romance…[Mom Com] is a heartfelt tale about learning to forgive both oneself and others. Readers will not want to miss Maddi and Wilder’s second chance at love.” —Publishers Weekly
https://amzn.to/3NpMBzR
This was my first read by Mather, and considering this is her adult novel debut, I guess that makes sense. The cover appealed to my foodie sensibility, I always like a good second-chance romance, and I love finding new authors, so this book was a win-win-win for me!
Maddi adored her father and grew up helping out in his bakery. But they had a falling out, and she moved away. She and her son come home for the holidays, and she’s not sure how long she’ll stay – she had a very public breakdown and needs to reset. There’s no place like home for that, except she finds out her father left his beloved bakery to her and her arch nemesis, Wilder.
They have a history together but went their separate ways. Wilder’s family is wealthy, and he works in the family business. I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll just say Wilder and Maddi need to work together or lose the bakery, and neither wants that. As Maddi learns what’s been happening in Wilder’s life and he gets to know her all over again, feelings develop.
This was a completely engrossing story, and I couldn’t put it down. I loved these characters and how they finally found their happy ending, and the bakery was just an extra treat!
12/2023 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
MOM COM by Adriana Mather. Blackstone Publishing Inc; Paperback edition (November 14, 2023). ISBN: 979-8212877176. 350p.