The Perfect recipe For Love And Friendship

O’Bannon Sisters, Book #1

By Shirley Jump

ISBN: 9781455572007

Author Website: http://www.shirleyjump.com

 

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer jerjen

Synopsis:

“Beautifully written and unflinching in its portrayal of the complexities of marriage, sisterhood and long-held secrets.”

Kristan Higgins, New York Times bestselling author, on The Secret Ingredient for a Happy Marriage Bridget O’Bannon is ready for a do-over. After years of pretending she had a happy marriage and denying that she missed the friends and family she’d left behind, she’s headed home to restart her life.

But working alongside her family every day at their bakery isn’t as easy as whipping up her favorite chocolate peanut butter cake. Her mother won’t give her a moment’s peace, and her sister Abby is keeping secrets of her own. And there doesn’t seem to be enough frosting in the world to smooth over the cracks forming between them.

Bridget can see the recipe for a happy life- including the possibility of a new romance- written out before her, but first she and her family will need to lay bare their secrets and rediscover the most elusive ingredients of all: forgiveness, laughter, and love. (Goodreads)

 

Review:

This book is the perfect recipe for family love, family betrayal, second chances and healing.  It is a family drama that elicited many different emotions: sadness, happiness, concern and humor.

Bridget has just lost her husband and she does not know how to act.  No one knows that her marriage was not a happy one, in fact, she was planning on getting a divorce.  She feels like a hypocrite mourning her marriage but that is what expected of her.  She really struggles to get motivated and moving, all she wants to do is stay in bed and be alone.  But her mother and her sisters will not let her do that, they continue to make her push on.

Bridget’s mother is not one to show affection, she is a tough task master and appears to love the family bakery more than her daughters.  Bridget has three sisters that she loves dearly but they have grown apart.  Nora is the sister that has stayed and continues to help run the bakery.  She is the peacemaker of the family.  Abby is the one that pulled away from the family after a horrible argument on Bridget’s wedding day.  Magpie is the youngest, the loudest and the one that travels the world.  And her Aunt Mary is another traveler and has been in and out of their lives forever.  Each of them have their own baggage to carry around and each of them have their own secrets.  It will take all of them to trust each other with those secrets and be able to forgive if there is any chance of the O’Bannons being a family again.  Can they do that?

The characters are well rounded and well developed.  From the very beginning of the book I felt like all of these people were my friends and I wanted to know what was going on in their lives.  I cared about them right from the start and wanted to see them get their lives back on track and work out their differences.  I laughed with them, cried with them, felt frustrated with them and felt happiness for them.  There really was not any character that I did not want to spend time with.  I felt this book was character driven and I enjoyed that a lot.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted women’s contemporary.  There was warmth, sadness, humor and great characters that will draw you in from the start.  I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series and learning more about the lives and secrets of the O’Bannon women.