Book Review: Market Street

Author: Anita Hughes
Publication Date: March 26, 2013
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

From the author of Monarch Beach comes a delicious story of a department store heiress, her messy marriage, and her passion for food.

Cassie Blake, heiress to Fenton's, San Francisco's most exclusive department store, has been married to Aidan, a handsome UC Berkeley professor, for ten years. But when she discovers Aidan allowed himself to be seduced by one of his students, she moves into the third floor of her best friend Alexis's Presidio Heights mansion. Aided by the hilarious and high-spirited Alexis, Cassie has to decide if she can forgive Aidan and give their marriage one more chance.

Saving her marriage is not the only choice Cassie has to make. Cassie's mother is eager to have her oversee Fenton's new Food Emporium, destined to be San Francisco's hottest gourmet shopping destination. Her true passion has always been food, and Cassie suspects her mother might be trying to lure her into the Fenton's fold by entrusting her with such an exciting opportunity. And then there is James, the architect designing the Emporium, who is quietly falling in love with her.

Filled with delicious descriptions of high fashion, gourmet food and the City by the Bay, Market Street is a rewarding treat that will linger long after its surprising and satisfying finish.

Cassie and Alexis gazed in the glass like small children admiring Halloween candy. Rows of pendants, bracelets, and rings were displayed on a bed of crushed orange velvet. Cassie ignored the bracelets – they would be covered with potting soil within a day – but the pendants caught her attention: bright-colored stones on short filigree chains. She put her hand to her neck as if imagining she was wearing one.

 

When the song “Calling All Angels” was played on heavy rotation, Aidan would turn up the radio and boast that he had asked the lead singer to write the lyrics for Cassie.

 

Cassie clinked crystal shot glasses. She swallowed the brandy. It burned her throat and hit the empty space in her stomach.

 

“I’m going to call my husband” – Cassie fished her phone out of her purse – “and ask him out to dinner.”

Cassie Blake, our heroine, is quite the simple character and leads a bit of a charmed life. She is the heiress to San Francisco’s most exclusive department store, Fenton’s, and she is madly in love with her husband of ten years, UC Berkley Professor, Aidan Blake. She has a best friend with whom to share her secrets and she loves her life and her current situation, until one girl, a Molly Payne comes into Fenton’s one day and lets the cat out of the bag. She returns a piece of jewelry given to her by her professor Aidan Blake, and Cassie’s first thought is that he is carrying on an affair with one of his students. After much nagging on Cassie’s part, she eventually learns that her husband has in fact had an affair. She flees off to her best friend, Alexis’s, Presidio Heights mansion and starts re-evaluating her life. She has many decisions to make from this point on; will she forgive Aidan? Will she takeover management of Fenton’s at her mother’s request?  

 

I am in love with the setting of this book more than anything and the beautiful cover. I have always been fascinated with San Francisco. The bridge and the exquisite pinkish and purplish hues make for an amazing sunrise on this cover. I love the way that Market Street is described within the pages. Alexis and Cassie spend a lot of their time in the lavish restaurants and stores along Market Street, and I found myself enraptured in the smells, sights, and all the gossip they shared whilst there. I think I would love to live the California lifestyle, where you can walk just down the street and have your choice of entertainment.

 

I loved the relationship between Alexis and Cassie and Alexis’s care for her best friend. She was quick to support and relieve Cassie once she learned of the affair, and she was constantly encouraging Cassie and trying to make her feel better. I would love to see Alexis’s story were to be explored in another novel. Cassie’s character was at her best when she was in the accompaniment of her best friend. I absolutely adored Cassie and wanted her away from Aidan because she was such a lovely person and had such a big heart. This book was very charming and a very light read that will be best enjoyed in the bright sunshine.

 

***A BIG thank you to the publishers at St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review***