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Any Way You Slice It
Cover Illustration By Lauren O'Neill Méabh McDonnell
€ 12.99
€ 11.92
FREE Delivery in Ireland
Description for Any Way You Slice It
Paperback.
Sieve. Measure. Mix … Win
For Carrie Quinn, baking isn’t just a hobby: it’s her future.
Winning the Castlecreagh baking competition and becoming best young pastry chef in the country is the first step towards her dream. But when she and Dara Harte, handsome pastry prodigy and Carrie’s sworn nemesis, are both disqualified from the competition, it seems like her future has crumbled.
Unless the pair can find a way to bake together. Can they rise above their rivalry and complicated home lives long enough to succeed? Or are they a disaster waiting to happen, any way you slice it?
Product Details
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2025
Publisher
O'Brien Press Dublin
Condition
New
Number of Pages
352
Place of Publication
Dublin, Ireland
ISBN
9781788495820
SKU
9781788495820
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 2 to 4 working days
Ref
99-15
About Cover Illustration By Lauren O'Neill Méabh McDonnell
Méabh McDonnell was born in Dublin and grew up in Loughrea, County Galway. She has worked with the Clare People newspaper as sub-editor and children’s books reviewer, and founded and edits cindersmagazine.com. She has an MA in journalism and is the Children's Book Manager in Charlie Byrne's Bookshop, Galway. She lives with her husband and son in the Galway countryside next door to a castle. Her 2025 novel, Any Way You Slice It, was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards Teen and Young Adult Book of the Year 2025. In 2024, her novel Into the Witchwood won the School Library Group of the Literacy Association of Ireland Great Reads Award. Lauren O’Neill is an illustrator and graphic designer. Originally from Wexford, she moved to Dublin to study in NCAD and stayed. Her work has appeared across a wide variety of areas from advertising campaigns to storybooks and gallery exhibitions. She has illustrated many books including Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, which won the Children’s Books Ireland Merit Award for Illustration, and Blazing a Trail which won the Children's Book of the Year (senior) Irish Book Award in 2018. www.laurenipsum.ie
Reviews for Any Way You Slice It
a perfect romcom, sweet, light and surprisingly filling. There are recipes scattered throughout, like currants in a bun, and they make this love story even more scrumptious (I’m planning on attempting Carrie’s Seed Cake pièce de résistance). Lovers of gentle romance will find this a very satisfying treat and though we’re listing this in the YA/14+ category it could be enjoyed by readers from the age of twelve
Books for Keeps The baking competition setup is perfect: lots of tension, lots of sweet treats, and plenty of rivalry. Carrie’s ambition is relatable and fun to follow … warm, funny, and charming … The attention to family dynamics and emotional growth alongside romance is a lovely bonus.
ReadAndReviews a fun, cookery-themed contemporary romance about rival bakers forced to work together and finding out they don’t hate each other as much as they thought …There are so many yummy recipes included in this book. You don’t just get to see them cooking but you can try them yourself without having to infer from the text what they included. It’s a really nice touch – and I’ll probably try a few out!
Sifa Elizabeth Reads Combining the drama of competition with real-life family drama and adding a sprinkle of enemies to lovers - you have all the ingredients for a fantastic romcom here! Any way you slice it, this book is as addictive as the recipes in its pages.
Children's Books Ireland The baking competition at the heart of the novel creates a momentous narrative that embodies the thrills of competition, flavoured with mishaps, stern judges and unexpected kinship.
CBI’s The Best Irish Books of 2025 a little slice of heaven! … highly recommended
Sarah Webb This is the most charming YA romance filled with humour, friendship, teenage trials and the yummiest food in a book! … This is just the loveliest YA enemies to friends story and I loved every page, it was joyous, tense, heart wrenching and celebratory!
MyShelvesAreFull fun, tender rom-com … I ate it up in less than 24 hours and can’t wait for the final copy with recipes!
Alison Weatherby a sweet, lovely romance with such a fun premise
Alex Dunne super-sweet, warm as freshly-baked banana bread, yet deeply engaged … a gorgeous summer read
Sinead O’Hart Loved Any way you Slice It. A gorgeous YA romcom that made my mouth water the whole way through. Enemies to lovers sprinkled with recipes, what more could you want?
Jenny Ireland A lovely detail to see in the book is a recipe for some sweet treats at the end of chapters, which I’ve no doubt that readers with culinary interests will adore bringing to life in their own kitchen. An engaging and charming story, suitable for 14+ years
Books Ireland an homage to bake-off … a good old fashioned YA story … I absolutely was engaged from page one
The 10 Minute Book Club Podcast McDonnell is particularly good at conveying that Bake-Off-style pressure - I have never before been breathless over the outcome of fictional macarons. This is - apologies for the pun - a very sweet book.
