Cover Image: The Recipe Box

The Recipe Box

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Member Reviews

The Mullins family own a farm in Michigan. The recipe box is full of family history, traditions and recipes. It has been passed down through the women of the family for years. The family has been kept alive along with the history through this precious family heirloom!
I highly recommend this book to all those that enjoy a story about close family connections!

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This story is a happy one of a family that runs an orchard. The granddaughter cannot decide who or what she wants to be. There are recipes scattered throughout the story. The orchard ties the whole family together. This was a fun read that made me want to take a trip to Michigan and eat lots of desserts.

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3.5 stars. I've been meaning to read Shipman for years, but have never seemed to have gotten to. This tells a story of a multi-generation family living in Michigan and the granddaughter Sam, who is fighting to decide if she wants more than tradition or if tradition, home, is what she's been seeking all along. I felt the characters in this story, particularly Sam, were very relatable. As a Michigander myself, I've fought the same fight that Sam has. Do you stay home, where family and love keep you safe? Or do you charter the unknown and see where it leads you? I loved the recipes included in this. I'm going to have make everyone one at some point. The only real gripe I had, it at times, I felt like I was reading a tourist's guide for Michigan. There was evident knowledge of the area, which is preferred, but at times, I feel like the landscape didn't need a name. Tell us what Sam or Willo sees. Don't say, "Oh and it was this grove', etc. It worked every once and while, but after a bit, I felt like I was being force fed a travel guide. I love Michigan, it's home, but for someone who isn't from home, the names could bog the narrative flow. With that, I will have to go back and see if I can find more of her works.

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Great recipes, not over the top with romance but deeply filled with rich family history of the apple farm and how the family made it what it is along with a deep history of recipes to correspond. Loved the midwestern touch and I saved the city this mostly took place in on my Google Maps app to venture there some day.

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Samantha always wanted a little bit more for herself than the family orchard that she grew up on. In The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman, Sam leaves her idyllic northern Michigan town to find her dream, but she may have been right where she needed to be all along.

When Sam heads to New York to start a new life, she finds a job as a pastry chef which she loves, but the chef she works for leaves something to be desired. She comes to the conclusion that she can no longer deal with the job and leaves, headed back to Michigan to figure out what she's going to do now. 

The family in Michigan helps Sam see what she's truly missing, connection, love and support from those who care about her the most. Eventually, Sam comes across an old recipe box that has been passed down for generations, and opening it helps her connect to her roots, which may help her find herself again.

Since I'm from Michigan, I really fell in love with the atmosphere of this book. I enjoyed reading it quite a bit, but I also felt like I wasn't fully pulled in by the story. It's been done over and over again, and it left me wanting more. I loved watching Sam grow and learn about what's truly important, but I was left seeking out more than what the story offered.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars, it was just run of the mill chick-lit type of fiction for me. Something light and airy to read. This is the second book by this author that I read, and both books were just okay to me. I don't think I'll be picking up her work in the future unless something really catches my eye.

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I received an advanced copy of this book through Netgalley. This book had me from the very beginning. I love that it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I would highly recommend this book to my fellow readers. Thank you for the chance to review this book!!!!

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Sometimes, I just need a feel good book that reminds me of the priorities in life and the bonds of family. The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman is one of those books. Since I love to cook, an added bonus is the fact that it is also a foodie book centered around a recipe box passed down from generation to generation. There are hints of seriousness, but the heart of the book is a feel good story perfect for a summer beach read.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2018/08/the-recipe-box.html

Reviewed for NetGalley.

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A beautiful story for foodies, romance lovers, and just those who need to reconnect with a book about family... these are the books I long for when I need something that has more substance and more story. I enjoyed the depth of the characters, the story revolving around food and the differences between small town and larger city life. Such a stunning book!!

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I very much enjoyed reading "The Recipe Box," Thanks, Netgalley!
This was my first book by viola Shipman, but I don't think it will be my last!

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This was another sweet read by Shipman. I love the idea of connecting to the old recipes found in the old recipe box. Sam's growth is evident throughout.

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This is one of my favorite authors and they have yet to let me down. I like that recipes are included in the book and they seem to be approachable for someone of my cooking skill. The writing is well done and while the plot can seem a bit cliche it doesn't come off as such. A really enjoyable read and I'm looking forward to the next one eagerly.

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Back in March of 2016, I read and reviewed a great book called The Charm Bracelet by an author named Viola Shipman.  I had never heard of Viola Shipman before seeing The Charm Bracelet, but I was later surprised to learn that Viola Shipman was a pen name for Wade Rouse, who is a popular, award-winning memoirist.   Mr. Rouse uses his grandmother's name as a tribute to her.

Next, in July of 2017, I had the opportunity to read and review another great Viola Shipman book, The Hope Chest, and it was another fantastic read!  Then there's today's book, The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman.  The book was available through my association with NetGalley, so I couldn't pass it up!

