So I was delighted to learn that author Lori Wilde's latest romantic adventure in Twilight, Texas would feature cookies! "The First Love Cookie Club" is a charming romance-filled story that finds a couple coming back together - all for the love of a little girl, in the name of true-love, and for the magic of cookies!
Synopsis:
"On Christmas Eve, if you sleep with kismet cookies under your pillow and dream of your one true love, he will be your destiny."
The townsfolk of Twilight, Texas, believe the legend, but not Sarah Collier—not since she was a pudgy teenager, running down the church aisle on Christmas Day in a jingle bell sweater and reindeer antlers, trying to stop Travis Walker from marrying someone else. She may be grown-up, slimmed-down, bestselling children's book author "Sadie Cool"now, but Sarah will never forget that day. And she'll never fall foolishly in love again!
But when a letter from a sick fan brings Sarah back to Twilight, she's shocked to discover that Travis is the little girl's father—unattached and hotter than ever. His smile still makes her melt, but Sarah knows that ship has sailed. Travis, however, might have different ideas.
My Thoughts:
With "The First Love Cookie Club," Lori Wilde once again delivers an enchanting love story that will leave readers sighing with pleasure by the end of the book! Her cast of quirky, loveable characters will seem like folks you'd love to have as neighbors and the fictional town of Twilight, Texas (which I strongly believe might be based on the adorable North Texas town of Granbury) is home to the legendary Sweetheart Tree, which figures prominently in all her stories, where if you carve your true love's name into the bark of the tree, fate, love and a bit of magic will bring you together to live happily ever after!
If you haven't read Lori's two previous books set in Twilight (The Sweetheart's Knitting Club and The True Love Quilting Club), don't worry! You can easily pick up the back stories of the folks from Twilight and thoroughly enjoy this story as well! (But do yourselves a favor and pick up the other two books - they are terrific as well!)
I loved the premise of the Cookie Club group who held their annual cookie exchange every Christmas! I've participated in a few of these exchanges and they were as fun as the one described in this story!
The only teeny-tiny problem I had with "The First Love Cookie Club" was - there were no cookie recipes! But you can find the recipe for the magical "Kismet" cookies on Lori's website - http://www.loriwilde.com/
In keeping with the spirit of the Cookie Club cookie exchange, I'm including my sons' favorite cookie that I make this time of year - Peanut Butter Blossoms!
Ingredients:
48 Hershey’s Kisses
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Granulated sugar
Directions
1. Heat oven to 375°F . Remove wrappers from chocolates.
2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies.
Happy Reading (and Cookie-eating!) Ya'll!
