Okay first of all, that cover! I know that's not what books are really about but this would certainly stand out to me in a bookshop, anything with or about cake is a winner for me. The fact that this is so much about baking and how Elle turns to it in hard times was what really caught my attention in the first place. Baking is my favourite hobby, it doesn't matter how I'm feeling, it just makes me feels good so for that reason alone, I felt like I could relate to Elle. She has her own bakery with friend Bonnie which takes centre stage throughout and because of that there are actually several recipes throughout which I thought was a nice touch.

I found from the beginning I really liked Elle. Her ambition and love for baking shone through. All of the characters in the book were developed well but Elle in particular, I just grew fond of quickly. I also couldn't help but feel for her when we get into the real nitty gritty and discover husband Tom has been having an affair. From here we go back and forth to the days where their relationship was just starting, Elle's bakery was getting off the ground and when she loses her father. Though it does tend to flit from past to present each chapter, it flows incredibly well and allows for you to discover what's led to their marriage falling apart. It felt very authentic, a realistic look at life and how marriage does need to be worked at over the years.

Whilst from the cover you might assume this is a bit of a girly and fluffy read, I actually found it packed a real emotional punch. Yes, it was lighthearted and there were funny moments between Elle and friends, but to me it was so much more than that. A strong story that deals with loss, betrayal and trust, topics that I'm sure are relatable for so many people. I just loved Jennifer's writing too and it was a book that once I started I just wanted to keep coming back to it. Every opportunity I had, I was reading another chapter. I even like that the ending keeps you guessing too when normally I'd prefer for everything to be rounded off nicely. After everything have Elle and Tom managed to work their way back to one another? I'd love to read more from Jennifer in the future and another book about these particular characters would be wonderful.

The Ingredients Of Us was a really unexpected but enjoyable read and I actually think I'll be going back through it again soon to try out some of the recipes. Warm scones with jam and cream - yes please. I've never found a recipe which gets them just right so maybe this is the one!

Elle and Tom have known each other for 9 years, have been married for 7 years, and shortly after celebrating their latest anniversary, Elle discovers Tom has recently been cheating. Elle is shocked. In her mind, they had a wonderful marriage, and for the most part, her partner Tom has always been nothing but loving and supportive. She is truly conflicted in her emotions and as the story unravels, she turns to her friends and to her craft of baking for support and refuge, respectively. Don't we all need a way to escape real life for a while? For many the go to cure is sports: from yoga to hockey, martial arts or swimming, for others it could be knitting, and for others it could be photography, painting or glassblowing. For Elle its baking, and some how, Elle bakes her way to her own solution.

I have to say one of the many thingsI loved about this book is, the recipes: their titles, the out of the usual way the recipes are presented, and the choices of recipes. Every single one sounds so delicious, I would love to try them all! One of my favourite recipes in the book was "Heart Stopping Cheesecake":
"there's something about cheesecake that pacifies emotional wounds. The bigger the tragedy the bigger the slice. If you've never used cheesecake to soothe the sadness, you've missed an opportunity.....bake at 350....The room will smell of comfort, and comfort is the first step toward mending a sore heart.

A couple of Quotes from The Ingredients of Us:
About Elle: "She wants so badly to scrub her knuckles until her whole life is shiny again, but it doesn't work that way.
"Here's something that life doesn't give you: a recipe. You have to make it up as you go along. Adjust accordingly.

Thank you Jennifer Gold for this lovely book, with all the fantastic recipes and its stunning cover. I loved it 5 stars. Thank you #netgalley for the e-ARC. It's in bookstores now.

Perfect chick lit! I loved the premise and the characters were well developed! I recommend this for anyone looking for a light and fun read!

A light read, lighter than I was expecting given the subject matter, tried to be interesting , but for me it just felt a bit too light and fluffy and I lost interest halfway through in caring about what was happening

While It was a bit predictable (too similar to a few other books related to love and cooking I have read). I did find it cute and enjoyable! A light read on a heavy subject. The recipes made me hungry and I actually wanted to try a few out. Golds writing style is intriguing and magical. A great read for someone going through infidelity, or marriage woes. I enjoyed this and would read other books by Gold.

Thank you to Netgalley, Lake Union Publishing and the author for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was really looking forward to this book after seeing the beautiful cover and reading the description.

Unfortunately, the story didn't work for me. What did work was the idea of recipes for certain times of your life. Also, Elle's best friend Bonnie was a nice addition to the story.