We follow Samantha ("Sam") Mullins as she leaves her loving Michigan home and goes to New York to attend culinary school. Sam always wanted to be a premier banking chef in New York City. She lands a premium job opportunity, but after an unsettling episode at work, Sam suddenly quits the job and heads for home.  Her family doesn't understand why she has returned, but they are thrilled she is home.  

A unique thing about The Recipe Box is that each chapter is based on a recipe and it contains the directions for how to make the actual recipe. The well-loved recipes are created by Sam throughout the novel and the history of her family helps her to decide her future path. I really felt that this was an interesting concept for the novel.

After all the disappointment and struggles life has been throwing at her, Sam soon realizes how important the women in her family are, and how recipes and their love of food bonds them all.

The characters are great, the story is sweet, and it's a very warm, down to earth story from the heart. This book has all the great elements we desire in a good women's fiction book. It's a quick read, satisfying and wholesome reading. Topics such as family relationships and a woman finding herself are always great reads but add lots of food and you've hit a home run!

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley in exchange for my review.  I would like to thank St Martin's Press for allowing me the opportunity to participate, read and review this book. My views are my own and are in no way influenced by anyone else!

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This a heartfelt, sweet story about family and the ties that bind us, featuring recipes that sound scrumptious. The storyline was a bit too predictable for me, and the way the story is told with jumps back and forth in time made it somewhat difficult to get into, but it was a charming story overall. Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my review copy. This is my honest opinion.

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Sam fled her small town to live and thrive in the big city of New York. But she isn't exactly thriving. She's working for a jerk, but he's a jerk who has the power to fire her, and he does.

Sam slinks home with her tail between her legs to celebrate the family orchard's anniversary. As she begins working and baking with her mother and grandmother, she finds her spirits lifting.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around why Sam would have ever felt the need to flee this perfect family in this perfect town. The best part of the book was the recipes - I want to try them all!

Current Goodreads Rating 3.9

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Book of full of charm that drives home the point that family and professional ambition don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

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The Recipe Box is definitely a story for foodies. With a selection of recipes handed down through Sam's family, Viola Shipman gives readers a reason to appreciate family and tradition. The recipes featured in this novel tell the history of the strong women in Sam Mullin's family in an effort to open her eyes to the sacrifices of the ones before her.

I love any story that seeks to show the strength of family bonds, or the struggle younger generations face when it comes to keeping with family tradition or breaking away to follow their own dreams. However, I just couldn't connect with this story. I didn't feel like the stories behind the recipes really bridged the gap between the choice Sam needed to make between going back to the city to be a chef or staying with her family on the orchard. She's so young and could have easily done both. Why did it have to be one or the other and be the only option? She felt trapped by her family's expectation, but didn't she just trap herself by having to have it one way or the other?

The Recipe Box wasn't the story I expected when I picked it up to read, but I appreciate the thought behind it. I'm just not sold on the execution.
*ARC provided in consideration for review*

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I found this to be a wonderful story of family and also of finding one’s self. Samantha Mullins is a sous chef in New York and the person she works for is a jerk to put it nicely. After making one of her own recipes for his show he throws away her creations, yelling and screaming at her. She quits but not before getting in a few jabs of her own, and top it off the producer and others who tried her creation loved her food. Now back home in Michigan on the family’s farm she must somehow tell her family, mainly mom and grandmother that she lost her job and that she feels like she has been nothing than a failure. The story is told through the recipes in the box that she and each women were given when they turned thirteen. You are taken back in some chapters to a time when it was the depression, or the war and how the women of this family found ways to raise up and continue to build the farm, but also their own lives. Every chapter is unique and different, and when a boy from the beginning of the story comes from New Jersey to vacation in Michigan. This is scaring her what is happening to her life and what is she to do? You get to meet her mother, father and grandmother. You also see her change with the ladies who have been working and baking at their farm for decades and how she changes when talking to them. There is really nothing more than I can say without you reading this book yourself. That is what you need to do. A wonderful story with great characters and it has made me now want to go hunt for my grandmothers’ recipes that I have out in my garage and take care of them better.

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Love, love, loved this book! Every family has recipes they have passed down from generation to generation and this book makes you think about the love and family you keep close to your heart! A bonus is having recipes to try at the end of every chapter!

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This is a most wonderful book about finding oneself and how family can help you do it.
Sam Nelson has baking in her DNA, but she doesn’t want to stay at her Michigan family’s farm and business. She attends school in New York and eventually gets what should be a dream job, but turns out to be a nightmare.
She returns home where she is soon baking again with her mother and grandmother. Through their stories, Sam begins to realize that maybe you can go home again.
I found myself tearing up a couple of times. This could make a great Hallmark movie.

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Sam (Samanatha) has had it with Chef Dimples; he uses her talents and doesn’t acknowledge her contributions. She quits in a grand fashion and goes home to her family’s apple orchard in Michigan. She always had wanted to get away and now she is back. The recipes illustrate the growth of Sam and the other women in her family. A charming gentle read. .

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