“Filled with cherished memories and treasured recipes, The Recipe Box is a touching tribute to the women and food that unite us and connect our past to the present.” –Richard Paul Evans, #1 New York Times bestselling author “An easy, delightful novel” -Good Housekeeping In The Recipe Box, bestselling beloved author Viola Shipman spins a tale about a lost young woman and the family recipe box … spins a tale about a lost young woman and the family recipe box that changes her life.
Growing up in northern Michigan, Samantha “Sam” Mullins felt trapped on her family’s orchard and pie shop, so she left with dreams of making her own mark in the world. But life as an overworked, undervalued sous chef at a reality star’s New York bakery is not what Sam dreamed.
When the chef embarrasses Sam, she quits and returns home. Unemployed, single, and defeated, she spends a summer working on her family’s orchard cooking and baking alongside the women in her life–including her mother, Deana, and grandmother, Willo. One beloved, flour-flecked, ink-smeared recipe at a time, Sam begins to learn about and understand the women in her life, her family’s history, and her passion for food through their treasured recipe box.
As Sam discovers what matters most she opens her heart to a man she left behind, but who now might be the key to her happiness.
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This was a beautiful, cozy novel about family. The story takes place over many years of a family’s different generations from 1939 on. The story is about the family’s orchard in Michigan. It’s about the importance of family traditions over the years. It’s about the women in the family and their stories. Part of the story is about Sam and her struggle with her love towards her family and her wish to get away and keep living and working in New York.
The Recipe Box is a heartwarming intergenerational novel and so much more. As the story opens, Alice Mullins watches her husband Leo return from their orchard with a basket of apples. She decides to make a favorite dessert from the fruit, one she has baked many times over the years. When Leo presents her with a handmade recipe box, Alice writes down all the recipes she knows–and begins a family tradition.
We next meet Sam Nelson, Alice’s great-great-granddaughter, who has left the family orchard in northern Michigan to follow her dream of becoming a pastry chef in New York City. The young woman’s employer is a pompous reality-TV show host with no culinary experience who depends on his staff to bake his “creations.” When the self-styled “Chef Dimples” goes too far in demonstrating his lack of appreciation for the chefs who make him look good–and everyone else–Sam has had enough. She quits and, feeling like a dog with its tail between its legs, returns to Michigan.
As Sam comes to terms with what has happened, she receives support from her loving and wise parents and grandmother. Through their encouragement and stories about their own experiences–told as a series of well-placed flashbacks–Sam discovers new truths about her family. As she learns she is not alone in her struggle to find her own identity and place in the world, the confused young woman receives a bit of extra help from some friends.
Viola Shipman’s sensitive story is a treasure. Refreshingly free of the strong language and sexual content so prevalent in adult and young adult fiction, this novel is like a breath of fresh Michigan air. All the characters are well-rounded and believable, and the author’s descriptions of bustling Manhattan streets and the quiet orchard at dawn make the reader feel that he or she is really there. The language is nothing short of poetic: “The lake extended as far as Willo could see—a watery blue fabric that moved in the wind, the lighthouse watching over everything.” Recipes at the end of each chapter are icing on the cake of this delectable novel. Readers might find themselves following in this reviewer’s footsteps and returning to the beginning for a second helping.
“The only constant in life is change.”
An Exquisitely written novel full of love is once more written by Viola Shipman.
Willo, as the elder now in her family is turning 75.
Her beautiful farm in gorgeous Michigan is celebrating 100 years of life.
Willo has one wish for her upcoming birthday. It is for her adoring granddaughter Sam to find joy, love and contentment in her heart. Will Sam realize where she belongs and listen to the messages her family is attempting to show and tell her?
It is a book that will make you remember when you were a child, the things you hold dear and that “There is no place like home.”
If you enjoy a story that transports you with all the aromas and feelings you had in your youth, many delicious recipes that are found in an old recipe box and lots of love, this is the book to curl up with.
10 stars!
I will definitely buy this for all family to cherish!
This was an enjoyable story about family and hope. I loved the idea of passing the recipes down from generation to generation with their own recipe box special for them. With the added bonus of the recipes included in the book, it makes for a good read.
Loved this book and would love to try the recipes they sound so good
This was fun surprise. An easy read for a time when you want to read something for fun.
Viola Shipman has a formula – and it works. The books are always about the value and the ties of family, appreciating family traditions, and what they mean to us.
This particular book is about a family who owns orchards in Michigan. Each generation has handed down recipes through the years and also passed on a love of the orchards. The family has fed multiple families who have visited the orchards in the summer months.
Sam is a pastry chef and is trying to make her way in NYC. However, she is working for a nasty boss and suddenly quits. She returns to Michigan to ground herself and get a rest from the weariness of losing her job. She is lost and needs to be found. Her mother and grandmother gently tell her the stories of her ancestors and their baking. Angelo, a deliveryman from NYC, has formed an attraction to Sam, and comes to Michigan to visit her. But, Sam keeps pushing him away as she doesn’t know herself and is confused as to what she wants.
This is a sweet story about family and tradition, made sweeter by all the wonderful treasured recipes.
