This book was so much deeper than I expected. It was honestly super depressing at the beginning, and I wasn't sure if I would like it, but the development of the friendship between Kate and Cecily was beautiful. I loved Cecily's stories and how much they revolved around food. Some parts were definitely better than others, but overall, it was a good story. I loved the author's note at the end too!

4.5★s
Miss Cecily’s Recipes for Exceptional Ladies (also published as The Woman Who Wanted More) is a novel by British author, Vicky Zimmerman (also writing as Stella Newman). They were on vacation in France when he told her. The plan had been for Kate Parker to move in with her boyfriend Nick Sullivan on their return, but now he is unsure, confused about how he feels. She gives him two months to unconfuse himself (they are so happy together!) and reluctantly moves in with her irritating widowed mother.

Rita Parker alternates between dispensing therapeutic advice (she’s majored in psychobabble) and volunteering Kate’s services for neighbourhood chores. Kate misses Nick so much she needs a better distraction, and Lauderdale Home for Exceptional Ladies provides it: cooking demonstrations, at first, but eventually, she settles into weekly visits with a ninety-seven-year-old resident, Cecily Finn.

Cecily is no sweet little old lady: criticising and insulting are her forte “Cecily’s mind and tongue are sharp as lime juice on an ulcer.” But gradually Kate finds that they have a love of food and cooking in common, that Cecily’s life has been full and fascinating, the perfect distraction from the thought that she may be jobless, single and forty by Christmas.

Cecily had been a writer; Katy is a writer, but of food descriptions for her supermarket employer, the greatest challenge being alliteration. Cecily expresses her disdain, and when she learns of Kate’s boyfriend situation, she doesn’t hold back on advice: “The only reason you’d countenance a man doubting you is if you doubt yourself” and “He’s clearly inadequate. He doesn’t realize how lucky he is. Find a better man” and “You like icing so much you’re willing to eat substandard cake”.

Cecily demands: “Next Sunday, I want to hear that you’ve at least spoken to a new man”. She does, however, offer something concrete: Thought for Food is a recipe book with a difference from which Kate takes inspiration, even before she realises that Cecily wrote it some over fifty years earlier. Chapters like “Dinner for the Man You Hope to Marry” and “Dinner for a Charming Stranger” seem both intriguing and appropriate.

Some of Kate’s friends believe Nick deserves a second chance; others feel Kate can do much better, and one points out that while Kate confronts her boss over his indecisiveness regards rumoured redundancies, she tolerates Nick’s equally frustrating prevarication about their future. She’s told: “Nick’s not a project; you don’t get brownie points for fixing him.”

Eventually, from “a woman whose world may now be confined to one small room, but who has lived an expansive life full of great joys and profound sorrows, and who speaks truth” Kate begins to gain the confidence to demand a better life for herself. Based on the author’s grandmother, this is a heart-warming read about love and friendship and self-worth.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark.

i was given this book from netgalley and publisher for an honest review and opinion

after being dumped at the age of 40, Kate has to move back in with her mother. she ends up volunterring at home where she meets a much older woman that gives her a recipe book.
Kate and Cecily end up bonding with food and friendship
quick fast read that i was able to read in a road trip

Kate thinks she is happy in her life and is willing to settle for an okay job and a boyfriend she loves. When she meets Cecily Finn, however, her life is shaken up as the 97 year old pushes her to value herself and not settle for anything less than a truly fulfilled life. For fans of A Man Called Ove or The Story of Arthur Truluv.

Wonderful, fabulous read. I found myself invested in Kate's life and the life of Miss Cecily. The descriptions of food are enough to make anyone hungry!

Volunteering at a retirement home was supposed to give Kate something to do when her self-absorbed boyfriend decided he wasn’t ready for her to move in with him. Kate met her match in Mrs. Cecily Finn, a grumpy 97-year-old. Both their love of cooking and Mrs. Finn’s believe that Nick, the boyfriend wasn’t worth Kate’s time, cemented a friendship. Mrs. Finn shared a cookbook with Kate that made a bond as Kate learned about Mrs. Finn’s life. And in the process Kate straightened out her life, leaving a boring job writing advertising copy for her own catering business and writing a cookbook. Of course, this book has a happy ending. If you are looking for a book to bring you cheer, this will do it.

Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies is an easy summer read. Great for foodies and women searching for their place in the world.

