A great book, I enjoy read love stories that center around food. Thank you Lake Union for allowing to read this. Elle always had a sweet tooth and loves to try new recipes. Her marriage becomes stale and she is read to try new things ...recipes that is. The story will so Elle in her struggles trying to piece her life back together.

They say that the way to a person's heart is through their stomach. This book deliciously connected emotions and food. It tells the story of a marriage, from the beginning to the end. The recipes included deeply and cleverly evoke the emotions that the characters are experiencing. I loved the characters and their messy issues. A delicious, sweet, complex confection of a book!

An excellent debut novel with a cross between a marriage on the rocks and a cookbook! The two woman running the bakery become fast friends and lean on each other in good times and in bad. A marriage on the rocks is thrown into the mix and many emotional ups and downs throughout. Add in excellent mouth watering recipes and this all makes for a wonderful page turner.
Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing, the author and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy of this book. The above review is my honest option of this awesome book! it
Congratulations to Jennifer Gold on this 5 star book which I strongly recommend to anyone looking for a great book! I will be looking forward to reading more books by this author in the future.

3.5 stars
I thought the book was good. It dragged a little bit during the chapters of the “before”. I enjoy books about bakeries/baking and loved the recipes throughout the book. I was not a fan of Tom or Charlie’s character for that matter. The author did a nice job on the character development and it was easy to like Elle and Bonnie and showing the relationship they had.

This is a cookbook/love story with humor,tears, friendship and fears and oh so many wonderful recipes to make, all rolled and cooked into one delicious novel.
Elle is a bakery owner. This has always been a dream come true.
When she and her husband split up, how will Elle move forward? This was not part of her plan.
Elle's creations in the kitchen depend on her moods:
Sweet vs sour, good memories vs bad memories all create different delectable goods.

This is an interesting debut story told from past dates and then back to present times.
Looking forward to see what is next for author Jennifer Gold.

Received this book as an ARC. Bakery owner Elle’s marriage to husband Tom has reached a stalemate after Elle discovers Tom has had an affair. The author cleverly switches between nine years ago, even before their relationship to current time when Elle discovers Tom’s unfaithfulness. The troubled marriage interferes with Elle’s intention to invest and open a second bakery with business partner/best friend Bonnie. The author includes yummy sounding recipes as baking becomes a stress reliever for Elle.

This is a wonderful story about Elle, a successful baker who is married to Tom who may have been unfaithful, The book goes back and forth, very successfully, through their love story. To deal with his infidelity, Ellie bakes out her emotions and gifts us with quirky named wonderful recipes like: Turn Something Sour into Something Sweet with Lemon Curd Tarts or Lovers’ Lazy Morning Coffee Cake. There were points I didn't know whether to read the book or bake...but reading this wonderful story is the definite mouthwatering winning choice!

This is a good story, with enough recipes to make your mouth water. The main character can get a little neurotic, but I think it could easily happen to anyone in her shoes. The book jumps around, a lot-each chapter is a different time in Ella & Tom’s relationship-but after a few chapters I got used to it. I really enjoyed the ending.
*FYI-there were a couple scenes/some language I wasn’t expecting...I was able to skim over while still enjoying the rest of the story

A story of love between two people and the insecurities of one that create the perfect recipe for betrayal. Elle and Tom have to face the fact that the missing ingredients of their relationship are necessary. Throughout the story there are the recipes for each emotion and every situation. This is a baker’s perfect book!

Just as Elle’s bakery is starting to grow her marriage begins to crumble. After discovering her husband is having an affair Elle takes a deep look into her life and marriage. Baking thru her emotions is how she heals herself but has her passion for it also been the downfall of her marriage? Through self reflection, memories and and a overflowing binder of her personal recipes, Elle must face the possibilities that her marriage is over and begin a future she hadn’t imagined for herself. Jennifer Gold does a wonderful job of showing the reality, complications and vulnerability of relationships in marriage, friendship and family. This was such a great book! I loved how intimate and real it felt. The story was honest and genuine and her recipes sound amazing! ! I can’t wait to try them! The Ingredients Of Us is the perfect blend of hope and despair with a dash of wisdom infused thru delicious recipes!

Read or bake ?!
That was my dilemma in reading this yummy book !

