The Ingredients of You and Me by Nina Bocci

I am so in love with the town and all the characters that live there. Parker & Nick steal your heart and before you know it, you're falling head over heels with them and their passion and respect for each other. I haven't been reading much lately, but with The Ingredients of You and Me, I was so captivated by their story (and the Golden Girls) that I couldn't stop. I read the book in one afternoon.

I absolutely loved every character in this read! Nina Bocci writing style draws you in and you feel so connected. Her way of keeping your attention and detail actually brings the book to life allowing you to be transported without leaving your reading chair. Will be definitely reading more of her work.

SWEET! This one is a second chance romance focus on Parker and Nick. Parker is a pastry chef who lost her cooking mojo. After selling her successful bakery in NY she decided to visit a friend in Hope Lake to figure out what the future holds. Soon, Parker realized she is falling in love with the small town and the people in it, one particular special person her old flame Nick Arthur. While Parker begins to get her baking mojo back, she wasn’t so lucky in the romance department. Parker and Nick have a history that ended abruptly. Nick disappeared and left Parker heartbroken. Now Parker can escape seeing Nick in this small town. The chemistry and attraction are still very much present, but Nick is unfortunately taken. They settled for a platonic friendly relationship. When Parker finally had a chance to rekindle their romance, trouble looming with her former bakery in NY. Parker has to find a way to balance it all, or risk losing her business and her love. I adore Parker – this story is almost about her journey. I feel that Nick did not have a good enough reason for ghosting and broken her heart back then. Nick finally came to his sense and realized Parker is the one. Nick is not as swoony of a hero as I would have like but he is sweet though 😊 Overall, this was such a sweet, fun, heartwarming, feelgood small-town romance. It’s also about friendship, self-discover, forgiveness, and new beginning.

I loved this book!!! Such a fun read with great characters. Absolutely loved the “Golden Girls” and I want to make every single baked good made in this book!! Love this series!!

Cute story about a woman who changes her successful yet busy life into a slower paced, happiness driven lifestyle. Good read. I received an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley and this is my honest review.

Full confession, I am a sucker for cake and this cover was too good to pass up. I could almost smell the amazing-ness from the picture alone. I also love romantic books and right now I will take all the feel good comfort food—I mean books—that I can get!

I didn’t know that this book was part of a series, which of course I haven’t read the series, but it sounded like it would be a book I could read as a standalone with only a few characters from previous books making a few appearances. Which from what I gather from reading it, is entirely the case because I didn’t have any trouble jumping into this one.

Lately I have also really been digging the rom-coms and this book sounded like just the ticket to keep with my reading theme of late—so I baked a cake and sat down to enjoy this one.

Summary
From the USA TODAY bestselling author of the “heartwarming and refreshingly sweet” (Lauren Layne, New York Times bestselling author) On the Corner of Love and Hate comes a story about a baker who takes her chances on a new town…and an old love.

After selling her famous bakery back in New York, Parker Adams visits Hope Lake, Pennsylvania, to figure out her next steps. And soon she’s wondering why she ever loved city life in the first place. Between the Golden Girls—the senior women who hold court—and Nick Arthur, her equally infuriating and charming former flame, Parker finds a community eager to help her get her mojo back.

But even though Hope Lake gives her the fresh start she’s been looking for, Parker discovers that it’s not so easy to start over again with Nick. Their chemistry is undeniable, but since Nick is a freshly taken man, Parker is determined to keep things platonic. With a recipe for disaster looming, Parker must cook up a new scheme, figuring out how to keep everything she’s come to love before she loses it all.

Perfect for fans of Amy E. Reichert and Jenny Colgan, The Ingredients of You and Me is a scrumptious romantic comedy that lets you have your cake and eat it too.

Add to Goodreads badge

Review
While this book had some other elements such a ‘finding yourself’ and friendship, for me it read a lot more like a romance which was just fine with me. I love romances so that was completely welcome. But I think the fact that Parker sold her New York bakery to kind of rebuild in a small town, made it seem like this book was more about self discovery. It did have some of those elements but the romance dominated the story for me.

