Summary: A young woman inherits her grandmother's house, kitchen and business.
I absolutely loved Melissa Senate's previous book The Secret of Joy, and while this book was good, it wasn't great. It seemed a bit cliched and predictable and I much prefer Erica Bauermeister's The School of Essential Ingredients
.Holly moves back to Blue Crab Cove, Maine, after breaking up with yet another man who doesn't seem that interested in marrying or being with Holly. Holly has always been the chaser, not the pursued when it comes to love. Two weeks later, her grandmother dies, leaving Holly the house and the business. (Wills never go through probate in novel life apparently.) She's also focused on keeping her grandmother's cooking school running even though Holly is a timid chef. Most of her grandmother's recipe include some emotional ingredient - like a true wish or a sad thought.
Holly's first class consists of her old high school friend grieving the death of her daughter, a single woman looking for love, a divorced dad with a tween daughter, and teenage girl hoping to become a better cook so her father won't have to remarry. Can you guess where this is going? Yes, you can.
The divorced dad and the single woman hook up, and pretty much get forgotten. The grieving mother won't or can't accept comfort from anybody, including her husband or Holly. And yes, Holly does have a massive crush on and eventually date the father of her teenaged student. Holly is also asked to prepare a tasting menu for a wedding that her grandmother was supposed to cater back when she was alive. The love story here felt so predictable that I was disappointed in the book, precisely because I knew exactly what was going to happen. Then the beautiful ex-wife shows up and wants to be a part of her ex-husband's and daughter's lives again.
Ultimately a forgettable book from an author I previously raved about. And when I found a glaring spelling error in the book, my heart sank a little.
of the 1890s and that's the most apt description ever. Two sisters, the beautiful and calm Elizabeth and the wild and rumpled younger Diana, have re-entered New York high society after the death of the father almost a year ago.
but a friend convinced me to read another book by her.
, Shinn creates a new world that fascinated me, based loosely on feng shui principles or perhaps zodiac signs.
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, is one of my favorite Regency Romance authors. 
is amazing!) When Annie's teenage daughter leaves for a semester abroad, Annie thinks she and her husband can finally reconnect. Instead, he tells her he's in love with another woman and leaving her. Cliche, sure, but Hannah would handle it well, I believed. Annie spent her whole life being a mom, and housekeeper, so I thought this would be a novel about finding yourself, and what makes you happy. So Annie runs home to Mystic River and her father and promptly hooks up with her high school sweetheart, Nick, who married her best friend, Kathy. Kathy committed suicide eight months ago, leaving a floundering Nick, and lonely daughter Izzy, who became mute suddenly and is convinced she's disappearing. Annie becomes Izzy's housekeeper, despite her father's concern. Annie rants to him, "You told me I need to find a project. What am I supposed to do - cure cancer? I'm a wife and mother. That's all I know. All I am." Okay, Annie, how about finding a therapist? Or a career counselor? Did feminism pass Mystic River by? Ridiculous. Especially since she starts living at Nick's house, cooking meals, planting a garden, doing crafts. Finally, Annie's friend Terry asks what I was hoping to ask Annie, "You just spent twenty years waiting for a a man to come home - now you're waiting for another man?" Exactly, Terry. Apparently, it's fine to be a housekeeper/wife/mother if it's the right man, and he doesn't cheat on you. I was so disappointed. Co-dependent love story - almost worrisome, overly-sentimental reflection, but no real growth in any of the characters.