Sweet readers,
Working my way through 3 reading challenges this year. Normally, I would question my own sanity for thinking that signing up for more than 1 reading challenge was a good idea. But like I explained in January’s Sentence a Day post, here, I kind of prophesied my way into broken foot. And all of a sudden, I have loads of time to read!! So this month I will be reviewing at least two books.
How to Bake a Perfect Life
How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O’Neal was the book I chose for the “Book by Book” challenge January prompt “something cozy”. Linking-up with Kristen over at Taz & Belly for today’s review.
In order to find a cozy book, I searched Goodreads and Amazon for books with themes described as ‘loving’ and ‘warm’. Goodreads summarized it this way:
In a novel as warm and embracing as a family kitchen, Barbara O’Neal explores the poignant, sometimes complex relationships between mothers and daughters—and the healing magic of homemade bread.
In my mind, kitchens and the smell of homemade bread baking are certainly cozy.
Fine Print
- Format read: Audible (listened to)
- Publisher: Brilliance Audio, July 25, 2013
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0553386778
- Goodreads Average Customer Review:
- Amazon Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist: “O’Neal’s third novel is, like its predecessors (The Lost Recipe for Happiness, 2008; The Secret of Everything, 2010), a dramatic, emotional story with honest characters and a warm heart at its center.” [source]
From Publishers Weekly: “O’Neal’s tale of strong-willed women and torn family loyalties is a cut above the standard women’s fiction fare, held together by lovingly sketched characters and real emotion.” [source]
Summary
An unforgettable novel that celebrates food, family, and the unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters. Professional baker Ramona Gallagher is a master of an art that has sustained her through the most turbulent times, including a baby at fifteen and an endless family feud. But now Ramona’s bakery threatens to crumble around her. Literally. She’s one water-heater disaster away from losing her grandmother’s rambling Victorian and everything she’s worked so hard to build. [source]
Favorite Quote
Yeah. The. One. The one you’ve been waiting for. The one you want. The one from every song ever sung about love.
My Review
I selected this book to fit the bill for Kristen’s “Book by Book” reading challenge prompt “a book that is cozy”. The word ‘bake’ in the title made me feel cozy, in addition to the image of the pup on the cover and the woman – our main character, Ramona – in an apron with a mixing spoon. Kitchens and baking and puppies are pretty cozy to my way of thinking.
This is Ramona’s story. A struggling mom, daughter, granddaughter and entrepreneur whose bakery is on the brink of insolvency. While life has never been easy for Ramona, bread baking has been one constant that has led her out of dark times in the past. With the possibility of losing her bake shop, every aspect of her life is on tilt.
O’Neal creates believable, relatable relationships among all of the female characters of this book and the struggles each has faced and is facing as the story unfolds. Tips for maintaining a sourdough bread starter and recipes for bread are interspersed throughout. Toward the end of reading How to Bake a Perfect Life, I baked one of my best loaves of bread using our family’s 100 year old sourdough starter. Thank you, Barbara!
You can meet Barbara O’Neal, here. And check out the reader’s guide and discussion questions, here.
Your Turn
Have you read a book that would qualify as ‘cozy’? If, so let me know in a comment below. What made it that way? This genre, this book are really removed from my usual preference of historical fiction, especially those set during World War II. But it was a good diversion. And there were some crazy parallels to my life. Part of the story is set in El Paso! With mention of Ft. Bliss where PC works. And one of the secondary characters is a soldier in Afghanistan, where my daughter’s fiance is from. Then the whole sourdough yeast starter. I could relate to the catharsis of caring for the yeast, baking the bread, working out life while kneading the dough. This month’s “Book by Book” prompt is ‘love/romance’.
Stay tuned for another book review later this month. My answer to January’s prompt ‘activism’ for the “Book Girl Magic Reading Challenge”.
In February, we are reading a ‘black history best seller’. Enjoying the title I picked!
Thank you for coming by girls. Gets kinda lonely being home day after day, not able to do a lot of the things I like to do. I always look forward to your visits.
Hugs and kisses,
I need to check this book out and now you have me craving bread (yours looks SO yummy!). I saw your review of the book on Goodreads today, too. Any book with that long of a review from you must be good! 🙂
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
LOL, you cutie. I have to think a lot when I write a book review. Hard work. So many times it is easier to say … yeah, yeah, 3 stars, and then submit without a review. But How to Bake a Perfect Life was just what I needed. Not super heavy and hard. And it has a happy ending.
I have all of the ingredients to make Brian’s focaccia now. But have told myself I need to learn to spell that word without looking it up before I make it!! My yeast starter is in a good place because I have given it some extra love lately so will mix up Brian’s recipe soon. I keep spelling his name Brain. Better practice on spelling Brian and focaccia, I guess.
Leslie, I feel your pain. I broke my foot 2.5 years ago and it was the worst summer of my life! Loved your book review! Mine comes out next week. January was a slow reading month for me, but ended on a high note! Hope you’re better soon!
Woo hoo, so looking forward to your reading challenge post. I know you will have some good titles to share.
Tell me more about your foot…did you have a cast? On what part of your foot was the break? I know we could have completely different fractures but I am worried that a cast may be in my future. UGH!!
I saw your review on Goodreads and made a note to look it up once I finish this challenge. I have a hard enough time keeping up with one book challenge. I can’t add any additional books. LOL
That bread looks delish. I used to bake cranberry bread and banana bread when the kids were little… I miss those smells.
Make some cranberry bread!! And share the recipe. I would love to try it. One of my fav bloggers, Carrie, shared her husband’s focaccia-baking on her blog. Oh, it looked so good. And nothing smells better than baking bread. Which I could imagine I was smelling the whole way through How to Bake a Perfect Life. Baking bread makes almost everything all better.
Thank you for such a lovely review! I had to laugh because I’m sitting on my couch with my ankle in a cast at this very moment. Synchronicity!
Your bread looks amazing.
OH, MY GRAVY!!! Barbara O’Neal is writing me?!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! It was my pleasure to write a review for How To Bake. I felt so many connections to Ramona (I am always one step away from financial disaster!) and to the family yeast starter, the bread baking therapy, mention of El Paso and Ft. Bliss. It was by chance that I found this book but now look forward to reading your other books.
What is it that has your ankle in a cast? A fracture? I am scared they are going to cast my foot when I return for a check this coming Monday. Fractures, orthopedic shoes, casts all have a way of slowing life waaaaaay down! I was looking to find more peace in 2018, and I guess a broken foot is going to be the vehicle that gets me to that place.
Thank you for coming by, for lifting me up with your kind words. Heal well!
Sounds like an interesting and enjoyable book. Loved reading your review! And isn’t it interesting that you signed up for all those reading challenges… I hope you are coping okay being stuck on the couch…
Andrea
Andrea’s Wellness Notes
Ha! I am reading with great abandon over here. Hard to do much else. But I have decided that I prayed to find more peace in my life this year and this dumb foot is the vehicle for bringing me some quiet time.
Hope you and your family are having a less stressful February. Anxious to have you back among us. XO