In this small town, Parker must either avoid or confront Nick who she was sort of seeing before but now he has ghosted her. Nick now has a new girlfriend and for a good chunk of the book I kind of wanted Parker to just move on already, but she doesn’t and I kind of liked watching how that relationship evolved because of it. I mean if it had been me, I would have cut ties when he ghosted me, but the thing I love about reading is we get to explore characters who are unlike ourselves and who have their own reasons for doing things. It helps people—or at least me—-grow as a reader and watching how Parker and Nick came together was fun to watch and held my attention throughout the book.

Having not read the other books in the series, I cannot speak to how this one compares to the others but from what I have been hearing, people are loving this book and praising it as the best in the series. I would like to go back and read some of the other characters in this series because I truly enjoyed getting to know the ‘Golden Girls’ and Parker’s other friends in this one.

This book is a quick read that you could easily get through in a couple of days. It comes with a happy ending and tons of baking….what could be better during this strange time? Nothing if you ask me!

Book Info and Rating
Kindle Edition, 320 pages
Published April 28th 2020 by Gallery Books
ASIN B07TGF9KTN
Free review copy provided by publisher, Gallery Books in partnership with TLC Book Tours, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: contempo lit, romance, chick lit

Sweet read. Wanted more love....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think we’ve all experienced the drudgery of a job that we grew to dislike. The author takes us down that path with a small business owner who has outgrown the direction her business has taken.

After selling her business she decides to get away from it all and head back home to visit her dearest friend and take an R&R while she figures out her life.

The author gives us a nice twist when we discover this isn’t the first time she’s been back home. There’s been a man in her life that she truly cares for and that’s where everything got interesting.

I just love a story about small town. We get to meet a crazy group of senior citizens and many other stand-up characters in this group. But I was able to connect with the main character, Parker, because she feels so lost.

Her main passion feels like it’s just out of reach. She struggling to find her way. I think we’ve all been in that position a time or two in our life.

Then when she finds herself around Nick, the guy she’s crushing on for so long, it doesn’t seem to help matters. Especially since he has someone else. With his heart on his sleeve they have a lot of work to do to find their way.

Bocci continues to serve us a beautiful women’s fiction story with fun characters and a taste of romance. A wonderful afternoon read that is light and airy with the aroma of romance in the air.

We have to travel a long way in this book to come out with the happily ever after. I really wish we had more of the happy part once they found their way. But the inbetween is super sweet, a wee bit wacky, and a delightful journey to finding where we need to be in life when our passions find a way.

This is exactly the type of book that I want more of. Such a fun, non-stressful read.

Parker has lost her motivation. She sold her wildly successful bakery in NYC, but still can't find her mojo. Her best friend Charlotte invites her to come visit in Hope Lake, Pennsylvania and spend some slower, more peaceful time there, hoping that it will help her find inspiration. When Parker gets there, she finds tons of space and a lot of great friends that offer her ideas and opinions, and slowly she is able to get back to where she wants to be in terms of creativity and her career. But her relationship with Nick is a problem, and life would be much better if she and Nick could work out...whatever their problem is.

Nick lives in Hope Lake, but he and Parker have been sneaking around. Or, they were sneaking around until they just stopped communicating with one another. Nick thinks he has moved on, but he thinks about Parker all the time, just like Parker thinks about him all the time. Now that she is staying in Hope Lake for a little while, it would be a perfect time for them to clear the air a little and work out exactly what their relationship is. But that is harder for both of them than it probably should be.

I loved this one from the first page!! I love it when book characters are bakers or chefs, and I loved the way the baking was a huge part of this story. I always enjoy books where a central character is at a big of a crossroads in life or is having to make big decisions about his/her future. In this case, Parker needs a big career change, but she is undecided about how to make that work for her. I also loved Parker's large friend group right away because it was obvious to me that they all cared for one another and wanted to help Parker in whatever way they can. I'm fairly sure that some of this friend group have been featured in the previous two books in this series, and I can't wait to go back and read their stories.

There is another fun group of friends in this story, one that Parker meets when she first arrives in Hope Lake. The Golden Girls of Hope Lake are a group of older women in the area that meet regularly with food and drinks. They're all fabulous and quirky and have huge personalities. I love that they fold Parker into their group even though she is much younger, because they play a massive role in helping her get her baking mojo back.

