Unfortunately, this title didn't quite hit the spot for me. It read like a extended prologue, in which very little happens. While I understand that the book is meant to introduce the O'Bannon family in order to pave the way for future tales, the characters didn't resonate with me and their story isn't one I feel compelled to follow.

My review can be seen at RT Book Reviews

The death of her husband has Bridget O'Bannon turning back to her family for support. The same family she pretty much abandoned to cocoon her life with just her beloved.

The road back into the family is bumpy, but in the end worth it. Along the way Bridget learns more about herself and also that her marriage wasn't as wonderful as she thought it was. Her family is brought along for that ride with secrets long hidden revealed to all.

Fun read with characters you'll want to invite into your life.

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer jerjen

This book is the perfect recipe for family love, family betrayal, second chances and healing. It is a family drama that elicited many different emotions: sadness, happiness, concern and humor.

Bridget has just lost her husband and she does not know how to act. No one knows that her marriage was not a happy one, in fact, she was planning on getting a divorce. She feels like a hypocrite mourning her marriage but that is what expected of her. She really struggles to get motivated and moving, all she wants to do is stay in bed and be alone. But her mother and her sisters will not let her do that, they continue to make her push on.

Bridget’s mother is not one to show affection, she is a tough task master and appears to love the family bakery more than her daughters. Bridget has three sisters that she loves dearly but they have grown apart. Nora is the sister that has stayed and continues to help run the bakery. She is the peacemaker of the family. Abby is the one that pulled away from the family after a horrible argument on Bridget’s wedding day. Magpie is the youngest, the loudest and the one that travels the world. And her Aunt Mary is another traveler and has been in and out of their lives forever. Each of them have their own baggage to carry around and each of them have their own secrets. It will take all of them to trust each other with those secrets and be able to forgive if there is any chance of the O’Bannons being a family again. Can they do that?

The characters are well rounded and well developed. From the very beginning of the book I felt like all of these people were my friends and I wanted to know what was going on in their lives. I cared about them right from the start and wanted to see them get their lives back on track and work out their differences. I laughed with them, cried with them, felt frustrated with them and felt happiness for them. There really was not any character that I did not want to spend time with. I felt this book was character driven and I enjoyed that a lot.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted women’s contemporary. There was warmth, sadness, humor and great characters that will draw you in from the start. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series and learning more about the lives and secrets of the O’Bannon women.

Laugh, Cry and Cheer = Emotionally Good Read
Shirley Jump is a new author to me so of course I had no idea what to expect, and I enjoyed this story it was a really good beginning to a new series.
This story is all about new beginnings and finding oneself. The characters are well developed yet flawed which made it perfect because we humans are all flawed in our own way. The flaws her characters had made them that much more relatable. The setting was descriptive and engaging. This was an emotional read with heartache, longing, love and laughter let’s not forget the angst and family drama. Yeah this story as it all and will keep you turning the pages just so you can see the next secret or twist that will play out. I will be reading the next installment in this series.
3.5 Stars

A beautiful highly entertaining read that I could not put down !
This is the story of Bridget who leaves her unhappy marriage and the tragic death of her husband to move back to her parents and work in their bakery. She hopes to reconnect with her three sisters and she is looking forward to starting over surrounded by the people she loves. She soon realizes that they are all keeping secrets and the tension is overwhelming her. She is determined to reconnect the family and bring all secrets to light.
This is a delightful summer read. I loved the characters and the engaging story. I highly recommend this wonderful book!

It has been awhile since I've read a book by Shirley Jump. Ms. Jump is still a joy to read. The Perfect Recipe For Love and Friendship has the perfect title. Six strong women who are trying to live through deception, grief and family secrets while finding the love they all once shared.
Thank you Netgalley and Forever Publishing for my ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Bridget O'Bannon is ready for a do-over. After years of pretending she had a happy marriage and denying that she missed the friends and family she'd left behind, she's headed home to restart her life.

But working alongside her family every day at their bakery isn't as easy as whipping up her favorite chocolate peanut butter cake. Her mother won't give her a moment's peace, and her sister Abby is keeping secrets of her own. And there doesn't seem to be enough frosting in the world to smooth over the cracks forming between them.

Bridget can see the recipe for a happy life- including the possibility of a new romance- written out before her, but first she and her family will need to lay bare their secrets and rediscover the most elusive ingredients of all: forgiveness, laughter, and love.

For starters, this book is definitely for older, wiser readers. Those that have been there and done that. That doesn't mean that 18-28 year-olds won't like it, it just means that they may not relate as well as I did. I'm not new to Shirley Jump, so I know everything she writes is pretty good. THIS was no exception. It was heartwarming and sometimes heartbreaking, but so is life. The main character is having to find herself all over again after something happens and we've or I shall say some of us have been there. It's a tough place to be. This could honestly be a Lifetime movie and I'd watch it. It was that good. Pick it up and you won't be sorry!!