Vicki Zimmermann has written such a fantastic, heartwarming, and classic story that includes great food, great company (or at least some of the time!) and life lessons about learning how to love yourself. Miss Cecily’s Recipes for Exceptional Ladies should be on ALL readers bookshelves. I am not even sure my review can give this phenomenal book the justice it rightly deserves.

Kate is on the wrong end of turning forty and her life is definitely not going according to plan. Her boyfriend, Nick, needs his space, and Kate is forced to move back home with her mother while hoping Nick gets his act together and fast because living with her mother is not a picnic. Licking her wounds, Kate decides volunteering at a local animal shelter will keep her mind busy, but when there are no volunteer openings at the shelter, the next best thing is volunteering for harmless little old ladies at the Lauderdale House for Exceptional Ladies. Little did Kate know, but certain little old ladies have teeth and will leave a lasting impression on your soul.

“She came to Lauderdale to escape a difficult woman—not swap one directly for another.”

Cecily is a firecracker. She tells it like it is and is a no holds barred type of woman. She is crotchety and has no filter. She serves up life lessons centered around food and like the old saying goes “food is good for the soul.”. I can’t even express how much I loved Cecily! She could probably make grown men cry and run back to their mama’s. She certainly speaks the truth, holding Kate accountable for her actions.


“As far as I can see, you’re doing life all wrong, blundering around like a fart in a pickle barrel,”

I think we all need a cecily in our life to kick our behinds when we need it! She takes no prisoners and makes you own up to your life and how to be a better person. Plus, the banter between Kate and Cecily is outrageous and highly entertaining and while they may not have started out as friends, the connection they have is undeniable.

This story is so deserving of five stars and so much more! If you enjoy a little bitter and a whole lot of sass in your stories then you definitely do not want to miss out on the chance of reading Miss Cecily’s Recipes for Exceptional Ladies. This is a one of a kind keeper type of book that should be reread over and over again when life has you down in the dumps.

The new novel Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies by Vicky Zimmerman is a delightful read & I recommend this fun & smart book. Set in London, the book offers story that took me away to another place & that was so relaxing. I eagerly gobbled up the book because I wanted to know what would happen next with Kate. The friendship between Kate & Cecily is an added delight, I appreciate the focus on a female driven friendship. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies by Vicky Zimmerman. It seems to be a great warm weather read. I've always had a soft spot for books with recipes and was disappointed that the cooking instructions for these wonderful sounding recipes were not included. Please publish a companion cookbook! If the recipes had been included I would have added a star.

A book like this is for people who have been reading and liking the pairing of very different women: an eighty plus-year-old and a woman in her middle-age (or what counts for it). In this tale, our almost forty-year-old is Kate. She is in a stable relationship with an upward trajectory (or so she assumes). The nearly hundred-year-old is Mrs Cecily Finn, who lives in a nursing home surrounded by books she can no longer read. Kate is blindsided by a throwaway comment by her boyfriend when on holiday and then starts to spiral into an almost comatose state. In such a state, she starts to look for things to do and her paths cross with Cecily. She is then handed a book that intrigues her with the combination of wisecracks, advice and recipes.

Up to the point of their meeting (which happened too late into the narrative for my taste), it was a little slow. The author has based Cecily Finn on her own relative, the fact is something that shines through because her character is crystal clear and engaging. She says what she means and is not averse to speaking the mildest untruth to have things happen to Kate’s advantage, even if Kate is not aware. Kate grows over the year, and that is the actual content of the story. What struck me as odd was how quickly she distanced herself from a friend when she felt her being toxic but it took her more than twice the number of incidents for her to consider the boyfriend in a new light!

Overall the speed at which the story progressed in the first half, was very slow. This had me setting aside the book, and only once Cecily started trowing truths at Kate’s face, I felt the story pick up. It has a mix of serious conversation versus some lighter moments, and the writing in itself was steadily well done. I liked the book, just not as much as I expected to given the cover and the storyline.

⭐⭐⭐

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Kate felt for me a complete wimp. I was getting to the point that I wanted to throw the book away as I thought my gosh how long more is she going to make excuses for that nerdy boyfriend or hang on to him. That amount of neediness and making excuses makes me want to just walk away. But then the story changed, fortunately at just the correct time of my exasperation and turned into something quite delicious and different.

Packed with lessons on how not to hang on to any one (let alone a man!), plus recipes and recipes for every occasion and the saddest lesson of loneliness and ending your days all alone - mentally alive and well and physically deteriorating the story became riveting.