The story of Elle and Tom and their marriage is told as before and after ! These were well written characters a surrounded by these delicious recipes !
A great book by this author who will forever be on my TBR list.

I was hooked from the first chapter. The only thing that was different was how the chapters jumped back and forth. That aside I couldn’t put the book down. I loved how there are recipes included as a cookbook addict this really appealed to me. This story was about Tom and Elle but was just as much about Elle’s friend and business partner Bonnie and her husband Charlie. I look forward to reading more by this author. I was given an arc for an honest review, my honest review is the book is really really good!

The Ingredients of Us is a very unique book - I really enjoyed it! Not only does it have a great story with drool worthy recipes mixed in, it has a very unique timeline, alternating from before an event occurs and after that event occurs. The characters are all very real - this story could be about your next door neighbors, or coworkers. I’m looking forward to reading more by this author!

The Ingredients of Us by Jennifer Gold was a wonderful read by a new to me author.
Thoroughly enjoyed this well written story with wonderful recipes mixed in that go wonderfully with the story and make your mouth water at the same time. I'm looking forward to more from this author.

As a pastry chef in another life I was happy to find recipes woven into this delight of a debut novel by Jennifer Gold. I enjoyed the way the time line skipped back and forth and forth again while telling the story of Elle and Tom. It was a very unique approach and I felt it easier to get a sense of the love story between them. I also enjoyed how realistic and authentic the relationship felt between Elle and Tom, her mother (and father) as well as her friend and business partner Bonnie and husband Charlie felt as the story unfolded.
I would like to thank the author, Net Gallery and Lake Union publishers for the opportunity to read an Arc of The Ingredients Of Us. I look forward to reading more from Jennifer Gold.

I love a book that isn’t afraid to have a flawed heroine. Elle owns a successful bakery, but her personal life is a mess. The book jumps back and forth between the early years of her relationship with her husband and the time following a major turning point in their relationship. The time shifts allow the reader to see that Elle initially holds herself blameless in how things have worked out, when in fact, there is a lot more to the problem than she realizes. The author uses the secondary characters well, as their interactions with Elle also add to her self-discovery. I like the use of the recipes as Elle’s inner monologues and look forward to trying some of the treats out myself. Thank you to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and the author for a digital advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a sweet story (with lots of delicious baking recipes included!). Gold writes an easy page-turner that is both light and endearing. It was easy to root for her main character and fall in love with her story. I would definitely read more by this author!

The story of Elle and Tom, their marriage and lives before and after their marriage pulled me in right away and made me want to know more about them. I eagerly read chapter after chapter of their lives, before Elle knew, after Elle knew and way before she knew.

Her steadfast friend, employee and co-owner Bonnie and her husband Charlie were just as important to the story and easily as likable as Elle and Tom. I loved this story and waited impatiently, wondering how things would turn out.

Did I say I waited impatiently? Well, true, but when I wasn't waiting, I was longing to have a friend that was a baker who would make me all of the delicious sounding recipes in this book! My baker friend never showed up though and I think this author should supply one because damn, these recipes? AMAZING.

The entire book is wrapped up in wonderfully descriptive prose interspersed with those drool-worthy recipes and soon I found myself wanting to know more about Elle and Tom, but wait! Then I wanted more recipes to sigh over. Gosh dang it! Talk about a conundrum. Finish the book or bake? I'm not a baker so I opted to finish without the deliciously enticing treats described within, but I am having cheesecake today, sort of as a consolation prize.

I greatly appreciate having been approved for an ARC at my request. Thanks to the author, Ms. Gold, the publisher Lake Union and Netgalley. My thoughts in this hungry-making review are my own, but suffice it to say that I will be lining up for Ms. Gold's next book and I have already pre-purchased this book as a gift for a friend who loves to bake.

This story was thoughtful and presented in an interesting timeline. Elle is a successful baker who finds out her husband has not been faithful. The story weaves from present to past telling the love story of Elle and Tom. As the story unfolds, I love how Jennifer Gold creatively infuses personalities and emotions into the baked creations Ells creates. Throughout the story are the themes of love and friendship. What stood our to me most was how accurately Gold writes about the critical inner-voice we all have. I found the conclusion to be unexpected and enjoyable.