Guest post written by The Soulmate Bakery author Safa Ahmed
Safa Ahmed is a British-Pakistani content marketer and Psychology undergraduate. Ever since she scribbled down her first story-a mystery featuring stolen cookies and an incriminating teddy bear-it’s been her dream to be a writer and publish books that celebrate joy, heartbreak, swoony love interests, fierce female characters, and everything in-between. When she’s not writing, she is usually re-reading her favourite fantasy novels, wreaking havoc in the kitchen or expanding her ever-growing TBR pile. You can find her on Instagram and TikTok as: @safaswritings
About The Soulmate Bakery: This cozy, romantic fantasy is perfect for fans of Gilmore Girls, The Baby Dragon Cafe and Legends and Lattes!
There’s something undeniably romantic about the idea of soulmates. The thought that somewhere out there is one person destined for you, someone who will understand you in ways nobody else can, is a promise that romance has returned to time and time again. It suggests that love isn’t something we have to search for endlessly, but something waiting for us to discover it.
But what if the person we believe is our soulmate isn’t necessarily the person who’s right for us?
This was an idea I wanted to explore while writing THE SOULMATE BAKERY, a cosy fantasy romance set in the magical town of Maple Falls. My protagonist, Maya Reverie, is a chaotic kitchen witch who dreams of finding her soulmate. When she discovers an enchanted cookie recipe that promises to help her do exactly that, she sees it as her chance to finally find the love she’s always wanted. Unfortunately, her cookies go spectacularly wrong, accidentally love-cursing six people in the process.
As Maya scrambles to undo the spell, she finds herself caught between two very different boys: Silas, the golden-boy werewolf she’s spent years dreaming about, and Orion, a grumpy dragon-shifter with whom she shares a complicated history. Orion is also the person who broke her heart the previous summer, making him the last person she wants to rely on, even if he might be the one who understands her best.
For Maya, the idea of a soulmate is initially reassuring. If there’s one perfect person out there for her, then surely finding him will mean everything else falls into place. She just has to work out who he is.
I think many of us can relate to that feeling, even without enchanted cookies or magical matchmaking. We grow up surrounded by stories that promise us a perfect love, often one that arrives with an unmistakable sense of certainty. We’re encouraged to look for signs, to believe in instant connections, and to imagine that when we meet the right person, we’ll simply know.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting that kind of love. In fact, I think the soulmate trope is so enduring precisely because it speaks to something universal: the desire to be understood, chosen and loved for who we really are. There’s comfort in believing that someone out there will see us completely and still want to stay.
But I also think there’s a danger in becoming too attached to the idea of what our soulmate is supposed to look like.
When we decide that love must arrive in a particular form, we risk overlooking the relationships that don’t fit our expectations. We might mistake familiarity for destiny, idealise someone from a distance, or become so focused on winning a particular person’s heart that we fail to notice what we actually need.
Maya’s journey is, in part, about learning the difference between wanting someone and truly knowing them. Silas represents the romantic ideal she’s built up in her imagination, while Orion challenges her in ways she doesn’t always welcome. Their history is messy, their feelings are complicated, and neither relationship offers the simple answers Maya hopes to find.
I wanted to have fun with the soulmate trope while also questioning some of its assumptions. What if a soulmate isn’t necessarily the person who looks perfect on paper? What if it isn’t about finding someone who never challenges you or with whom everything feels effortless? And what if the person who’s right for you is someone you never expected to fall for?
For me, a soulmate isn’t necessarily someone who completes you, as though you were missing a piece of yourself before they arrived. It’s someone who sees you clearly, who understands the parts of you that you struggle to explain, and with whom you can grow into a version of yourself you genuinely want to be.
Perhaps there isn’t just one person out there for everyone. Perhaps there are people we could build meaningful, lasting relationships with, and what makes those connections special isn’t destiny alone, but the choices we make and the effort we put into understanding one another.
That doesn’t make love any less magical. If anything, I think it makes it more so.
After all, there’s something wonderfully romantic about discovering that love can surprise you, that the future you imagined for yourself can change, and that sometimes the person who makes your heart race isn’t the person you expected.
And if Maya’s story has taught me anything, it’s that sometimes the hardest part of finding your soulmate isn’t figuring out who they are. It’s letting go of who you thought they would be.
