This was utterly charming and so sweet (but not, fortunately, saccharine!) and I've been happily recommending it to friends.

I adored the idea behind this, the second I read the blurb I thought I was in for something wonderful, and it didn’t disappoint. I loved Cecily, and reading this made me wish I’d had more time with my grandmothers while they were alive, and wonder about the stories they could have told and the advice they might have had, The food descriptions were YUM. Highly recommend.

Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies' by Vicky Zimmerman, is the right book at the right time for me. I needed to read it now and not a minute before. What a great story!

It is a delightful and sweet story about the soon-to-be 40 years old Kate Porter, who finds herself volunteering at the Lauderdale House for Exceptional Ladies. There, she meets one of the eldest residents, 97-year-old Cecily Finn, and an unlikely friendship blossoms between the two women.
Kate is in a bad relationship, and her choices in life are questionable, and that's why Cecily prescribes her a self-help book full of recipes to use in every situation. Basically a menu on what to do when life gives you lemons. Or strawberries.

Cecily pushes Kate to become who she's meant to be by helping her out of her comfort zone and away from a dead relationship. It's a love story, if you will, but not the one you might expect; it's about self-love and self-worth. And even if a bit too long, I loved every bit of it.

It's a comforting and heartwarming tribute to friendship and food, and it felt so real it didn't surprise me when at the end of the book, I discovered the story is based on an actual cookbook, and the character of Cecily was inspired by Zimmerman's grandmother.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ok, beyond the cover that I’m obsessed with, this book was just too much fun! If you love foodie fiction, this is the book for you. Just like the title, this story really is, well, exceptional!

Kate is dumped and has to move back home with her mom, when she volunteers at the Lauderdale House for Exceptional Ladies. Cecily, a 90-something woman she meets, passes on her cookery book from the 1950’s, filled with recipes to cure all sort of ails that people may have.

I was ALL for the wonderful characters in this story, especially that bristly Cecily. They’re definitely what made this one for me. Kate and Cecily’s journey was so delightful to come alongside and it stole and warmed my heart. If you’re looking for a great summertime read to add to your TBR, let this one be it! It’s sweet and spice and everything nice. Highly recommend!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the gifted e-copy!

Miss Cecily’s Recipes for Exceptional Ladies is the story of an unlikely friendship between Kate and Cecily. After Kate’s life falls apart, she uses Cecily’s self-help book Food for Thought to “fix” it. This started off slow, but I really enjoyed it once I got into it. I listened to it, and I loved the accents.

Thanks to @NetGalley and Sourcebooks for my ARC!

Goodness, what a delightful book!

Things I loved:

- a 40-year-old protagonist, a sassy, cranky octogenarian, and goodness, FOOD.



- the relatability. Yes, I fully relate to feeling stuck, and yet not moving on from a job that you don't love because of fear.
- the menus in the book "Thoughts for Food". I love the entire concept

It's Kate's 40th birthday, and instead of everything coming together as she hoped, her life kind of falls apart. She finds herself without an apartment, on a "break" from her boyfriend, and living with her mom (while working a job she hates) Hoping to volunteer at an animal shelter, she ends up instead doing food demonstrations at a nursing home. It's here we first meet Miss Cecily - as she critiques Kate's cooking. I absolutely fell in love with Miss Cecily. She's feisty, she's outspoken, quite often flat-out rude - but underneath it all, there was something special. She used that feistiness to push Kate to want more.


I particularly loved the cast of characters in the book -they were fun, or fun to dislike.

This was a lovely, cheery, delightful read, but it was a bit long. (I could have done with a few less chapters on her ex-boyfriend and all his dysfunctions. I really didn't care for him anyway.)
Also, if you are the type of person who likes recipes interspersed throughout a book, you WILL be disappointed, because this isn’t that kind of foodie book. (This didn't bother me, but it may disappoint some.)

I won't spoil the fun, but definitely DO read the note from the author!

All in all, a lighthearted tale about being true to yourself, finding your true path, and unlikely friendships.
Four-and-a-half stars (rounded to five here and on Amazon.)

I was provided a copy of the book for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

A book that is both entertaining and heart warming, really enjoyable story and the pages flew by. Look forward to more from this author,

I enjoyed this book! Food and talk is relevant to building relationships and community and this book captures it.

Almost 40 and about to move in with her boyfriend, Kate finds herself suddenly on a "break" in her relationship and in an effort to focus on something else starts volunteering at the Lauderdale House for Exceptional Ladies.

