This book was sent to Traveling With T for review consideration.

The Secret Ingredient of Wishes

Summary: 26-year-old Rachel Monroe has spent her whole life trying to keep a very unusual secret: she can make wishes come true. And sometimes the consequences are disastrous. So when Rachel accidentally grants an outlandish wish for the first time in years, she decides it’s time to leave her hometown—and her past—behind for good.

Rachel isn’t on the road long before she runs out of gas in a town that’s not on her map: Nowhere, North Carolina—also known as the town of “Lost and Found.” In Nowhere, Rachel is taken in by a spit-fire old woman, Catch, who possesses a strange gift of her own: she can bind secrets by baking them into pies. Rachel also meets Catch’s neighbor, Ashe, a Southern gentleman with a complicated past, who makes her want to believe in happily-ever-after for the first time in her life.

As she settles into the small town, Rachel hopes her own secrets will stay hidden, but wishes start piling up everywhere Rachel goes. When the consequences threaten to ruin everything she’s begun to build in Nowhere, Rachel must come to terms with who she is and what she can do, or risk losing the people she’s starting to love—and her chance at happiness—all over again.

 

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

Magical realism is always a bit hit or miss for me. I crave (at times) a story that is fanciful and makes me believe in the power of magic, of making me think about things that I don’t often find myself dreaming about- but sometimes, it’s too much.

However, The Secret Ingredient of Wishes is not too much. If someone could book me a one way ticket to Nowhere, North Carolina right now- I would be forever grateful 🙂

 

What I liked:

The cover. The coloring. The script used for the title. And the pie. Yep, the pie.

Catch. Gosh, I loved that woman. GREAT character!

The town. Nowhere, North Carolina is as much of a character in this book as the actual people. I called Minnow Bay a Stars Hollow like town- but I think Nowhere is even more Stars Hollow-ish.

Everley. Her store was giving me the shop of Sandra Bullock’s from Practical Magic feel and I really wish she was real and could mix me some of that good sounding stuff she sells!

 

What I didn’t love:

Rachel keeping secrets from Catch. Listen, if you are staying with someone who can bind secrets to pies- she’s not going to raise an eyebrow about your wishes.

Ashe! Listen, I know I’m supposed to love him. And I LIKED him- but sometimes I wanted to say to him- don’t you ever get tired of eating pie? I mean, there are other things: cookies, ice cream, etc.. However, he did have an appeal that kept me very curious about him. 😉

 

Bottom line: Others are comparing it to Sarah Addison Allen, but I’m feeling more of a comparison to The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee. Anyway, treat yourself and grab this book!

 

*This book was sent to Traveling With T for review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.*

 

Giveaway:

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press- I have 1 copy, US only, to give to a lucky reader! Check the Rafflecopter and enter to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,

T @ Traveling With T