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own and do not reflect anyone else's

Definitely my favorite book of the year so far, and my favorite of Shirley Jump's stories. Complex, flawed and yet lovable characters, and a few secrets thrown in to complicate the family dysfunction. :) It's not often that I can't put a book down, but I really did drop everything and read. Jump doesn't shy away from difficult emotions or issues, and the ending was so rewarding that I had to go for tissues. Highly recommend.

The perfect summer read of starting over. Bridget O'Bannon is starting her life over after her husband dies. She returns to work at the family bakery, that her mother owns. A disagreement from Bridget's wedding day had thrown the family apart but the sisters will now try to come together. Their mother is very set in her ways, as a young widow raised four girls in a catholic household. There will be secrets that come out in the story. A new friend for Bridget, Garrett also a widower, helps her move forward in life.

The sisters are all so different, Magpie, Nora and Abby but will always be sisters for better or worse. All great complex characters. Loved the bakery, I was drooling over some of the cakes! I'm hoping there will more stories of O'Bannon sisters.

I loved this family drama of women in The Perfect Recipe for Love and Friendship by Shirley Jump but missed the true romance books that she writes so well. This is labeled women’s fiction, with it certainly being that. Don’t get me wrong, there is romance in this story, it is just not the focus of the book.

The story-line centers around Bridget and her dysfunctional family that has become alienated over the past five years or so. Many secrets, judgmental and controlling attitudes have contributed to this. It is an engrossing read as all is revealed and much is resolved.

Shirley Jump writes descriptive prose so that I could see Bridget’s yard and the bakery in my mind. Most of the story is from Bridget’s perspective but her mother’s and her sister Abby’s comes through every now and again. It made it more interesting to see how different her mother saw things from her four daughters. I loved the Irish sayings and the hummingbird as a sign giver; the rigid views of God, not so much. However, it did seem authentic because in this world I’m sure many have these views.

I would recommend the book simply because of the masterful way that the author pulled me into the lives of these women. Now like a nosy neighbor, I want to know what is going on with Nora and family, will Colleen find a new true friend/love too and is Magpie really happy with all her traveling. So-o-o, when is the sequel coming?

This book could be a story of my life. The story begins with Bridget O'Bannon desperately trying to escape her home where everyone is eating and talking about the funeral of her husband, who has been killed in an auto accident. Bridget is one of 4 girls raised by their strict Catholic Mother Colleen, who raised them since their father died when they were children. Colleen is a devout Catholic who believes that showing any weakness or emotion or, admitting to any mistakes, is unacceptale. This family has fought for years, many not speaking for the past few years after huge blow-ups. The story is about how dysfunctional any family can be and, whether families feel it's worth the pain, lies, skeletons hidden in the closet and, the exceedingly difficult tasks of picking up all of those pieces and molding them back together with love, truth and, ultumately, forgiveness.

This is the kind of book I enjoy, filled with family, life's challenges and the ability to accept difficult truths. Bridget O'Bannon followed her husband's lead and tried to creat a life apart from her family. The O'Bannon sisters, Bridget, Nora, Abby and Magpie, are strong women, creating some conflict with their stubborn, old-fashioned traditional Irish Mom. As Bridget finds her way back to her family, the importance of family relationships and hope form the basis of the journey. Recommended.

Like most families, the O'Bannons have secrets from each other. These secrets have driven wedges between the sisters, their mother and even their aunt. As one of the sisters deals with the hand that life has dealt her, she is determined to break down those walls and restore the sense of family that she remembers.

Although this book was somewhat predictable, I enjoyed reading it and getting to know the members of the O'Bannon family. I was happy to see Bridget show some backbone, and I guessed Colleen's secret before it was revealed in the book. When I finished reading, I was left with a feeling of unfinished business. There were questions that weren't answered, plot lines that weren't followed and relationships that weren't developed. Since then, though, I noticed that this is the first book in a series, so I'm hopeful that these issues will be addressed in future books. And yes, I'll be looking for those books, if only to answer the questions left by the ending of this first book.