What didn't work for me were the characters.The flip flopping chapters didn't help. It was a confusing format because the timelines jumped all around from the day she found out, to a month before she found out, to a week after she found out, to nine years before, etc. It was hard to get a handle on the development of Elle and her husband Tom's relationship. I went into the story expecting not to like the cheating husband, and I didn't, but wanted to like Elle. However, she did not come off as a sympathetic character to me. For a woman who is 35 and a business owner she was extremely naive and insecure. She knew her husband got involved with her before his divorce and yet she is surprised he cheats. I also disliked that she never communicated with her husband that she didn't want kids when she knew how much he wanted a child. She hooks up with another guy while she's still married and again no communication. Elle's mother was also unlikable. Her mother's comment regarding her husband's ( Elle's father) cancer was so rude and off putting.

Hopefully other readers will find a better connection with the characters than I did.

Thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Divorce is such a horrible thing! People love each other for what they think is forever! What happens between the former and the latter. The characters seem so real and their reaction to things were believable. All and all a very good book!

4/5🌟
First of all, this cover, you guys! It makes me want to eat CAKE.🍰


Would love to thank Netgalley and lake union publishing for sending me this free ARC to read and in return to give them my honest review on Jennifer golds debut novel .


In this novel you are brought into the lives of Elle and Tom, a couple whose marriage is crumbling right before their eyes. Will they be able to find the recipe for love, or is it too late?


Elle is a motivated and talented baker who has a passion and love for baking , when her time and energy is consumed in her baking and spending all her time at the bakery . Elle has no idea that her marriage is falling apart




Jennifer gold put this story so well together ! I loved Elle and her passion, independence and her desire for baking. The book was so well written I felt as if I was in that bakery making cinnamon rolls along side with Elle . Oh and I definitely appreciated all those recipes !! Gave this book a unique touch to it !

⭐️Book Review ⭐️
The Ingredients of Us by Jennifer Gold
3/5 Stars

**I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.**

I really wanted to love this book after all the hype about it on social media. The dual timelines were absolute confusion. It’s one thing to jump to ‘before’ and ‘after’ and event, but this timeline would jump to years before, days after, months before, etc. I almost needed a notebook to keep track of where we were at in the story. We were told how the couple met 2/3 through the book- it seemed out of place.

Tom and Elle have a good marriage until she finds out he cheated. It’s very predictable. Tom is typical good husband turned scoundrel and wants Elle back. Elle is a fabulous baker owning her own bakery with her friend Bonnie. The book is filled with yummy recipes that I could never recreate, but sound delicious.

The story follows Elle and Tom through their relationship ups and downs along with Elle and her bakery trials.

I did enjoy the story and it was sweet, but I would not recommend the book or buy it myself. No depth...

I thought that this title was going to be an empowering, “How Stella got her groove back” but with pastries. Which is an awesome premise and made me want to put on my "napron". However, that’s not what this was. Instead it was a dual timeline tale about the good times and how both people in a marriage can tear it asunder. The reason I thought it was going to be an empowering tale about healing after heartbreak was because in the first chapter, we learn that Tom cheats on her. I assume because of her store he feels invisible, however he doesn't communicate that with her.

As for the writing, it was great but the placing of chapters and recipes leaves a lot to be desired. The flashbacks we are given are not at all in the right places, because we are given the introduction of when they first met somewhere in the middle of the book. It would have been more effective to have to happen side by side and meet in the middle. For instance, when she first finds out, versus when they first met. I found myself skipping a lot of the past chapters because they had no pertinence in the story. It should have been written so the reader could try to figure out what went wrong for themselves.

Tom is just a “good guy gone bad”; there isn’t any character development for him. We aren’t introduced to his family, we don’t even really know what he does for work. It’s very easy to typecast him as a man who strayed and we aren't given a reason until the end of the book.

Elle is, well she’s selfish. Charlie, Bonnie’s husband makes a move on her when he and Bonnie are just starting to date and she holds onto that information and projects that onto every interaction that she and Charlie have for NINE YEARS. She’s not a likable character and she seems to think that life is just happening to her. It is through her inaction that she is going home with people and avoiding her husband. Even her divorce is not something she takes control of. Essentially she is a pushover and weak and insecure. I couldn't identify with her.

All in all, this was a 2 star read for me. I would give it a 1 star but the writing was solid. It was a good effort for a debut novel.

Thank you to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

In all honesty, women's fiction books about baking and/or cooking don't exactly reinvent the wheel. But at the same time, there's a sort of comfort knowing what you're going to get. A sweet (ha! pun intended) romantic story - usually with a little turmoil thrown in for good measure - sprinkled (I did it again!) with recipes to mark the chapters.

The Ingredients of Us followed the same recipe (I'm just being silly now) but I still found myself enjoying every page. Even though this is a story similar to those I read before, it doesn't feel trite or stale. I will admit there were moments when the main character's indecision and back and forth mentality grated on my nerves, but all and all this was the perfect sweet summer read.

