Cake (Paperback or Softback)

Would you give to someone who desperately needed it, that which you could live without?Keely is the epitome of a self-made woman, her ability to make the right choices her superpower. She doesn’t believe in looking back and has the drive, ambition, and financial means to create the exact life she wants to live—regardless of what her kids and her husband, Andrew, want or need. Michelle lives in stark contrast to Keely’s life. She believes she was doomed from the start with a heartbreaking, poverty-stricken childhood. A string of bad choices in adulthood only intensifies her lack of faith in herself. With her daughter safely away at college, she is left alone with her abusive husband, Ray. As the days drag on, she struggles to find a reason to continue. Until she meets Andrew. The two women’s worlds eventually collide, courtesy of their daughters, and both are forced to contemplate a time-worn question: is the comfort of a familiar self-constructed prison safer than the risk of trying to live a life of true freedom and potentially failing? Cake asks how much the world has really changed for women—and for which women—by evaluating the progress of modern feminism. This novel examines privilege, the haves and have-nots, the ideals we choose to embrace, and the facts we forcefully decide to not see. This story entices the reader to contemplate whether our material and emotional conditions arise from childhood environments, personal choice, systemic inequality, or a combination of them all.

Enthralling, genuinely absorbing ...
With its interesting premise, vivid prose, and moving characters, Brooks' highly engrossing story resonates deeply in today's progressive world. Ambitious and determined Keely has nothing in common with meek, compliant Michelle. But when the two women's worlds collide, Keely is forced to confront her inner demons, something she has common with the other woman: her inability to break free of a self-constructed prison and live a life of true freedom. Brooks perfectly captures her characters' inner turmoil and emotional upheaval as circumstances introduce them to life outside of their small existences. Unconventional and genuinely captivating, Brooks' tale is a beautiful exploration of how a person's choices affect their life in the long run. - The Prairies Book Review

"Nicole Brooks weaves a tale of inner and outer suspense, posing the question: which prison is worse, the one you make for yourself, or the one constructed for you? In this moving, delicate novel, two women with radically different lives both find themselves trapped. Cake is a fantastic exploration of how women are still coached to make decisions that will, in the end, imprison themselves--and how we can all break free." -- Rene Denfeld, bestselling author of The Child Finder