I enjoyed when Nick and Parker were on the pages together. They have a lot of tension between them (the good kind), and I could feel it when I was reading. They really had to concentrate on how they communicated with one another so they could move ahead. The relationships in this story are all so good and fun, and the baking is too.

I read this one so fast-one day! And I've got the two previous books in this series on hand and plan to inhale them too.

What a sweet story. I have always been drawn to stories set in a small close-knit community, and this story delivered. I loved the main character Parker and her friendships with the elderly citizens in Hope Lake. Nick is a swoon worthy man, kind and caring and very likable. To me the romance between Parker and Nick was missing something, we didn't get enough of a glimpse into what drew them together. But the conclusion of this story was satisfying and I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy small town or second chance romance.

In this third installment of the Hopeless Romantics series, Nina Bocci returns to the fictional town of Hope Lake for more small town shenanigans, love and a bit of heartache.

Parker Powell has sold her NYC Delicious and Vicious bakery to a major player in anticipation of a less stressful lifestyle and more time for her new relationship with Nick from Hope Lake who she's been seeing on the sly.

When Nick breaks it off by ghosting her before she even has a chance to tell him her good news, Parker is hesitant to return to Hope Lake and run the risk of running into Nick there. But she needs the quiet of the small town and with the thought that no one knows about her and Nick, she returns to Hope Lake, hoping to find her next big venture.

Of course she runs into Nick with some help from the Golden Girls, the town busybodies. They are headed up by the in-your-business Mancini, who happens to know all about Parker's history with Nick. All the Golden Girls love Nick -- he's their go-to guy and just all around nice guy.

But along with seeing Nick again, Parker also gets to hear about his new girlfriend who no one seems to be crazy about.

With help from the Golden Girls, Parker comes up with ideas for a new business that has everyone excited. And she even gets help from her ex and now friend, Nick, who's a small business owner himself. If only that pesky girlfriend no one likes could go away...

I really liked this story. It's not your typical romance since Nick is with someone else for a good part of the story and I found that to be a fresh approach to this romance. It's clear to everyone but Nick that his current girlfriend is too controlling and the sparks with Parker are more likely to turn into fireworks if they would only give them a chance.

I absolutely adored the storyline with the Golden Girls, their recipes and how they really take Parker into their group. Without meddling too much, they see that Parker and Nick are made for each other, and they are going to do whatever they can to make it happen.

Even though Nick's communication skills (or lack of them) bugged the heck out of me, I loved him and Parker together. Parker's love for the Golden Girls warmed my heart and reminded me why I love small town romance -- it's not just about the hero and heroine, it's about the whole town coming together to celebrate the relationships that grow in their town, and there's nothing better than that.

I gobbled this book down in a few days and absolutely loved it. If you like small town romance, this series is a must.

An ARC was provided by the publisher. This is my honest review.

Initial thoughts:
I've been following this author for many years, and have been rooting for her through several stages of her writing journey. She's a joy, and her stories are filled with heart and laughter. I walked into this one, fulling expecting to love it.

What I loved:
This story is a picture perfect HEA. Parker and Nick fit into those "small town romance" boxes, yet they're both still full of interesting layers and quirks. The story is lighthearted in all the right places, funny, heartwarming, and hopeful. The two leads definitely have some things to get through... things that are hard and uncomfortable. But Nina gets us to those conflicts, and gets us through them, with genuine emotion and just the right amount of levity.

I love how much the how a place can almost become a part of the cast of characters. Hope Lake is a perfect example of this. The residents include a few groups of friends who've been through a lot together. I really enjoyed the way the town's "Golden Girls" were brought into the story, how they interacted with everyone, and the part they play in the growth of our leading lady and leading man.

What I didn't love:
There was a pretty important conversation I felt should have happened much sooner in the story. I kept waiting for the moment to happen, and while it did - eventually - I would have liked it to be earlier. I also didn't love that Parker didn't seem to take much of the (deserved, I felt) blame for her role in the major conflict she and Nick had to work through.

Final thoughts:
I made a rookie mistake with this one. This is book three in the series, and while I do own the previous two books, they're still resting on my TBR pile. (insert facepalm emoji here) I definitely recommend that a) everyone read this book... it really is SO good, but b) read the rest of the series first.