Irish Times Any Way You Slice It ‘charming tale of reluctant allies … Their slow journey from sworn enemies to baking partners makes for a delightful and gripping read. The baking competition at the heart at the novel creates a momentous narrative that truly embodies the thrills of competition, flavoured with mishaps, stern judges and unexpected kinship. Suitable to all readers, this light-hearted story is also perfect for aspiring bakers themselves who might want to try some of the recipes spread throughout the book
Gabriely Pinto ideal book for teenage readers who also happen to be fans of Bake Off’
Irish Examiner A delicious Irish enemies-to-lovers teen romantic comedy, with oodles of humour, crackling dialogue, and so much heart, the pages practically pulse. I loved it
Irish Independent such a satisfying and entertaining read! The depiction of the young teenagers' relationship blossoming from enemies to more than friends is so realistic and authentic. The humour is perfectly pitched and the plotting is fantastic, I loved that there were subplots that added extra depth to the story without retracting from it or becoming confusing. The fact that it includes recipes with handwritten notes and that every chapter is a baking pun is the cherry on top! Perfect for fans of teen romances and bakin
@Unaagscriobh
Books for Keeps The baking competition setup is perfect: lots of tension, lots of sweet treats, and plenty of rivalry. Carrie’s ambition is relatable and fun to follow … warm, funny, and charming … The attention to family dynamics and emotional growth alongside romance is a lovely bonus.
ReadAndReviews a fun, cookery-themed contemporary romance about rival bakers forced to work together and finding out they don’t hate each other as much as they thought …There are so many yummy recipes included in this book. You don’t just get to see them cooking but you can try them yourself without having to infer from the text what they included. It’s a really nice touch – and I’ll probably try a few out!
Sifa Elizabeth Reads Combining the drama of competition with real-life family drama and adding a sprinkle of enemies to lovers - you have all the ingredients for a fantastic romcom here! Any way you slice it, this book is as addictive as the recipes in its pages.
Children's Books Ireland The baking competition at the heart of the novel creates a momentous narrative that embodies the thrills of competition, flavoured with mishaps, stern judges and unexpected kinship.
CBI’s The Best Irish Books of 2025 a little slice of heaven! … highly recommended
Sarah Webb This is the most charming YA romance filled with humour, friendship, teenage trials and the yummiest food in a book! … This is just the loveliest YA enemies to friends story and I loved every page, it was joyous, tense, heart wrenching and celebratory!
MyShelvesAreFull fun, tender rom-com … I ate it up in less than 24 hours and can’t wait for the final copy with recipes!
Alison Weatherby a sweet, lovely romance with such a fun premise
Alex Dunne super-sweet, warm as freshly-baked banana bread, yet deeply engaged … a gorgeous summer read
Sinead O’Hart Loved Any way you Slice It. A gorgeous YA romcom that made my mouth water the whole way through. Enemies to lovers sprinkled with recipes, what more could you want?
Jenny Ireland A lovely detail to see in the book is a recipe for some sweet treats at the end of chapters, which I’ve no doubt that readers with culinary interests will adore bringing to life in their own kitchen. An engaging and charming story, suitable for 14+ years
Books Ireland an homage to bake-off … a good old fashioned YA story … I absolutely was engaged from page one
The 10 Minute Book Club Podcast McDonnell is particularly good at conveying that Bake-Off-style pressure - I have never before been breathless over the outcome of fictional macarons. This is - apologies for the pun - a very sweet book.
Irish Times Any Way You Slice It ‘charming tale of reluctant allies … Their slow journey from sworn enemies to baking partners makes for a delightful and gripping read. The baking competition at the heart at the novel creates a momentous narrative that truly embodies the thrills of competition, flavoured with mishaps, stern judges and unexpected kinship. Suitable to all readers, this light-hearted story is also perfect for aspiring bakers themselves who might want to try some of the recipes spread throughout the book
Gabriely Pinto ideal book for teenage readers who also happen to be fans of Bake Off’
Irish Examiner A delicious Irish enemies-to-lovers teen romantic comedy, with oodles of humour, crackling dialogue, and so much heart, the pages practically pulse. I loved it
Irish Independent such a satisfying and entertaining read! The depiction of the young teenagers' relationship blossoming from enemies to more than friends is so realistic and authentic. The humour is perfectly pitched and the plotting is fantastic, I loved that there were subplots that added extra depth to the story without retracting from it or becoming confusing. The fact that it includes recipes with handwritten notes and that every chapter is a baking pun is the cherry on top! Perfect for fans of teen romances and bakin
@Unaagscriobh