I loved the premise and originality of this story...well written...a feel good read. Enjoy it...I did!

Sweet story with traditional story line, to wit: young adult leaves home with big career hopes as chef in big city, gets burned out by career and/or love hardships and returns home for brief respite. Sticks around to help out, falls (sort of) in love, bakes amazing “something” and decides she was crazy to leave and lives happily ever after. I am a sucker for this plot and genuinely reach for it repeatedly. I’ll read about baking and small towns with interesting characters often and with pleasure. This tale has the added ingredient of a multiple generation apple orchard and recipes that carry longstanding meaning to the family. If you love this kind of tale and have a fondness for apple recipes, this is your kind of book. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

I love books about family and relationships. I got lost in this one and couldn’t put it down. I so enjoyed these characters and felt I knew them. Shipman has a beautiful writing style and I am now compelled to read her earlier books.

Sam Nelson leaves New York after she quits her job as a pastry chef to go back to her family-run orchard and bakery in Michigan. Sam hears stories and learns lessons from her grandmother about her family’s past as she tries to find her way to love and happiness. The story is filled with lovely dessert recipes at the end of chapters. A sweet story filled with heartwarming, family-love and stories. I liked the plot, however, I couldn’t connect with Sam on any level. She was unemotional and rigid which had me wondering who in the world would fall in love with such a “cold fish”.

The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman will be available March 20, 2018 from Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin's Press. An egalley of this book was made available by the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

This book is not what I expected. It is very, very slow. It is also very, very saccharine. There were many times I thought about deleting this and finding something better. I hung in to the end and I can report this is not my type of book. Nothing really happens. There are a lot of flashbacks to the different women who make up the main characters ancestors but they really seem to be telling the same story. There are a lot of recipes in this book. By the end I did find myself thinking about baking. The sentiment is sweet about the importance of family and shared history and family recipes but it was just repeated far too much. Also be warned this book also spends a lot of time making you think about mortality. From the beginning of the book with the line about how many more of these will I bake? I really liked Angelo’s character and wish there could have been more of him. Unfortunately the main character was just not that interesting.

Amazing. A recipe box with generations of family baking recipes, life histories, feelings and love which are packed in a locked box with keys. Decisions, decisions to make. How does one decide their destiny? Viola Shipman shares the glory of Michigan’s lakeshore, the lives of a hard working loving family and the future of their business. Does one make their own destiny or follow what seems to be expected?

I loved this book and my friends should expect a copy. A great read!

The Recipe Box is a great, feel-good read. It would make a good Hallmark movie. Lots of great sounding recipes are intertwined in the story. You won't regret this one!

I cannot give this book enough stars - it is FANTASTIC! The characters are loveable and unforgettable & the the story puts a smile on your face with every page & warms your heart. The best part are the recipes! This book definitely needs a follow up book. Kudos!

The Recipe Box is about family and finding exactly where you fit.

Sam is a pastry chef in NYC. Her boss is terrible, and she quits her job and heads home to the family orchard in Michigan. From there, the story goes back and forth in time telling the story of her fore-mothers and their orchard. I liked getting to know their stories, but on the other hand, I felt like I knew a lot of characters a little, rather than getting to know one character really well.

The story reminded me a lot of a Hallmark movie, although in some cases, the book departed a little from the usual plot. Her love interest was a little different from the norm, and she didn't have to choose between her dream job and her man in the end.

Overall, I enjoyed the The Recipe Box. It was a fast, light read which was exactly what I needed at the time

This was the third book that I have read that was written by Viola Shipman. I first found this author while reading "The Charm Bracelet" which I loved and then "The Hope Chest" which I loved. I was very excited that there was another book on offer and did not waste any time requesting it.

I love how in all of Shipman's books, he takes, for instance, in "The Charm Bracelet". Every charm on the bracelet has a story and a meaning for the mother of the family. The same recipe is used in the other two books. However, I wasn't as impressed with "The Recipe Box" as I was with the other books. This one just seemed to have an over abundance of cheese. That's not to say it wasn't a good read, because it was. It just wasn't one of my favorites.

I did love all the names that Tricia used to describe the celebrity chef that Sam was working for before she went back home. They were some pretty funny names.

If you like Hallmark movies, you will love these books.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Viola Shipman has written another great book. Enjoyed the recipes and the history behind them.

Fabulous book. Thoroughly loved. Highly recommend!

A sugary treat for a snowy afternoon. Unfortunately, this book was not as interesting as the author's previous books. More recipes than plot and the dialogue was repeated over and over again.

The Recipie Box is a heartwarming tale about a Chef in New York who makes her way home to her small Michigan home on her family's orchard farm. There she rediscovers the magic of family and recipes made together. I enjoyed that there were recipies for the things they made such as apple crisp and blueberry slab cake, it brings this story home to us. I would recommend this book to those who love family stories and those who enjoy cooking.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review. The story and characters are both delightful and interesting. Each chapter revolves around a different recipe which is explained at the end of the chapter. The main characters are lovable and very endearing. Most of the story takes place in Michigan on a family farm over many generations of farmers and bakers. We learn how the orchards started and each generation that tended to them. There are many wonderful lessons and tips about life to be learned from very wise women throughout the years. I enjoyed the story and didn’t want it to end .