It's funny to me, since I *have* been following Nina for so many years, that I can actually see quite a bit of her in some of the situations and ideas in this story. I'm pretty sure it made me love the story even more.

If you're a fan of  second-chance romance, THE INGREDIENTS OF YOU AND ME is definitely a book for you. This was such a fantastic read, and I can't wait to go back (to ON THE CORNER OF LOVE AND HATE, and MEET ME ON LOVE LANE) to get to know the rest of the "hopeless romantics."

I loved everything about this book; the characters, the setting and how Parker comes to the place her best friend lives to get over her baking slump and reinvent herself.
I feel Parker finds her true self as she comes face to face with her ex boyfriend that had dumped her and a whole slew of elderly women who embrace her and help her along her journey! Great read!

Read this! It’s okay if you haven’t read about any of the Hope Lake series,because it doesn’t matter you will grab them and read them all anyway I promise (Meet Me on Love Lane and On the Corner of Love and Hate).

The story is centered around Parker Adams, a Food Network and Youtube Star who also owns a famous bakery in NY called Delicious and Vicious, where you can send revenge cakes to hated exes or old bosses. An opportunity to sell her business left her losing her mojo unable to bake.

Parker needed a fresh start and rents a place in Hope Lake, PA where her friends and the community is so eager to get her patched back up in all matters of baking and the heart!
Loved the Golden Girls of Hope Lake and their sweet meddling ways and a second chance love with an old flame.

I loved this book and enjoyed visiting old friends and new in Hope Lake. Nina Bocci’s characters are full of heart and authenticity. This contemporary romance was a great read that touches upon self-discovery, honesty, forgiveness and second chances.

Pick this up for an amazing feel good story!!

Parker has his a ‘baking wall’ with her creativity, and there’s little that’s taking her out of her own frustration. Having sold her bakery (Delicious and Vicious) and now with time to focus on ‘other projects’, she can’t seem to get anything to work. Deciding that her friend Charlotte is just what she needs, she rents a lake house in the little town, and heads to Pennsylvania to rest, regroup and find her mojo. What she’s not told anyone is that she and Nick, also a friend in their little group, is best friends with Cooper and Henry: significant others of her two good friends Emma and Charlotte. In fact, no-one knows of the connection between her and Nick, and Parker still doesn’t know why he ghosted her before the holidays – just when she was getting ready to change her life with the sale of the bakery.

Of course, it’s really hard to avoid that one person you don’t want to see, particularly when he’s friends with your friends…but even more difficult when he seems to be the town’s ‘fix it’ guy – offering rides, shoveling, a helping hand where needed – everywhere. And everywhere just happens to be close to the house Parker rented, and comes in the form of Mancini, a senior citizen who refuses to be ‘senior’ in anything, is plugged into the ‘gossip’ from town, and would like nothing better than to see Parker rekindle the flame with Nick, even with his ‘girlfriend that isn’t right for him” always around.

From banter to actual friendships, new and old, to miscommunications, open hearts and arms, and a touch of drama from a girl who doesn’t quite fit in – there is very little NOT to like about this book. Discovering and helping the “baking nanas” find a new venture (aside from charmingly and occasionally annoyingly) keeping up with all the town’s gossip, the characters here are left alone (and pushed together) enough to find the choices and options that are right for them. With plenty of characters to enjoy and love, and lots of laughs- this is everything you hope to see in a small town romance, and delivers it all with style, flair and some yummy cake ideas. Bocci’s ability to remind readers of favorite authors while maintaining a story that is distinct and unique puts her into my ‘gotta have that’ list – when her next is released I’m determined to add it to my collection.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aH6/”> <a> I am, Indeed </a>

This is my first book by Nina Bocci. I really enjoyed this book and reads like a stand alone only thing is I felt like I was missing little puns and back stories but I completely enjoyed it! I also adored that the location in this book is literally two towns over and I felt like I knew where they were and I was really able to picture everything! The other thing I loved about this book were the golden girls!!

I really love baking books, may it be ones with self discovery or family recipes & it's fun when there is romance mixed in.
I loved the small town of Hope Lake in this book and I loved the "Golden Girls" & their recipes and how they became like family to Parker.
What I didn't like was not getting much background on Parker herself. I think some of her history could have been shown through her recipes. I don't feel like we got to know her much at all. Like why did she become a baker? She knew Charlotte growing up, but where was her family now.
I really did like this book and a lot of the characters, I just felt that Parker was lacking. And I kind of wanted some recipes. A cute setting & fun characters, just needs a bit of work.
Thanks NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC!