The Perfect Recipe For Love and Friendship
Shirley Jump
Available: July 11, 2017

Thank you to NetGalley.com for the opportunity to read an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
I devoured this book. Seriously – I could not stop reading it because I was enthralled with the realness of the grieving process, the sisters, the family, Jim. Everything. I am so excited that this will be a series with each book touching on a different sister because I appreciated how this book focused solely on Bridget and her mother. I’m hoping each future installment will also show Colleen growing as a person as well.
What I loved: I realized that I am a Colleen minus the 4 daughters and the whole drinking thing. While it is not necessarily a good thing to be Colleen, I love that I am able to realize how I can be seen to others – and now I know how to make changes within myself to truly be the person I want to be. Plus a shout out to NKOTB is awesome!
What I didn’t love: You cannot write a series of books set in a bakery and not have a recipe or two. Shame on you! And Minions are not part of the Disney family… Since these are my only two critiques you know this has to be a good book.
What I learned: My hatred of all things Boston (except for NKOTB) may be beginning to thaw…
Overall Grade: A-

www.FluffSmutandMurder.com

I really liked this book - a story of love, and loss, and of a family finally healing old wounds. The book opens up at a funeral, with Bridget not quite sure where to go next. She has been isolated from her family, and has lost her husband and the dreams that she had for her future. In the aftermath of this tragedy, she finds her way back to the bakery she practically grew up in, and back to her sisters.

There are family secrets that come out, as they always seem to do. However, by confronting the secrets head on, rather than ignoring them, the family begins to come back together and heal. They have some great confrontations in the process (my favorite involves Bridget telling her mother off during family dinner with their priest).

I look forward to the other books in this series. The sisters were all very different, they are all spunky, and I can see how they would each have very different, but equally great, stories. The generational conflicts also add another dimension and make it easy to relate to, even for those of us who don't have sisters (I happen to have a mother who still tries to get me to wear pantyhose with a dress....)

There are times when I start a book and think "wow, this is so damn depressing, I don't think I can continue". Seriously, that's how I felt. Here's a young woman whose husband gets in a fatal car accident, leaving her truly alone. When she married Jim, she stopped talking to her sisters and became estranged from them because all she needed was her husband. We come to find out that maybe he wasn't such a great guy and he had some secrets buried deep. Maybe not that deep, just deep enough for Bridget not to see. I kept reading though. And the more I read, the more I fell in love with the characters. They are broken but at least they have each other.

The secret surrounding Abby was one I was very interested in learning. I had suspicions but none of them came close to being what I thought. Bridget and Abby's relationship is never the same that day, which also happens to be the day that Bridget marries Jim. A man who has secrets that I was dying to find out about. When you're in love, at times you tend to be blind. Especially to those that you just can't ever see in a bad light.

The relationship between the sisters was a hit rocky at first but as the story went on, the ice started to melt more. I don't like stories much where the siblings hate each other. And while the siblings in this book don't hate each other, they sort of lost a bit of something. That something being each other. Overall, I thought was a nice, heartfelt book about forgiveness. That's what I took from the story. It was beautiful, real, and at times bittersweet. I look forward to the next book.

*Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Nice, fun and heartwarming read. It is especially appealing if you like baking. Or eating. :-)

Bridget O'Bannon is ready for a do-over for her life, after her husband passes away. She deals with the fact that her marriage wasn't the fairy tale she led others to believe. She's left her family behind when she got married & reconnects with her sisters & mother.

Her mother doesn't really give the girls a moments peace so working alongside with her sisters & mother in their family bakery makes for long days.

During an outing she meets the very nice widower Garrett. He also helps her heal & shows her how much he cares for her. He listens to her, offers advice when asked for it.

Family. Food. Secrets. Love.

Four ingredients in Shirley Jump’s new book THE PERFECT RECIPE FOR LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP.

When you can laugh, cry, cringe, and cheer at a book’s story line and its characters, you know you’ve read something that will stay with you for a long, long while. The O’Bannon family reminded me so much of my own crazy Irish/Catholic family that at times I felt like I was reading a diary from my teen years.

30 year old Bridgit O’Bannon has just become a widow – much like her mother did 20 years before. That’s the only similarity, though between the 2 events. Colleen ( mom) had 4 small children to care for; Bridget had wanted a baby with her husband Jim, but he didn’t want children. Colleen’s husband was loved by her family; Jim was not. In fact, he was the cause of a major rift between Bridget, her 3 sisters and her
other. And after his death, Bridget learns some horrible truths about the husband she gave up all for.

But, like most families, when tragedy walks in the door, family does too, bringing food (more casseroles than anyone should have to eat!) and carting more emotional baggage than should be allowed.

How these five strong-willed, fractured, and emotionally charged women cope with the events and one another is the basis for Jump’s story and believe me, it rings so true to life that you will, as I did, hear fragments of your own family story bark through it.

Add in some mouthwatering baking scenes( because the family runs a 3-generations-old bakery) a new romantic interest for Bridget, two family secrets that threaten to crack any chance of healing this family ( one from sister Abby, the other from Colleen) and a Priest who makes house calls and epitomizes God’s love, and you’ve got a simply wonderful, tear-jerking, belly-laughing story.

I can’t recommend this book enough. Brava, Ms. Jump. Keep’em coming!