When Olivia Rawlings—pastry chef extraordinaire for an exclusive Boston dinner club—sets not just her flambéed dessert but the entire building alight, she escapes to the most comforting place she can think of—the idyllic town of Guthrie, Vermont, home of Bag Balm, the country’s longest-running contra dance, and her best friend Hannah. But the getaway turns into something more lasting when Margaret Hurley, the cantankerous, sweater-set-wearing owner of the Sugar Maple Inn, offers Livvy a job. Broke and knowing that her days at the club are numbered, Livvy accepts.
Livvy moves with her larger-than-life, uberenthusiastic dog, Salty, into a sugarhouse on the inn’s property and begins creating her mouthwatering desserts for the residents of Guthrie. She soon uncovers the real reason she has been hired—to help Margaret reclaim the inn’s blue ribbon status at the annual county fair apple pie contest.
With the joys of a fragrant kitchen, the sound of banjos and fiddles being tuned in a barn, and the crisp scent of the orchard just outside the front door, Livvy soon finds herself immersed in small town life. And when she meets Martin McCracken, the Guthrie native who has returned from Seattle to tend his ailing father, Livvy comes to understand that she may not be as alone in this world as she once thought.
But then another new arrival takes the community by surprise, and Livvy must decide whether to do what she does best and flee—or stay and finally discover what it means to belong. Olivia Rawlings may finally find out that the life you want may not be the one you expected—it could be even better.
Comment: This is the second book I try by this author. I've picked it now because it would suit a topic in a challenge I'm doing, but I was a little apprehensive to read it because the other one I did try was a good read, but some elements weren't the best and I feared the same could happen here...
In this story we meet Olivia "Livvy" Rawlings, a baker at a prestigious club in Boston. When the story begins, Livvy is about to present a special dessert for an important event and things don't go very well, making her feel she needs to get away and she decides to seek her friend Hannah, in a quiet town in Vermont. She hopes to charge batteries, but the opportunity to work at an inn and earn some money she desperately needs convince her and after a while she starts feeling part of the community, even going as far as to think she could fall in love with Martin, the son of her boss' best friend. But his family is worrying for Martin's grandfather, who is ill... besides, Livvy has the experience that everyone leaves her. Can she hope things will be different now?
I barely remember the other book I've read by this author and had to check my post which helped me get some ideas back. I remembered that my overall feel of that other book had been one of great ideas and potential, but some narrative choices didn't seem to be as precise or suited as I'd prefer and although this is clearly a matter of personal interpretation, I still felt the story could have been stronger.
Well, I feel exactly the same regarding this one, the delivery could have been so much better if one or two key elements had been different. Perhaps this means the author's style is this and all her her work will follow a certain pattern, but I can't help feeling a little frustrated because the potential for something sweeter, something stronger is right there...
Livvy is a likable protagonist but I must confess some of her choices didn't seem the best and that did impact my opinion of her a little. It seems some of those choices can be explained by the fact she had a mother who left, and a father who raised but who died. This led her to feel people who should be there for her would leave and she has been alone since she was sixteen. The fact that she did something with her life means she had drive and focus and I did like how she loved baking and how she was so good at it.
Personality wise, she was approachable but the fact she was sleeping with her married boss before leaving for Vermont did disappoint me. I imagined her story would go on towards the scenario of her realizing life in a smaller community in Vermont would let her see how rewarding it would be to have close friends and relationships and, perhaps, even find love. In a way, this is what does happen, but the writing style, and things being told from Livvy's POV makes the story feel as if it's not always linear. I think this style helps with the idea of reading things as one wants, but I feel that sometimes this also meant the situations were more like episodes put together rather than a narrative.
The plot is simple, Livvy starts working at the inn, makes friends, tries to keep up her friendship with Hannah but this soon proves hard when her closer and closer relationship with Martin's family, especially his ill father - like a father figure for Livvy too - means her free time is often spent with them. The fact she likes music and plays banjo and Martin's father also played instruments brings them closer, and I did like this aspect of focusing part of Livvy's character development in letting her form relationships which are not only passionate. Of course, this leads to many emotional situations, considering the illness and Livvy's own sense of abandonment.
As the story gets closer to the end, something happens to dramatize the small conflicts and Livvy does something sudden, which I disliked. She makes a decision without informing others and I think that while this is certainly not that surprising if we consider her past choices and the examples she has had, she is also an adult and she has been establishing solid relationships; I feel she didn't have to go back to her old ways. I also think it would have made for a stronger plot if certain situations had not been rushed, or perhaps I felt that because Livvy is the only one narrating and she does have a limited way of learning some things.
In regards to the romance, since it's not the focus things don't get to be developed as much as some readers might like, but the hints and the slow pace felt enough to me. Nevertheless, if it's an element the author chose to include, then I think she could have written things in a way that would show the relationship as being more balanced. Livvy should be more aware of why Martin was back in Vermont, although he lives in Seattle, and that, perhaps, he would want to go back. I'm saying this because why assume anything, why not talking... I understand why, the point was to create a specific situation, but... there were other ways to delay the HEA.
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