This was a charming book. To be honest, I was so irritated with the main character, Kate, after the first 5 or 6 chapters. I decided that I could not finish it. But I went back and read the reviews and decided I needed to give it another chance. I am so glad I did! I ended up loving the book.

The story of friendships, various relationships, food, and quirky characters will have you laughing, being angry, crying, and cheering. It was so uplifting to see how people can impact others' lives. I loved that Kate eventually learned that being in a relationship did not determine her worth as an individual. Watching her struggle and grow as you race through the pages was so heartwarming. I wish all young women could learn this important lesson.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

An absolutely delightful book, well written and with really engaging characters. You would expewct from the opening chapters that the book's plot would go one way, but it doesn't and takes entirely satisfactory twists and turns. I loved it!

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark publisher and NetGalley for a digital advance reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

I loved this book! Heartwarming and thoroughly engaging. The plot, the characters, the concept, the writing - all excellent. I couldn't stop reading and when finished was as completely satisfied as if I had just eaten a delicious meal (such as those delectably described in this book). A story of friendship, cooking, and love. As the publisher says: "An unlikely friendship between two lonely and stubborn souls - one at the end of her life, one stuck in the middle - who discover one big life lesson: never be ashamed to ask for more." I will be telling all my friends to read this book!

I'm not crying. Ok. Maybe I am a little choked up.

I absolutely loved Miss Cecily, a 97 year old woman, telling her life story, and dishing out her harsh advice. Well, I didn't really understand what made this cratchety old lady so amazing until I read the author's note and that was when I really started to choke up. You will need to read the book in its entirety first. Then after you feel your love for Cecily, you'll understand why you fell in love with her character when you read the note.

As I read through this book, I kept thinking I would love if this book actually shared these recipes. Maybe create a companion book filled with the recipes. Oh, read the author's note AFTER you finish reading the book. Not before, because then you won't appreciate the story at all, because the author's note is the spoiler.

I will admit that I did not like Kate in the beginning. I hated her boyfriend right from the get go. I kept thinking, girl, leave him. Girl, get over him. Why are you obsessing? Knock it off. He's not worth it. Nobody likes him. Let him go. The whole love story part was just annoying. I was ready to DNF this book until Miss Cecily entered the picture. I loved her from her first foul remark. She is everything I want to be by 97. The life she lived, the adventures she went on...she really lived life to the fullest and that's what I loved about her, all the way down to the "I hate everyone" mentality. Plus, all those books surrounding her. I swear that's going to be me at 97.

I will say that this book made me hungry for really good, well made food. If you're a foodie, this book will leave your mouth watering, wanting to try everything.

I really loved this book. Highly recommend.

Miss Cecily’s Recipes For Exceptional Ladies was a delight to read. Kate Parker gets dumped the night before her 40th and moves back in with her mother. She ends up volunteering at Lauderdale House for Exceptional Ladies, where she meets Cecily. Having trained as a food technician she initially gives cooking demonstrations at the home, but this doesn’t pan out.
She does however, end up striking up a friendship with Cecily who has a recipe book that’s filled with love.
I really liked both Kate and Cecily as individual characters, but I really loved the friendship between the two, and how it developed throughout the book. I also really enjoyed the food/cooking aspects. My mouth was watering with all the food descriptions and recipes.
Overall, I recommend this book. It’s a heartwarming wholesome read.

Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies includes history, romance, family dynamics, love, and sometimes not so subtle direction from a very wise woman. Vicky Zimmerman presented the reader with quite a character in Cecily Finn.

Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies by Vicky Zimmerman is an excellent book, and my first book by this author. Kate Parker, a food technician, gets dumped and moves back in with her mother the night before her 40th birthday. Kate decides to volunteer at Lauderdale House For Exceptional Ladies where she meets 96 year old Cecily Fin. The two women become friends. This is a beautiful book. It will make you laugh and cry. I highly recommend this book. I will be reading more books by this author.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I received an email - bookmarked for Book Clubs.
It sounded like a good read - I started reading.

Many ways to find happiness, to live well, in our world!

A woman who gets put in a detour of her planned life, needs direction
finds herself volunteering at Lauderdale House for Exceptional Ladies.
There she meets 97 yr-old Cecily, and the story really begins.
Cecily has been starved for decent conversation longer than is humane.
They hit if off and Cecily gives her a book, a cookbook mixed with self-help and jokes on top.

"Closure" is something you only get in a "Friends" episode - classic!

I love this story - could not stop reading!