I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

The book follows the main character as she finds herself and realizes what is important in life. Sam's internal reflections give the reader some powerful and important messages to consider. Her recipe box connects her to her love for baking and her family. The author paints a beautiful picture of an orchard and bakery on Lake Michigan. The included recipes sound yummy!

I cannot say that I enjoyed this book at all. Conversations between characters were stilted and unrealistic. To have come from such a long line of strong women, I found Sam to be wishy-washy and very unlikable. If you like shallow, feel good books with no meat at all this is the book for you.

The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman is a pretty good read. I recommend to other readers to add it to their wish list. I give it 4 stars.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is so heart warming. Sam is a pastry chef in search for her place in the world. She comes from a family in Michigan and she is determined that she wants bigger and better. Yet, she finds her heart right back on the orchard she was running from. I fell in love with this entire family. Highly recommend this book!

I enjoyed this sweet story about Sam Mullins who was raised on her family's orchard in Michigan. Generations before her have lived on the farm and baked pies for visitors. Sam longs for something different and she works at a well known bakery in New York City.
While home in Michigan for an unexpected visit, she questions herself and her place in the family business. There is also a possible romance as well.
This book is filled with descriptions of delicious desserts and includes the recipes.

I received an ARC copy from netgalley for my honest review,  so thank you netgalley and publishers for offering me this book! ! ♡
This was a lovely novel, and wonderfully written. Sam Nelson is at a crossroad in her career as a pastry chef. Working for a pastry chef and TV cooking show star, Sam decides to quit. She travels to Sutton’s Bay on Lake Michigan to her home to try and make sense of it all. Back at Mullins Family Orchard and Pie Pantry, Sam is embraced by her mother and grandmother. Sam comes to understand who she is and what she really needs.
This was my first book by this author,  I absolutely enjoyed every second of it!! It was fast paced and just alltogether an easy read. ♡ I give this book a 5 star rating!

A warm hearted story of a multi generational family. I am not a baker, but the recipes sounded delicious. A nice story for a special time of yesr

This is a warm read about family, traditions, food, and finding your path in life. It was easy to relate to the characters, place myself right inside the orchard, and smell the pies baking!

This is a simple book. An easy book to read. Deceptively simple and easy.
My grandmother baked. She baked for us weekly; our bread and noodles. She baked for holidays and family gatherings. She baked for us when we were ill. She showed me how to bake, with a pinch and a mound. I tagged every recipe in the book for ease of finding. Baking is a loving act and this book reminded why I know just who I love because I want to make cannoli for him.

I love Viola Shipman books. He writes multi-generational stories that have usually 3 women, grand mother, mother, daughter. The family connection is always pivotal to the story. Sam escaped Michigan as soon as she graduated to pursue a career as a baker in New York City. When she gets fed up with her boss and quits, she returns home to the family apple orchard and pie shop. The only thing she misses in New York is a delivery man named Angelo who loved her baking. As Sam works with her mother and grandmother she discovers some family secrets and the ties that bind. A wonderful story for all ages.

The Recipe Box is a lovely novel thoughtfully written to relate the journey to discovery of self and of what really matters. Sam Nelson is at a crossroad in her career as a pastry chef. Working for a pseudo-pastry chef and TV cooking show star, Sam finally gathers her nerve to quit. She travels back to Sutton’s Bay on Lake Michigan to her true home to try and make sense of it all.
Back at Mullins Family Orchard and Pie Pantry, Sam is embraced by her mother and grandmother and surrounded by baking and surrounded by a sense of true home, Sam comes to understand who she is and what she truly needs.

The Recipe Box is a beautifully written novel. I loved the plot and the characters. It is a great story of family. I enjoyed this author's writing and hope to read more of her books.

If you are looking for a sweet story without drama, look no further!
The recipe box is a story about family, family history and heritage, about identity and the love for baking.
It is a calm and slowly moving story, that still gripped me from beginning to end. It is never the least bit boring. Such a beautiful story with a construction that just works so well. It doesn't follow all the typical ways stories are told. No dramatic break which wouldn't have worked with the story.
Really really enjoyed it and will definitely recommend this in the future.

A lovely story of finding yourself through the history of your family.
Samantha Mullins wants to be a world renown baker. When her dream job sizzles she goes back home to Michigan and her family, who have owned an operated an apple orchard for decades. There, she realizes the life the so desperately wanted to run away from when she was a child is the one, ultimately, that she craves.

This book was a lovely tribute to family and the love that only the people who know you best can give you and share with you.

I was given an arc of this book from Netgalley for an honest opinion and I honestly found this story and the way it was told, delightful. 5 stars.

I was excited to read The Recipe Box after enjoying The Charm Bracelet. This book appealed even more to me as someone who loves to cook and uses handed down recipes.
The book unravels the lives of the family and how things have changed while staying the same with the one thing which links them together is the love of cooking to celebrate family and life.
I loved reading it and look forward to trying out some of the recipes.

Quite a slow paced story set in America, and focussed on a family who have owned and run an orchard for almost 100 years. Sam is torn between her life in New York and back in Michigan.

Some nice sounding recipes I would love to try out too!

This book was very disappointing. The author pushed the limits of credibility in plotting, in dialogue and in the relationships.

First the relationship between the hero and heroine of the story was very poorly developed. There was no involvement between the two, they never dated but he flies out to her home to visit?

The dialogue between the characters is very much over the top. While families do have their moments of sentimentality, in this book you have scene after scene. Introduction of a recipe, means a family flashback and then some type of truism. One or two would have been meaningful. But as the same rote was repeated over and over again, it became meaningless.

Disappointingly this is not a book I can recommend.

I received this book "The Recipe Box" from Netgalley for my honest review.

I really liked this book and the recipes! I will have to go back and try to print some of the ones I want to make. The story was a page turner and down to earth. I loved the family aspect of the entire book. You will fall in love with the characters. Sam finally finds out where she belongs - I didn't want the story to end.

Although the premise of the book was appealing, it did not succeed as much as Shipman’s book, The Charm Bracelet. Sam is a pastry chef in Manhattan, working for a nasty, phony famous chef. She quits and returns home to Michigan, where her mother and grandmother own an orchard and pie making business. Sam is looking to find her own destiny, and the chargers alternate between current day and her relatives’ stories. This was just okay, predictable, at times too sweet.

The Recipe Box
Viola Shipman
Available: March 20, 2018

Thank you to NetGalley.com for the opportunity to read an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
I hate pie. Cooked fruit is nasty. I wish I did though – then I could put almost all of these magical recipes to work for me. With a story that ended almost word for word as it began, sprinkle in some beautiful memories, touching moments, and some cute characters, The Recipe Box is the fluffy, a little sappy, love letter to the state of Michigan and cooked fruit.
What I loved: Next year my daughter will be going to college on Lake Michigan (in IN, but still the Midwest) and I would love for her to have some of these amazing summer experiences that we just don’t get here in California (sunset at 10 pm, swimming in lakes with fish nipping at your toes (ewww), embracing fruit that you don’t get year round.
What I didn’t love: Mom Deanna seemed to get the shaft in the story – instead of being a pivotal part of her daughter’s life, she was more on the sidelines with very little interaction with her daughter. Most of the time, I actually confused her with one of the 3 D’s in the pie pantry since their names were so similar.
What I learned: How are these people not diabetic and 500 lbs?
Overall Grade: B

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