The City Baker's Guide To Country Living

I'm a sucker for a story about a baker who leaves the city to work in the New England countryside. I've always had a hankering to do just that, so this genre works for me. Some of the characters in the story are musicians playing Appalachian and Contradance music, which was a fun aside for and Old-Timey musician like me.

30-something Livvy is a baker in a swank Boston hotel, but after she causes a fire with her flambé, she escapes to a friend's house in a small town in Vermont, and accepts a job baking at a country Inn. The Inn belongs to Margaret, a snarky, no-nonsense 70-something proprietress akin to Olive Kittridge. This is a story about how Margaret and Livvy learn to trust each other, and to become family.

I enjoyed the baking tips woven into the story (for example, a pie crust needs to be rolled from the inside out, not back and forth!), and the relationships between Livvy, and the elders: Margaret, Margaret's best friend Dotty, and Dotty's husband, Henry. Dotty and Henry's Seattle-based son Martin is temporarily helping out at the family farm, when no-surprise he becomes Livvy's love interest. This love story is the weakest aspect of the story, as the two fall in love without the reader witnessing more than a few brief conversations. I need to see a relationship developing in order to buy into life-changing decisions that follow.

This is a fun, light read for those interested in baking, country life, music, and the issues of older adults. ⭐⭐⭐.5/5 Hardcover 352 Pages, Audiobook 10 hours, 10 minutes.