I found this book really addictive! At first when I saw this book I actually thought it was a cookbook and my friend told me it’s really good! So Elle finds out her husband has cheated on her (which is horrible!!!) and she owns a bakery! Elle and her business partner are trying to decide whether to open a second location of their bakery. Then Elle’s life ends up how she doesn’t expect. The book also has really wonderful recipes and I really enjoyed the back and forth between recent events and Elle and Tom's past. This book made it clear there were red flags that seemed like things they both should have noticed about the other much sooner. Elle’s character I felt could have been portrayed as a stronger lead, but I understand how she can be indecisive when something like that occurs in her life.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

The Ingredients of Us by Jennifer Gold is an impressive offering from a debut author. Ms Gold has taken a well-trodden scenario, infidelity in a marriage, and given it a fresh and compelling spin. Although this was a relatively quick and straightforward read, it was in no way lacking in emotional depth.

The story unfolds over the years of Elle and Tom's relationship, and the shifting timelines paint a picture of both the before and after of Elle's discovery of Tom's infidelity. Elle is portrayed as an emotionally fragile figure, particularly following the death of her beloved father. Elle's first love is baking, and the bakery that she has established with her best friend, Bonnie, is her proudest achievement. But in Tom, Elle has found someone who has supported her completely, and she acknowledges that he is the only person that she has ever loved as much as she loves baking. When she discovers Tom's infidelity, Elle's world is shattered, and through her tried and true recipes, she must reflect on the missing 'ingredients' of her own marriage,

This is a clever account of Elle's story, and I believe that the intermittent recipes, and the back and forth timelines, serve the telling of it well. I am anxious to see what this new author will serve up next.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC.

Elle finds out her husband has cheated on her, and she and her business partner are trying to decide whether to open a second location of their bakery. Immediately Elle's whole life is in upheaval. I was drawn to this book because of the interwoven recipes, which I found to be the best part. I enjoyed the back and forth between recent events and Elle and Tom's past so that more of the story was told, but those additional insights didn't help me understand much of why these two people were together. I just saw red flags that seemed like things they both should have noticed about the other much sooner. Elle as a character was a disappointment - I felt the book description made her out to be much stronger than she is.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Disappointed. So sorry to have to say that. I was excited to get to read The Ingredients of Us when I saw that recipes had been incorporated into the story, but unfortunately, even those yummy ingredients couldn't save this lightweight story.

Elle and Tom are having marital woes . This "back and forth in time" story paints a picture of their lives, from their initial meeting, to their marriage, and then to the way they decide to deal with their problems. Elle's baking is the perfect therapy for her, and the fun instructions in the recipes scattered throughout the book relate to her emotional status. The story meanders, and moves so slowly, that I began to skim the text in order to get the next recipe. I didn't find the ending to be believable.

I would only recommend this book to women who need an easy read, and are not looking for a lot of emotional intensity.

Thank you, Netgalley for allowing me to read this book.

This book never grabbed my attention. I found the time jumps in the story a little hard to keep up with. It was just a long, long story about the demise of a marriage.
I did enjoy the recipes and the way they were woven into the story.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book for review.

Gold has used recipes to frame the nine years of the relationship between Ella and Tom. Ella's a baker and she relates to the world through food. Tom is her husband and he, well, he's done her wrong. This isn't a new plot line but it's freshened up here by the way it's played out. I liked Ella a lot. AND, equally, I liked her recipes. Thanks to Netgalley for the DRC. This is a quick read with a relatable character you will root for.

The Ingredients of Us has the best cover and that’s what drew me to this book. Lots of recipes in this book that literally made my mouth water. A woman’s husband has cheated on her and that’s how it starts. It flips back and forth from before the affair and after the affair but it’s easy to follow. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All opinions are my own.

It is amazing that a woman who can run a successful business can be so emotionally stymied. Who brings baked goods to a bar or divorce proceedings? Doesn't display affection? It was only toward the end that I actually like Elle. She finally became an adult.

This was such a cute read! I loved how much Elle had a passion for baking, and that seemed so real to me. The recipes provided look amazing too!

I really enjoyed the way Elle reacted to her husband’s infidelity in the way most of us actually would, not the way we think we would. There was so much emotional veracity in how she handled it.

However, the ending didn’t work for me. Her ex husband still wants kids desperately and she doesn’t. This isn’t going to change. I think suggesting a reconciliated future between them pushes a “love conquers all differences” philosophy that I personally don’t agree with and even find emotionally harmful. But overall, this was a well written piece of women’s fiction that I really enjoyed, and I can’t wait to see how some of these recipes turn out when I make them!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and lake union publishing for my complimentary digital copy!