Since You've Been Gone

May 26, 2014
At the start of English author Knight’s debut, young widow Holly Jefferson shows no signs of moving forward two years after her husband Charlie’s fatal car accident. The renovations on her house remain unfinished and she buries herself in work at her bakery, Cake, leaving no room for a social life. When Holly takes a commission to create a bizarre cake for a real estate mogul (a gift from his ex-wife to commemorate the finalization of their divorce), she meets Ciaran Argyll, the man’s incredibly handsome, famously eligible son, and sparks fly. Though Ciaran has a reputation as a womanizer, his intentions toward Holly are different. Everyone in her inner circle—her sister, her eccentric neighbor, and even her dog—is charmed by him, but Holly is not so easily won over. Aside from her continued grief over Charlie, she knows she’ll never fit into Ciaran’s world, and she also knows how many beautiful women have their eye on him, including his former fiancée and his father’s icy, gorgeous mistress. Inevitable misunderstandings further clutter the path to true love. Despite all-too-familiar plotting and characters, Wright has an excellent sense of setting and pace. Romantics will find the book engaging and fun, and not even cynics will begrudge Holly her happy ending.

September 1, 2014
A misunderstood millionaire pursues a widowed bakery owner in English author Knight's debut novel. It's a wonderfully awkward moment when Holly Jefferson meets Ciaran Argyll while delivering an adult cake from his stepmother to his father, Fergal, to commemorate their divorce. Recently widowed and insecure, Holly isn't ready to take a risk on a rich playboy whose exploits she's read about in the tabloids. It doesn't help when Fergal's nasty mistress plants seeds of doubt in Holly's mind about Ciaran's intentions. Undeterred, Ciaran tries to win Holly over with increasingly grand gestures while Holly busies herself with a mysterious influx of cake orders and helps her pregnant sister prepare for the birth of her baby. These scenes offer little insight into Ciaran's feelings, but they do show Holly putting more effort into her cakes than her personal life as she hops from party to party in sensible shoes rather than high heels and leaves the home renovations she started with her late husband unfinished. Meanwhile, Holly's dead husband, Charlie, turns up so often in her conversations and dreams that it's as if he's challenging Ciaran from the grave. After friends and family convince her to give Ciaran a chance, Holly reluctantly has her Cinderella moment at his charity ball. It's refreshing that Holly doesn't entirely fall victim to the makeover trope-she says yes to the dress but not to the spray tan-since her frumpy clothes are fitting for her job and are worn, in part, to mask her grief. When Holly finally opens up to Ciaran, she finds out that he's not the spoiled womanizer she thought he was. Heartfelt revelations (and a creative use of cake frosting) make for a satisfying ending to a pleasant read.

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May 1, 2014

Holly Jefferson has trouble sleeping. A baker who is part-owner of the company Cake, she finds that dreaming about her dead husband, Charlie, doesn't help her business plan or the rest of her life. Holly can't seem to move along with renovations to their cottage, either--that was Charlie's job. Now she's delivering a possibly libelous (but most certainly libidinous) cake to Fergal Argyll. As CFO of Argyll, Inc., he's the most prosperous person in their community. He also has a reputation for indiscretion. Does his son, Cieran, follow in his father's footsteps? Holly doesn't really want to know, but suddenly Cake is getting lots of expensive orders. Is the incredibly handsome younger Argyll involved? With a pregnant sister who can't keep out of her life, Holly has more than enough on her plate. VERDICT British author Knight's first novel offers up a poignant look at grief and how it can serve to inspire or cripple us in equal measure. Charlie's love of the pristine forest spurs Holly, yet Cieran's Scottish burr has a way of getting under her skin, whether she likes it (or him) or not. Romance fans will hope for a happy ending, while readers with a sweet tooth will drool over the pastries. A scrumptious debut.--Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2014
Holly Jefferson puts up a brave front for her family and friends and throws herself into work at her bakery, Cake. But at home she wallows in memories of her husband, Charlie, who died in a tragic accident nearly two years before. Then an unconventional cake commission brings Ciaran Argyll, the son of a wealthy developer, into her life. Ciaran is a highly eligible bachelor who's accustomed to using money to get what he wants. He's unlike anyone Holly has ever known, especially in contrast to Charlie, but as sparks fly, she discovers that Ciaran is recovering from a loss of his own. Knight, a former baker, won a writing contest in her native UK that led to the publication of this debut novel. What Knight's story may lack in originality and polish is more than compensated for by her endearing characters, including Holly's charming bakery assistant and her bossy but sweet sister. This debut voice in new-adult fiction will charm readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)