PUPCAKES is the sweetest story I have read this year and I
was hooked from the first to the last page. Annie England
Noblin is obviously a dog lover, as am I, and her story is
sweet, funny, and touches the heart.
Brydie Benson thought she had it all. Married to Allan,
they owned Bake Me a Cake, their own bakery where Brydie
loved to bake and Allan loved making money. They began to
think about having a family. Arriving at the bakery
unexpectedly, Brydie interrupts Allan having sex with an
employee. After a messy divorce, Brydie travels to Memphis
where she moves in with her BFF Elliott and her family.
Elliott and Leo have a daughter, Mia and are expecting their
second child in a few months. It's past time for Brydie to
find a place for herself, a job, and a new life.
Elliott is a realtor and finds a lovely home in Germantown
which would be rent-free if the owner accepts Brydie. The
owner, Pauline Neumann, is living in a nursing facility.
and needs a caretaker for her residence. There is one tiny
hitch. That tiny hitch is her pet, Teddy Roosevelt, her
beloved pug, who needs care, too. After viewing the house,
Brydie is impressed and accepts the offer. Smiling she said,
"It's a piece of cake. How hard will it be to care for that
little dog. He isn't even young anymore."
Teddy and Brydie do not have "a love at first sight"
relationship. Teddy will not obey any instructions and will
not eat. He raids the garbage can and Brydie takes him to
the dog park in desperation. She is surprised to see so
many people there. The dogs are all playing together
while the owners are socializing with each other. A huge
Irish Wolfhound named Sasha appears and Teddy immediately
becomes her pal. Her owner is a tall, handsome, sexy
looking man with curly black hair and black eyes that were
smiling as he said, "Hi, I'm Nathan." They are talking and
laughing together when Teddy appears gagging and staring at
Nathan's shoes. He continues gagging and begins to throw up
all over himself and on the hunk's shoes. Embarrassed and
not knowing what to say, Brydie flees. So much for dreamy
Nathan.
When Brydie gets a job a ShopCo, a huge retail outfit with
its own bakery attached, she has to work the night shift.
She is happy to be baking again and when she gets home she
begins to bake dog treats to entice Teddy. He loves them
and she begins to share them with Sasha and all her new
friends who have pets. She begins to dream about having her
own bakery where she could bake for humans and pets.
PUPCAKES is a story of new beginnings, coming to terms
with what is important and what makes you happy. On this
journey of heart healing, new friends are found, and Brydie
falls in love with two guys... Nathan and Teddy Roosevelt.
PUPCAKES was pure joy and Teddy stole my
heart. I loved it!
What she gets is a dog—and a whole new normal . . .
There he stood in the doorway: overweight, depressed and
nearly homeless—a pug named Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy was
Brydie Benson’s latest problem, arriving on top of her
messy divorce and sudden move. Brydie needed a place to
start over, so this rent-free home seemed a great idea.
She just never counted on Teddy, or his owner, the
Germantown Retirement Village’s toughest customer,
Pauline Neumann.
And because rent-free doesn’t mean bills-free, Brydie
gets a night-shift job at a big-box grocery. Whoever
guessed there were so many people who wanted baked goods
after midnight?
Then, she gets an idea—why not combine her baking skills
with her new-found dog knowledge? And so her store
Pupcakes is born. Along with a new start comes a possible
new love, in the form of Nathan Reid, a local doctor with
a sassy Irish Wolfhound named Sasha. And as fall turns to
winter, and then to Christmas, Brydie begins to realize
that life is a little bit like learning a new recipe for
puff pastry—it takes a few tries to get it just right!