This book is a slow burn at first, for the first hundred pages. Parker is a side character from Bocci's "Meet Me on Love Lane" book and so it is fun to see that connection. It's a simple small-town romance story. Halfway through the book and nothing's really happened, it's super slow. The character of Nick is so so so confusing in his feeling and actions and it is definitely messing with my head as well of the character's, and for that reason, it was hard for me to be invested in the story and the eventual romance because he's not communicating anything. The drama with the love triangle and Nick's communication issues is way too much. It's definitely more of a women's fiction story than a romance because her thing with Nick is such a side note to her story. That's fine, it's just not what is expected based on the title. I really wanted to like it because I liked "Meet Me on Love Lane," but this was just missing something. That spark, that zah, that chemistry was absent before the last twenty pages and I just wanted more throughout the book instead.

I struggled a bit with the previous book that I read from Nina, but I loved this cover and synopsis and was so eager to get to it. Especially with all of the reviews that say it’s funny and fluffy.

I liked Parker well enough. I enjoyed her creativity and drive. Nick was bland and his hot and cold got really old, really fast. The friend group was nice, but the stand out character was definitely Mancini.

Plot wise, it was so very dry. Loads of telling, not showing, loads of scenes with Parker brushing off Nick wanting to explain only to spend the next few pages wondering why he won’t explain, and the killer for me was no chemistry. I just didn’t understand any connection these two claimed to have. And I know it sounds so petty, but they never said ILY and that really bothered me.

Overall, I’m clearly missing something that everyone else is seeing and that bums me out. I’m not sure if I’ll be giving any of Nina’s future books a chance.

**Huge thanks to Gallery Books for providing the arc free of charge**

Parker’s boyfriend Nick ghosted on her after a few months of their hidden-from-their-mutual-friends relationship. Life moved on and, after selling her wildly successful Brooklyn bakery, she goes to see her friends in their small Pennsylvania town. That’s where she sees what’s new with Nick. He has a very possessive girlfriend who isn’t crazy about the idea of Parker being around. That’s okay with Parker because she’s only interested in helping her friends the Golden Girls (aka The Baking Nanas) launch their dream off the ground. The GGs are intent on getting Parker and Nick together. Let the games begin. This was a cute story told from Parker’s POV. I liked it and kept imagining the Hallmark version (which would need to be edited to a G rating). The Ingredients of You and Me is the third book in the Hopeless Romantics series but can stand alone. Recommended to fans of contemporary romance and foodie fiction. Recipes included!

I was so super excited or this story at the end of Meet Me On Love Lane. The sparks between Nick and Parker were unbelievable and I was really hoping that Hope Lake was charming Parker as much as it had Charlotte. Learning of their trist and of Parker selling her bakery reallllly had me curious from the get go!

Parker getting on that bus and coming to Hope Lake to get her mojo back was so awesome! I was really hoping that would happen when she finally talked to Charlotte. I had no clue what she'd be walking in to, and I LOVED THAT SO MUCH! Even better was Mrs. Mancini stepping in and taking Parker under her wing. The Golden Girls have played such a special role in this series and I love how they really got to shine in this book. These women really helped give Parker a purpose. This was truly a book about self discovery, and in so many different ways.

There were so many details to this book and I loved every second of that. I love when a book has so many different paths and purposes. Mancini really led Parker and the Golden Girls to a path of discovery that I didn't expect in any way! At the same time, we got to learn so much about both Parker and Nick. Seeing Nick with the crazy lady that we did was really interesting. Seeing this man in the light we always have, I was super sad to see who he become with the girl he was dating. I was super happy through to see Mancini trying to work her magic with the.

Now how about we talk about The Baked Nanas? I LOVE THIS CONCEPT SO MUCH!!!!!!!! These ladies deserve the best, they totally run the town, and I loved the concept so much. I loved how Parker had this crazy dream and these ladies got the best of it.

I'm so beyond sad that this series is done. It totally needs turned into a sitcom!