Louise Miller (1)

This book has contra dancing in it!!!!! And old time music!!! This made me so happy. The actual story is so so average, but the setting (Vermont) and the music references were really great. I grew up contra dancing and it is really cool to see it in a book. I've seen it referenced in one other book, but in this story, the dancing is described in some detail (even the calling) and the protagonist is even in the band. I enjoyed how the music is portrayed as music of life, joy, and of death, show more which in my experience is how spot on. show less

Not my usual cup of tea. I need a little more edginess to my reading. This one is very, very cozy with no mystery to go along with it. I did get invested in the characters though. For anyone who knows small towns in Vermont, the setting was familiar and delightful. Oh and the baking! That drew me in as well. Although I’m not usually in for books that wrap everything up in such a tidy bow, this time it felt good.
Miller tells a good story and I wouldn’t rule out reading her first book show more next time I’m looking for a pure comfort read. show less

I picked this up thinking it was a cozy romance based on the cover and blurb, but it turned out to be so much more. Our protagonist, Olivia Rawlings, isn't very likable at the beginning. She's a pastry chef at a prestigious club in Boston and having an affair with her much older, married boss. When things go awry, she flees to Guthrie, Vermont and her best friend who gets her a job at an inn in town. Livvy soon finds living in the country much more than she expected, even if her new boss can show more sometimes be picky.
This is an author who knows baking, old-time bluegrass and gospel, and the countryside of Vermont. I have to admit I'd never heard of banjo thrailing, but I've now watched some videos (it's always good to learn new things). She's able to invoke the sounds and smells of all this in her writing, immersing the reader until I could smell apples and cinnamon and hear All the Pretty Little Horses on guitar.
I may be wrong, but one of the things I really loved was that Ms. Miller 'shows' the love between Livvy and Martin, never tells, by using text about felling home in one's arms and how they click together. I don't remember them saving 'I love yous' but it felt right. Livvy grows up, but so does Martin.
The rest of the characters are wonderful, even mean Jane. I hope that Al and Sarah get together, and I love the extended McCracken family. Even Margaret warms up, and I really appreciated her by the end of the book. I can't forget Salty who might be one of the best dogs I ever read. I've now grabbed her next book set in Guthrie and can't wait to see some of these characters again (I hope). show less

What a joy and pleasure it has been to read Louise Miller’s debut, The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living, especially since I was laid up recovering from knee surgery! From the opening scene involving a flying, flaming Baked Alaska to the last walk through the Vermont woods, this novel kept me entertained, moved, and eager to enjoy every last “crumb,” so lovingly written and shared by the author.

Olivia Rawlings, a talented pastry chef with a penchant for crazy hair color, causes a show more disaster by dropping her Pistachio Baked Alaska in front of an elite crowd at the Boston Emerson Club where she works, including her married lover, no less. Fleeing the scene, she lands in Guthrie, Vermont, home to her best friend Hannah, who is married and expecting. She is offered a temporary job at the nearby Sugar Maple Inn making desserts and, though missing being in a large city where she has always lived, she gradually comes to find life in the country more satisfying than anything she has ever known. With a cast of quirky characters, a realistic examination of small town life, some surprising secrets, and a slow and sweet romance, this novel reveals how a lonely, banjo playing chef learns a lot about herself in the year she spends in Guthrie, and what it means to call a place “home.”A nice respite, in more ways than one, from the literary thrillers I've been reading lately! show less