Book Review: How to Bake a New Beginning | Lucy Knott

Do you ever take a luxurious bath or visit a beautiful location or indulge in a decadent treat and think, “That was just what I needed to feel rejuvenated. That was good for the soul!” That is how I felt reading How to Bake a New Beginning by Lucy Knott. I would describe this book as pure, sweet, filled with love, replenishing to my spirit, heart-warming, and tantalizing (specifically referring to the settings and recipes there). This is a wonderful book for anyone looking to escape to the beautiful hills of Italy and delve into a sweet story for a day! My friend Berit (on the blog tour tomorrow!) actually said to me about this book that there is nothing like getting to travel without leaving your bed. I loved that!

About the Book

Three sisters. One trip to Italy. The chance to change their lives.

Amanda has always taken the role of big sister seriously. She has her life in order; a fantastic job in a great restaurant, a wonderful house and a best friend who’s a Rockstar. But, Amanda’s beginning to realise that her life is missing one monumental piece…

Sabrina is living the high life in LA. Her Instagram is full of lavish parties, her tweets are brimming with celebrity names, but in reality she’s stuck behind a desk working for a boss who is determined to make her suffer. Is it time for her to stand up and take charge of her life?

Louisa has always been drowned out by her sister’s successes. As the university drop-out she’s always felt third best. But a chance encounter in a little Italian village may be about to change that…

When their beloved grandfather passes away these sisters are forced to take another look at their lives. These three sisters are about to embark on a journey of self-discovery that could just lead them down a road of romance (with a little help from the kitchen)!

Reflection

Amanda, Sabrina, and Louisa are completely loveable characters. Though they think they have had some distance, with Louisa feeling abandoned by her sisters and lost in her career, they actually are incredibly supportive of one another. Reading how much they love eachother and want the best for eachother, well anyone with a sister knows how special that type of sister relationship is! It made me miss my own sister. Similar to the sisters in this book, we live far apart and don’t see eachother very often. But sisters are always there for you, even when you fight!

“It was one thing to just follow a recipe, but it was a completely different thing making something from the heart and truly capturing the tastes and smells that Nanna and Grandpa were famous for.”

Sprinkled throughout this book are the family recipes of the three girls, compiled into a cookbook. The recipes not only look delicious, but they are peppered with adorable quirks about the way their grandfather cooked food and loved food. That love for food and respect for cooking is so central to their family, and documenting those recipes was such a beautiful, touching way to keep their grandfather with them. When they cooked, their food was so filled with generations of love and family. I loved this aspect to the book!

“Breathing in the salty air, she allowed her jaw to loosen and her brows to unfurrow, wanting to see Italy the way her grandpa did, with a smile on his face.”

Though the passing of their grandfather is so sad, their trip to Italy allowed him to live throughout the pages of this book. Each place they went reminded them of their grandfather and his life and legacy. They had such beautiful memories of how he supported and encouraged them. Each of the sisters has her own struggles when they arrive in Italy—with their careers and love lives and next direction. On their trip, it is as though they can feel their grandfather smiling with them. Each of them finds something important on this trip, and they know how proud their grandfather is.

“It was perfectly fine to chase your dreams even when the prospect of change was frightening.”

I want to leave us all with these wonderful, inspiring words to live by. If anything is a lesson I thought about while reading this book, it was that fear is the reason we often don’t go after what we want. Many of us (myself included at times) are scared to go after something because we worry it doesn’t want us back. I hope that reading this book makes others feel encouraged to put themselves out there and chase dreams! I know it did for me.