I reviewd this book on my YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/k2-sWd3A70c?si=BrRaUYC-utizPv6S&t=1091

Unfortunately, I do not have a transcript.

Engaging and immersive. A recommended purchase for collections where memoirs and foodie nonfic are popular.

This was such a cute book! I loved the reflections, and “recipes”. Despite the playful vibes it gave, it still had depth.

This book reminds you what it means to be human; grief is a part of life. How we deal with that grief defines who we are as people. I love cookbook/memoir type books. They just speak to me. The Year of Miracles is a wonderful addition to that cannon. We don't talk about grief in our society. We do talk about food. Combining the two is genius. I got this book as an ARC through Netgalley and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm not sure what recipes I will make from this, but they sound delicious.

I read Ella Risbridger’s cookbooks like they’re novels. Incredibly comforting, I truly savored every word. For anyone who has loved and lost.

This book opens with a very moving poem by Marie Howe. Coincidentally, I have just heard Ms. Howe read some of her poems in a MasterClass. She has so much that is evocative to say as is surely the case in this introduction to The Year of Miracles.

This is a heartfelt cookbook that includes 67 recipes set over the course of a year. In January, there are Cardamom Buns for example, while February has a Pistachio Pie. March calls for Storm at Sea Scones and Crisis Cardamom Coffee. So it goes over the course of this year landing finally on Fried Jam Sandwiches and then Insanity Noodles in December. Following is a kind of PS Spring chapter with Love & Dumplings.

This is a cookbook that intersperses its recipes with a memoir about the author’s grief. Her life was changed when someone she loved became ill. There were the occasional miracles but also a sad inevitability. Through this experience came the writer’s conclusion that you have to make your own miracles. She shares some of how and what she did with these wonderful recipes.

Read this one in the way that works for you. It could be for the memoir or the illustrations or the recipes filled with practicality (although they did not all look so easy to me). I loved how the book’s readers/cooks were invited in.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA for this title. All opinions are my own.

If you've ever cooked a meal to remember someone lost, you'll immediately understand this book. Risbridger uses recipes and the creation and care of a small garden first as a buffer against her loss but through the year as a way of remembrance, recovery, and growth.

This is not a book to be read in one sitting but should be read as if you're taking a meal in multiple courses, leaving you satisfied and looking forward to what comes next.

Recommended 4/5 stars

As a big fan of Midnight Chicken, I was thrilled to receive Risbridger's latest via NetGalley. Part memoir, part cookbook, The Year of Miracles is reminiscent of Joan Didion's Year of Magical Thinking for our pandemic times. I adore her conversational style and invaluable side notes on the recipes. It feels like she's standing alongside you in the kitchen or sharing stories over coffee. Well-written and immersive narrative cookbooks have a special place in my heart, and this is one of the best I've read. The recipes range from simple, quick fare to more complex dishes that require attention, focus, and process. These recipes and Risbridger's writing are culinary self-care and a beautiful reminder of the ways food nurtures our spirit as well as our body, builds connection, and evokes a sense of place and time.

I received a digital galley of this book in exchange for an honest review, and loved this one so much that I plan to purchase a hardcover for my permanent collection upon its July publication.

The Year of MIracles
by Ella Risbridger
Pub Date: July 26, 2022
Bloomsbury
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
This cookbook is about a year in the kitchen (and in the garden under the fire-escape steps). A year of grief and hope and change; of cardamom-cinnamon chicken rice, chimichurri courgettes, quadruple carb soup, blackberry miso birthday cake, and sticky toffee Guinness brownie pudding. A year of loss, and every kind of romance, and fried jam sandwiches.
I found it difficult to trudge through this book. I'm sure writing this was cathartic for the writer, through.
The recipes seemed odd to me and nothing I would want to make in my American kitchen.
3 stars

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

Wonderful book, enjoyed reading it.

I picked this book because it had little essays about love, grief and growing things to go along with the recipes. While I quickly discovered the author uses a lot of spices and seasonings that don't sound appealing to me the way she uses them, I stayed for the stories.

However, even though there are very few things I would actually make the way she does, I love her experimentation, so I may just broaden my horizons a bit, and since I am feeling somewhat inspired by the author's creativity, step out and try some old things in new ways or even some new things.

I'm sure there are many who will be interested enough to want to try the recipes, but if not, stay for the stories. I definitely liked this enough to give it 4 stars.

The Year of Miracles: Recipes About Love + Grief + Growing Things by Ella Risbridger is a beautiful book that is mostly memoir with recipes splattered in between. I am not sure I will make any of the recipes, but I enjoyed this book. Beautifully written book about love, loss, survival, and cooking.

***** I received an ARC from NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my honest review. *****

I received an ARC of The Year of Miracles by Ella Risbridger. This is a good story on love, loss, moving on, and cooking. There are great recipes in this book. We show are love by cooking, for those we love.

Lovely, warm-hearted book. It is all the best bits of a memoir and a cookbook. I am excited to buy a physical copy.

A YEAR OF MIRACLES is a book that is part memoir and part cookbook, and also full of beautiful little watercolor drawings for spice. There are both full spreads and little doodled details. I think this book is cozy and absolutely worth your time.

The recipes are written in an easy-to-follow and casual format, which is very very good. HOWEVER, the measurements for the recipes are in grams rather than cups, which is confusing if you are 1) a non-baker, 2) American. Also sometimes you get British names for things (courgettes??) instead of the American name, which I obviously found confusing.</p>

#NetGalley #TheYearofMiracles

This book reads like a guide book for comfort, love, and loss. It is gorgeous and heartbreaking. The recipes range from cardamom buns, poached eggs, and pistachio pie, to Storm at Sea Scones, apricot almond salad, and Anchovy Toast with Lacy Eggs to make for an outdoor cat. I've highlighted many recipes and passages and will be buying the hard copy as well. Full of little gems like,"I've learned to cultivate happiness in absence, and to love an empty space where something used to be in the quiet hope that it won't be wasted: something always turns up to be loved, a fox, a star, a courgette. A cat. A home. A person." Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I requested this book since I saw Bridget Jones in the blurb. However, this was very melancholy and it made me sad so I did not finish it. I found this to read like a rather disjointed journal without any overarching narrative. Due to the lack of narrative, I was just not able to get into the book. My apologies to the author.

DNF at 25%.

I feel so bad not finishing this, and I feel bad for the author having lost her partner, especially at such a young age, but I just can’t trudge through this anymore. It’s like random ramblings and musings. I think the writing was cathartic for her, which is wonderful, but it’s day-to-day stuff and thoughts that are boring for the reader, and the recipes are for food that seems quite odd to me. I am sure they will resonate better with the UK audience.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Year of Miracles is a beautiful book with gorgeous illustrations.The author spends a year grieving over the death of a loved one a year cooking to heal a year of dear friends relationships.This book is so thoughtful so beautifully written I will be recommending& gifting it.The recipies sound so delicious.#netgalley #bloomsburypublishing