Please join me and Simon & Schuster on a very magical book tour with Best Selling author, Karen Hawkins. The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove debuts on August 15, 2023 and can be purchased on Amazon and Simon&Schuster online bookstore.
ABOUT THE SECRET RECIPE OF ELLA DOVE
Three lives converge as a wildly talented baker returns to Dove Pond to face her past in this entry in the charming series that proves that sometimes miracles really do happen…
Ella Dove is an acclaimed baker whose desserts spark vivid, cherished memories in those who taste them. A restless soul, Ella goes wherever the wind takes her—but driven by a haunting dream, she’s coming home to Dove Pond. Years ago, her mentor, Angela Stewart Harrington, falsely accused Ella of stealing her beloved family recipe book, known as the Book of Cakes. Now, Ella believes it’s time for them to reconcile.
Angela has her own share of amends to make. Her daughter Jules has never forgiven her for divorcing her father, and they’ve been estranged ever since. But just as Angela begins to hope that she and Jules might mend their tattered relationship, a miscommunication turns into a lie that could destroy everything.
Meanwhile, Jules’s son Gray is shocked that Ella, his first love and his first heartbreak, has returned to Dove Pond. But even though he knows Ella is a wanderer and will soon leave, he’s unable to stop himself from falling for her once again. Can Gray find a way to convince Ella to give him, and their town, a serious chance? Or is he once again on the road to a broken heart?
With so much at stake, Ella, Angela, and Gray must learn to accept each other—flaws and all—forgive the many mistakes of their pasts, and trust that love can, and will, always find a way. For fans of Alice Hoffman and Sarah Addison Allen, The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove is a delicious and magical read that will warm your heart and charm your senses.
My Review:
The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove is a charming and magical book, giving off a small town feel that leaves you with a good feeling at the end. Karen Hawkins is a new author for me and I’ll be reading her other Dove Pond series: The Book Charmer (https://amzn.to/3KtgttN) and A Cup of Silver Linings (https://amzn.to/44Ug9fv). All three of her Dove Pond series feature the sisters of Dove Pond, each of them with a unique and special “magical” ability.
The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove reminds me of a Hallmark movie where the heroine faces some personal challenges that she must overcome in order to move on with her life. In fact, I would like to see this book turn into a Hallmark movie or even a series, much like The Good Witch TV series on Hallmark. While Ella and her sisters aren’t exactly witches, they do have influential powers based on their own personal abilities. Ella Dove, the sixth daughter of the Dove family possesses the ability to transform an individual’s memory just by eating one of her baked delicacies. Each person’s memory is their own and can be a different memory or recollection of the past, hence this power can be both a blessing and a curse. One doesn’t necessarily want to be reminded of the past as indicated in the story.
While the book doesn’t exactly explain why all the of Dove sisters have a special ability, this didn’t distract me from reading the story. My own inclination is that with the long history of the Dove family, one of the family members from centuries ago must have developed special abilities that later passed down to only the female members. But, I’m not going to delve into these magical abilities as this isn’t the central theme of the book.
In The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove, we find Ella leaving her plush life in Paris, France to journey back to her childhood hometown of Dove Pond. Tacked with a mysterious affliction and haunting dreams that forces her to return home, Ella realizes she must confront her past in order to move forward. The story itself begins with Ella as a young child living with her sisters and her mom. When her dad dies mysteriously, Ella is heartbroken and lost and became compelled to lead a life of solitude. Her father’s death must have brought on some kind of PTSD, which made Ella afraid of any sort of personal attachment and commitment. She may be committed to her baking and giving joy to her fans, but her personal life is in shambles. Thinking her journey back to her hometown of Dove Pond will absolve her of past misunderstandings, Ella is determined to do what’s necessary.
But what one wishes to happen doesn’t always come to fruition. In this story, Ella thinks that a past misunderstanding of a stolen book will absolve her strange affliction of random strawberry frosting popping up surreptitiously on her body. While this was Ella’s main goal, situations pop up that prevents her from getting what she wants. And what Ella wants is to just stop these random pink frostings appearing on her body. In this sense, I thought Ella was a bit selfish and self-serving. Perhaps this was the author’s intention, to make Ella just a bit egocentric and a bit self-absorbed. It didn’t make me dislike Ella but I wasn’t really rooting for her to win either.
The misunderstanding in this whole story was a bit far-fetched. If only Ella had stood her ground when she was accused of stealing a beloved cookbook that was the family heirloom of a neighbor. Instead, she ran as far away as possible across the ocean to another country. I felt something was missing in this aspect of the story. The author could have revealed more of why Ella ran away from her childhood and why she ended up estranged from her sisters and hometown for so many years. However, these points also make Ella somewhat endearing, and as I read further I became more sympathetic of Ella.
Ella’s journey throughout the story reveals feelings that she didn’t think she could have. If she could avoid any kind of personal attachment then she’d be happy. But was that what Ella really wanted though? Was she happy leading a non-committal life of just baking and being a social media mega star? What would really happen once she confronts her past? Will she really move on and away from her childhood home? These points slowly reveal itself as you read further and go on this journey with Ella. She might not be a warm and affectionate person, but she just wants to lead a normal and uncomplicated life.
I don’t want to reveal any spoilers, but there are some fun characters in The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove. There are a lot of side characters to keep track of but my favorites are Aunt Jo and Angela, the latter whom accused Ella of stealing the heirloom cookbook. Ella’s interactions with these two characters are a joy to read and you can’t help but feel a bit sorry for Ella when Angela keeps avoiding her. Other side characters such as Ella’s sisters and the Stewart family moves the story along and all play into the central plot of this story.
I give The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove a 4 stars out of 5, mainly because I didn’t particularly liked Ella herself. Yes, I know she’s the main character and she was written exceptionally well, but she seemed too self absorbed and a bit flighty. Overall, The Secret of Ella Dove is a well-written book that is easy to read and has light elements of romance and mystery. This book is good for ages 14 and up and has a clean romance, although romance isn’t the main theme.
Pros – Lighthearted, fun, and engaging story. The characters all have their own individual personalities and each one has something they are either avoiding or reaching for. Main characters and side characters are relatable. In fact, the relationship Ella has with her sisters reminds me of my own sisters. There are ups and downs to having so many siblings. There is a multi generational side story that involves a mom, grandma, sons, and their own personal misunderstandings and pitfalls.
Cons – a lot of characters to keep track of. I feel that the some of the side characters were fleshed out even better than Ella.
You can pre-order The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove on Amazon through my link: https://amzn.to/47od6hB or through Simon & Schuster: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Secret-Recipe-of-Ella-Dove/Karen-Hawkins/Dove-Pond-Series/9781982195922
Available August 15, 2023. If you pre-order now, the book will automatically be delivered to your Kindle on that date.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster and Karen Hawkins for the opportunity to participate in this book tour.
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* Happymomblogger received this Advanced Readers Edition to participate in the book blog tour. Under the Publisher’s copyright laws, Happymomblogger did not use quotes from the book without prior written approval from Publisher.
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