Here she meets the exceptionally crotchety Cecily Finn and agrees to visit her every Sunday for a dose of tough love and honesty that she doesn't seem to get from anyone else.

I mostly enjoyed this book although it could have been edited a little tighter. I also found Kate pretty unlikeable (and Cecily too) at first, but as the book progressed I found myself more interested in their lives.

An easy read best for those who have a love of food (there is a lot of the book dedicated to cooking and talking about food!).

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an hoest review.

What a delightful little book! Kate and Cecily were two dynamic and interesting characters that demonstrated a lot of growth throughout the novel, which I absolutely love. This book has tons of talk surrounding food, which is my absolute favorite kind of book. I just love foodie fiction and this one absolutely delivered. Definitely don't read this one on an empty stomach! The writing wasn't superb, and the male love interest was not my favorite, but other than that this book was perfectly fun, and definitely a great book to bring to the pool in the summertime.

It was a good book. It wasn’t my typical read but I wasn’t disappointed in it. I would read more by this author. It was a quick read.

The story follows Kate who is single, safely in the same copywriting/grocery store job she's had for years, and quickly approaching her 40th birthday. After an unexpected "time out" with her boyfriend, Nick, her friends encourage her to fill her time by volunteering.
Cecily resides at the Lauderdale retirement home where takes a volunteer position. Irascible and feisty 94+ year old Cecily begrudgingly allows Kate to (sometimes) visit her. Cecily is an author of a cookbook that provides a life-changing path for Kate.
I thought the story started slow with too much focus on the one event of Kate and Nick before their time-out. But, once that happened, the book picked up steam and I was anxious to get to each day to hear the journey of both Cecily and Kate. I found it to be refreshing, current and quite enjoyable.

This was an exceptional book. The characters were unique and engaging and I ended up looking for the actual Cecily Finn’s cookbook, Thought for Food, published in 1957, when I finished the book. This is one of those books that stays with you long after you have finished reading it.
I highly recommend this one, 5 stars.

Thanks to Sourcebook Landmark and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review..

This is a charming read, heartwarming read. Kate thinks she found "the one" at 40 and they are moving forward to move in together. Until one day on vacation, he decides he isn't ready to move in yet and Kate gives him two months to commit or she will leave him. I don't love ultimatums in relationships, but this story, and what Kate was looking for, I think worked. Kate starts volunteering at a nursing home for “exceptional ladies”. Cecily criticizes everything Kate cooks. Cecily and Kate become close friends and connecting over their love of food, themed menus for life occasions,. This story makes you fight for yourself and that you deserve to be happy, and inspires you to want to cook beautiful meals.

I adore when young people realize that older individuals were also at one point young.

Kate and Cecily form a wonderdul bond in this beautiful book and it's just so charming.

I loved this quote from the blurb, "Food for feasting, friends are for savoring, and the way to a man's heart is...irrelevant."

Kate is finding that men are irrelevant indeed and Cecily makes it her mission to help her understand her own way, without the need of a man.

It was perfection. My heart loved this book. These two main ladies were instant love for me. Their initial clashing personalities was such a joy.

I'm someone with quite a large cookbook collection and I definitely think adding something life "Food for Thought" to my shelf would indeed make changes in my own life.

Thank you sourcebooks landmark for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Unfortunately, this just didn't do it for me. I read more than half but just couldn't finish. The premise of a friendship between an older and younger woman intrigued me, plus I loved that it was centered around food (a favorite genre of mine). BUT the plot was just moving too slowly and had moving parts that didn't seem to matter, unfortunately.

I did not finish this book. I found the character acting too much like a young adult rather than a woman her age. The synopsis sounds way better than the 1/3 of the book I managed to get through. This is not my type of main character and she thoroughly turned me off the plot line.

This book was a joy to read and a nice change from what I typically read. Cecile was a well-developed character and I loved the feistiness!

Wish the cookery book existed in real life!

Had a hard time getting into this book mainly for the fact that it is written in present tense, which made me trip up in my reading so often that it made me tempted to just give up. Then it was an even harder win for me when the story went back in time and Kate has those 'moments' with Nick and she was waffling and just wanting to be with a guy who was simply an utter egotistical jerk.... Both of these ate into my desire to read this book, sadly

A good summer read. If you enjoy reading about food and a women who fines a new direction for her life then pick this to read. Wisdom of the older lady passed down to the younger is always a good thing. Thanks for the advanced copy from the publisher and. Net galley.