The Captain and the Baker by Catherine Curzon & Eleanor Harkstead

When a hot-tempered TV chef and a mild-mannered baker meet on the rugged Cornish coast, they’ve got the perfect ingredients for a red-hot snack.

Sweary and stressed celebrity chef Jake Brantham is the captain of several floating restaurants. When he’s sent to the idyllic village of Porthavel to turn a pirate ship into the next gastronomic sensation, it’s the last place on earth he wants to be.

Locryn Trevorrow is the bakery king of Cornwall. From the humble pasty to a wedding cake fit for a mermaid queen, there’s nothing he doesn’t know about the art of baking. He lives in a cosy world of gingham and ganache, but at night he goes home to his smugglers’ cottage alone.

When he’s adopted by a lost kitten, Jake soon discovers that there’s more to Porthavel than cream teas, lobster pots, and the annoyingly fastidious Locryn. As the village prepares for the wedding of its favourite young couple, Jake and Locryn find themselves as unlikely matchmakers for two locals who’d given up on love.

Torn between the call of Hollywood and the kisses of Locryn, will Jake choose a mansion in Beverly Hills or a cottage on the Cornish coast?

 

 

Book 7
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo
Pride Publishing

 

 

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is the seventh book in the series – I have to admit it is my first, but I shall be going back and catching up on all the captains and their significant others, as this was a gem of a read.

Set in the world of crazy chef-based programmes, we meet the sweary Jake, Michelin starred chef with boat-based restaurants – perfect name for a captain – and Locryn, also a TV star, but at heart a baker who has a single shop/cafe in a Cornish seaside town. Physically, we can tell immediately that there is a potential match here, but their ethos, their style, and their locations suggest that it will never happen. But when Jake's next show is going to be based in Locryn's town? Well, all bets are on!

I loved that this was based 99% in a fishing post, with the wonderful characters that means we get to meet. The side romances were both sweet, but also an excellent foil for the two men as they started to accept that they really had something special going on between them. It was quick, but also somehow gentle, and restrained. There is some fabulous humour, like the joking about Cornish pasty contents and which way to serve jam and cream on a scone, as well as the cheeky, clever innuendo. I had to be happy when the awful producer met a sticky end, as there was a point where she was no longer funny – again, the timing was key.

Lovely, funny, sweet, and very sexy story – a big thank you to both its talented authors.


Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
3.5 stars

This book is worth reading for the food porn alone. I love good food descriptions and the innuendo laden, sensual descriptions in this book remind me of Nigella Lawson’s baking commentary. As for the rest of the book, the story of a celebrity chef and small-town Cornish baker alternates between feel-good sweetness and over-clichéd twee.

Honestly, this is a little too twee for me. Jake is supposed to be a sweary Gordon Ramsey style chef, but I feel like the authors had to fight every prudish instinct to add swear words to the book. The result is dialogue that often feels quite unnatural. Small town baker Locryn is a more believable character – if he were approaching his 80th birthday. He’s prim and adorable, but I’m assuming he’s meant to be a Millennial, not an older Boomer? Neither man’s age is ever clarified but these men sound and act quite elderly – which doesn’t quite work with the rest of the story.

Readers who want an easy, feel-good romance will love this. Anyone wanting some small-town bliss will enjoy the picture perfect Porthavel. Readers who want fully fleshed characters and a hint of realism might want to stay away. The pacing is a little erratic and I found some of the writing quite choppy.

 

 

CATHERINE CURZON is a royal historian who writes on all matters of 18th century. Her work has been featured on many platforms and Catherine has also spoken at various venues including the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, and Dr Johnson’s House.

Catherine holds a Master’s degree in Film and when not dodging the furies of the guillotine, writes fiction set deep in the underbelly of Georgian London.

She lives in Yorkshire atop a ludicrously steep hill.

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ELEANOR HARKSTEAD likes to dash about in nineteenth-century costume, in bonnet or cravat as the mood takes her. She can occasionally be found wandering old graveyards. Eleanor is very fond of chocolate, wine, tweed waistcoats and nice pens. Her large collection of vintage hats would rival Hedda Hopper's.

Originally from the south-east of England, Eleanor now lives somewhere in the Midlands with a large ginger cat who resembles a Viking.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Captain and the Baker (The Captivating Captains #7) by Catherine Curzon & Eleanor Harkstead to read and review.