The plot sounded interesting but there wasnt enough information about The main character (Sam) to draw me into her story. There was more information and backstory on Michigan and her ancestors than I would have liked so I skipped through them. I wished for a better dialogue between Sam and her romantic interest (so forgettable I forgot his name!) and I also wished for a stronger, wittier, kinder main character or a more in depth characterization to draw more empathy into her angst.

A recipe box for her thirteenth birthday? Is that what Sam really wanted?

Probably not, but it made her mother and grandmother happy so Sam accepted it and made her first pie.

THE RECIPE BOX was a gift no thirteen-year-old wanted, but it was a gift that kept on giving throughout Sam's life.

We follow Sam as she leaves her loving Michigan home and goes to New York to attend culinary school. She was a hit in New York, but her boss was a fake. To her family’s delight Sam decided to come back home.

Sam comes back to the love and warmth of her family and their bakery and orchards. Was she really ready for this? Did she make the right decision by coming back home?

All of the characters were lovable, but Grandma Willo was my favorite as was the story from her youth and her life.

Grandma was simply someone you would love to have as your grandmother because of her positive attitude and attention to making sure her family was happy in everything they chose.

THE RECIPE BOX is a “sweet,” loving read that makes you want to go into the kitchen and be with grandma making the pies and other delicious desserts.

Each chapter was titled with a recipe and inside each chapter we get to join in the family fun and view the ingredients and directions for the yummy food the family makes.

THE RECIPE BOX is for anyone who loves to bake with family, who loves recipes, who loves family history, and who enjoys being in a beautiful setting.

You most likely will shed a few tears not because of sadness, but because of the warmth and love that oozes from the characters and from things they say.

THE RECIPE BOX is a book that is an uplifting, make-sure-you-make-the-right decisions in your life by following your instincts and embracing change.

THE RECIPE BOX was definitely written WITH love and for those the author loves. 5/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher and NetGalley in return for an honest review

Samatha "Sam" Mullins wanted to spread her wings and explore the world and its possibilities. Not wanting to stay in Michigan where her family has an apple orchard and pie shop she goes to culinary school in New York. We find her at the beginning of the book disappointed and frustrated with her life and her job as sous chef for a reality TV program. Finally having her fill with the egotistical TV host, she quits her job and goes home to Michigan.


This is a story of love of family, the love that only family gives you as they wrap their arms around you, offering support and caring,unconditionally. The story evolves with family history, as each generation adds their stamp to the orchard and to the pie shop. All the recipes lovingly stored in a recipe box, through the years from her great-great grandmother and through the decades. Ultimately, it is for Sam to open her heart, not only to keep the family's business in tact with new possibilities, but open her heart to love. It is up to her to give her heart and love to Angelo, the man she left behind in New York.


It is also a story of mothers and daughters, a story about finding your place in the world, a place that was always there for you, if you only allow yourself to enter it. Each generation put their stamp on the orchard, each one added to the recipe box from her great-great grandmother and through the decades.


What I found most unique was each chapter had a desert named for it and at the end of that chapter you find the recipe. These deserts were so mouthwatering you could almost taste them, you could almost smell the cinnamon, the spices, the fruit. This book was written with love that came shining through. It wrapped itself around me for a comfortable and heartwarming read. I would like to thank both NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.l

This book was wonderful! The author doesn't disappoint it is a touching story about family and finding yourself and trying to figure out what you really want. You also get the added bonus of recipes! Can't wait to try them out and it made me want to go out and buy a recipe book and create a tradition with my family.

A generation of women who have passed down a recipe box. So much love is shown through the sharing of these recipes. Sam in concerned that she be trapped in the family orchard and their pie shop. That she will be stuck and not be able to change anything. When she runs back home to figure things out she is told the stories behind the recipes. Will Sam be able to figure out what she is running from and where she wants from her future.

I highly recommend this book it is touching and emotional.

As much as I love thrillers and suspense, I also enjoy a really well-written story that captures my interest with excellent writing and a strong plot. The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman is a breath of fresh air after reading so many intense crime stories!

Growing up in northern Michigan, Samantha “Sam” Mullins felt trapped on her family’s orchard and in their pie shop, so she left with dreams of making her own mark in the world. But life as an overworked, undervalued sous chef at a reality star’s New York bakery is not what Sam dreamed.

When the chef embarrasses Sam, she quits and returns home. Unemployed, single, and defeated, she spends a summer working on her family’s orchard cooking and baking alongside the women in her life–including her mother, Deana, and grandmother, Willo. One beloved, flour-flecked, ink-smeared recipe at a time, Sam begins to learn about and understand the women in her life, her family’s history, and her passion for food through their treasured recipe box.

As Sam discovers what matters most she opens her heart to a man she left behind, but who now might be the key to her happiness.

I haven’t read this- yet- but Im going to soon. My goal is to read 90 books during 2018 and this is high on my To-Read list!