#TheRecipeBox #ViolaShipman
A heartwarming read…
The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman is set in Bayview Points, Michigan. Samantha “Sam” Nelson is working at Dimples Bakery in New York when her boss, Chef Dimples goes too far and she quits. She has had enough of his attitude and taking credit for her work. Sam grew up in Bayview Points on her families’ orchard, Mullins Pie Pantry and U-Pick. The orchard is having its hundredth birthday this summer and her grandmother, Willo is turning seventy-five. There will be a big party in honor of the two events. Sam heads home for the summer and works in the pie pantry alongside her mother, Deana and grandmother. When Sam was thirteen, she was given a handcrafted recipe box that matches grandmother’s and her mother’s. Inside are the family recipes that have been passed down from mother to daughter. While working alongside them and using the family recipes, she learns about their past, her family history, how the orchard came to be and her love for baking. She also learns that the right man that will complement her has been there all along if she just opens her heart. Join Sam on a journey through the past that will help her have a bright, happy future.
The Recipe Box is a charming novel. I thought it was well-written and had a steady pace. Ms. Shipman has a conversational writing style that has an ease to it (makes for an easy to read story that is engaging). The author provided beautiful descriptions of the area, the orchard, the people and the baked goods (recipes included). I loved the characters in the story with Willo being my favorite. I appreciated the strong, intelligent female characters. There are great interactions between the women. Life lessons are included in The Recipe Box which include know yourself and be true to yourself. It is important to live a life without regrets. The Recipe Box is a feel-good novel. There is a predictable element, but it did not hinder my enjoyment. I like a book that gives me a good, heartwarming feeling inside and leaves me with a smile on my face when I am done reading it. I look forward to this author’s next book.
A recipe box for her thirteenth birthday? Is that what Sam really wanted?
Probably not, but it made her mother and grandmother happy so Sam accepted it and made her first pie.
THE RECIPE BOX was a gift no thirteen-year-old wanted, but it was a gift that kept on giving throughout Sam’s life.
We follow Sam as she leaves her loving Michigan home and goes to New York to attend culinary school. She was a hit in New York, but her boss was a fake. To her family’s delight Sam decided to come back home.
Sam comes back to the love and warmth of her family and their bakery and orchards. Was she really ready for this? Did she make the right decision by coming back home?
All of the characters were lovable, but Grandma Willo was my favorite as was the story from her youth and her life.
Grandma was simply someone you would love to have as your grandmother because of her positive attitude and attention to making sure her family was happy in everything they chose.
THE RECIPE BOX is a “sweet,” loving read that makes you want to go into the kitchen and be with grandma making the pies and other delicious desserts.
Each chapter was titled with a recipe and inside each chapter we get to join in the family fun and view the ingredients and directions for the yummy food the family makes.
THE RECIPE BOX is for anyone who loves to bake with family, who loves recipes, who loves family history, and who enjoys being in a beautiful setting.
You most likely will shed a few tears not because of sadness, but because of the warmth and love that oozes from the characters and from things they say.
THE RECIPE BOX is a book that is an uplifting, make-sure-you-make-the-right decisions in your life by following your instincts and embracing change.
THE RECIPE BOX was definitely written WITH love and for those the author loves. 5/5
This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher and NetGalley in return for an honest review
Spoiler Alert
We meet Alice, who’s in the midst of getting all the ingredients for an apple pie together as her husband, Leo, and their dog, Mac pick apples. Alice makes apple crisp pie for her husband. She also makes her own whipped cream. The following day, she worked in the orchard. She writes out the secret family apple crisp recipe on note cards she received from the church. Leo surprises her with a hand carved recipe box for all her recipes. Alice is concerned no one will want her recipes as everyone in her family are gone.
Years later, we meet Sam, a N.Y. pastry chef working for Chef Dimples, a reality TV star who is obsessed with fame and can’t cook. When he asks her to make something for his GMA appearance, she makes a peach-blueberry slam pie. Chef Dimples then says that the pie is ok so Sam then remembers her thirteenth birthday where her family gave her a party. One of the gifts she received from her grandmother Willo and mom, Deana was a receive box with their family receipts handwritten in a wood carved recipe box with a key that Sam, her mom and grandmother all have. After her memory, Chef Dimples demands that Sam make his blueberry pie. Sam then tells Chef Dimples off and quits
We now find Sam on her way home to Michigan as she leaves N.Y. and her roommates and especially Angelo, their fruit vendor who texts her on the plane as it lands.
I loved all the characters especially Sam, Willo and Angelo. This was my first book of Ms. Shipmans but certainly not my last
Somewhat sappy story with an unrealistic ending, but great recipes!
This book made me want to visit Suttons Bay and bake!
I love this authors books.
I truly loved this book, and enjoyed it very much. The characters were so realistic, lots of family interplay, along with some romance, and descriptive of the state of Michigan. And the recipes sound so enticing that I shall have to try them! I highly recommend this book!
Easy read cozy mystery. Also, some excellent recipes are included (I tried a couple).
Loved the recipes. Great story.
Very long
Sweet and a joy to read
also enjoyed the redipes