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51st out of 268 books
—
164 voters
How to Bake a Perfect Life
by
Barbara O'Neal (Goodreads Author)
In a novel as warm and embracing as a family kitchen, Barbara O’Neal explores the poignant, sometimes complex relationships between mothers and daughters—and the healing magic of homemade bread.
Professional baker Ramona Gallagher is a master of an art that has sustained her through the most turbulent times, including a baby at fifteen and an endless family feud. But now...more
Professional baker Ramona Gallagher is a master of an art that has sustained her through the most turbulent times, including a baby at fifteen and an endless family feud. But now...more
Paperback, 416 pages
Published
December 21st 2010
by Bantam
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I really, really enjoyed this! O'Neal's description is just stunning, and I felt like I knew every nook of her bakery/house (and loved it). The characters were lovely while still being flawed (even when they did ugly things-- which wasn't often, but this is life-- you knew they weren't ugly people. They were so real!). I loved how masterfully she wrote the layers of each character, and that everyone had a journey in the book. The book did "jump" from character to character (smoothly, in my opini...more
Jan 04, 2012
VillaPark Public Library
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
reading-and-blogging,
books-bites
How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O’Neal is the perfect recipe for an enjoyable read. Ramona Gallagher has weathered everything from becoming a single mother at age 15 to enduring an ongoing family feud that affects her current business situation. She operates a successful bread bakery in her inherited Colorado Springs Victorian home but the slow economy and a series of small mishaps threaten her business and home. Her daughter Sofia receives a call that her soldier husband has been badly i...more
You can read my take here
Generally a cute story...sort of your typical chick-lit book. I bumped it up to 3 stars for the recipes alone..My gosh, the recipes look so fantastic. I am loving the fact that authors are starting to do recipes with their books..as someone who loves to cook, it is just something that makes them stand out and go POW! And let me add, I have gotten some pretty terrific recipes from these types of books and authors web sites.
Yes, you saw right. Five stars. This book made me laugh, made me cry...it is beautifully written and has such well-drawn characters I feel like they are real people. The story centers around a few generations of women in the Gallagher family. Ramona, the main character is a forty-something boulanger who had a daughter at 15, Sofia, who is now grown and having a baby of her own. Ramona takes in Sofia's step-daughter, Katie, while Sofia goes to tend her soldier husband who has been badly burned in...more
'In a novel as warm and embracing as a family kitchen, Barbara O’Neal explores the poignant, sometimes complex relationships between mothers and daughters—and the healing magic of homemade bread.
Professional baker Ramona Gallagher is a master of an art that has sustained her through the most turbulent times, including a baby at fifteen and an endless family feud. But now Ramona’s bakery threatens to crumble around her. Literally. She’s one water-heater disaster away from losing her grandmother’s...more
Professional baker Ramona Gallagher is a master of an art that has sustained her through the most turbulent times, including a baby at fifteen and an endless family feud. But now Ramona’s bakery threatens to crumble around her. Literally. She’s one water-heater disaster away from losing her grandmother’s...more
Not only does this book include bread recipes in between some of the chapters, but it also holds a warm, hectic story of Ramona, a bread bakery owner. I loved how each chapter was from a different perspective - from Ramona, to Sophia [her daughter], to Katie [Sophia's stepdaughter]. I have to admit, I felt for Ramona and her difficult life - from getting pregnant at 15 and being left at her aunt's house for the summer, to meeting the boy of her dreams and having him move away, to running a baker...more
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Generally, I have a tendency to gag while reading a blurb that talks about ~exploring the bonds between mothers and daughters~, and one that additionally drops cliches like "offer a second chance at love." Barbara O'Neal, however, digs deep into characters and relationships, and she pulls out the poignant and the tough and the fragile. And she uses that stuff to tell her story, not the cliches or the stereotypes or the superficial obvious stuff. So while How to Bake a Perfect Life is a very, ver...more
I love her books! This book follows a woman, who is a baker, through her life. I love how it is like I am watching a snapshot of this woman's life. I see the entire gambit of emotions from deep sorrow to true love and everything in between. The characters in the book go through everyday life and all the challenges and surprises that go with it. If you haven't read this author before then you are in for a treat. She always writes about some type of cook or baker and then includes recipes in the s...more
In How to Bake a Perfect Life a cobbled together family of women struggle to find success and happiness and to understand each other. The book centers around Ramona, a 40 year old woman trying to keep her beloved bakery open. Circling the story of Ramona are those of Sophia, her pregnant daughter, and Katie, Sophia's neglected stepdaughter, in addition to Ramona's mother, grandmother, and aunt. Each woman has to fight her own set of demons and all are strong in their own, unique ways. Woven thro...more
I loved How to Bake a Perfect Life. LOVED it. Read it in less than 2 days. Couldn't put it down, couldn't go to bed because I was so into it. I've read a lot of the other reviews that say it's typical chick-lit, but I don't know what kind of chick-lit those people are reading. This has some depth and deals with emotion and growth through generations of women. Sure it was predictable, but whatever. Do we read for surprises, or for the story, how it unfolds, how characters learn and grow? Do we ju...more
The story starts in present day Colorado. Ramona is a baker who is struggling to keep her bakery afloat. Her daughter Sofia is pregnant with her first baby and Ramona is settled but that's it. When Oscar, Sofia's husband is injured when he is doing his tour of duty, Sofia must go to him. Ramona stays with Katie, Sofia's stepdaughter who has had her share of rough times living with her crackhead mother. The story goes back in time to when Ramona was pregnant as a 15 year old and gives bread recip...more
Such a fun book! This is the second book of Barbara O'Neals that I've read and I've loved them both.
How to Bake a Perfect Life is set in Colorado Springs in a bakery run by Ramona Gallagher. Ramona inherited the old Victorian house from her Grandmother and has opened her bakery in it where she makes and serves wonderful artisian breads. The story opens with Ramona and her daughter, Sophia, talking in the kitchen when the phone rings and Sophia gets the news that her soldier husband has been wou...more
How to Bake a Perfect Life is set in Colorado Springs in a bakery run by Ramona Gallagher. Ramona inherited the old Victorian house from her Grandmother and has opened her bakery in it where she makes and serves wonderful artisian breads. The story opens with Ramona and her daughter, Sophia, talking in the kitchen when the phone rings and Sophia gets the news that her soldier husband has been wou...more
I chose How to Bake a Perfect Life because I like to read and review books that may be good for Book Club. I can see how this book would appeal to many book clubs, but alas I cannot recommend this book for my book club as we know too many military wives and there are too many husbands who are or who will be deployed “over there.” While this book focuses more on the mother, not the pregnant wife of the military soldier who becomes a disfigured amputee, the side story of the pregnant wife is absol...more
It was cute. Definitely women's fiction, which I am typically not all that interested in. However, I was really interested in one of the three interwoven stories: Sofia's (Ramona, her daughter Sofia, and Sofia's stepdaughter Katie, all have story threads). Sofia is a pregnant army wife, and leaves at 7-8 months pregnant for Germany when her husband Oscar is critically injured by an IED blast in Afghanistan/Iraq (can't remember which). She sits and sits and sits with him while he is in a coma. Me...more
Ramona Gallagher mastered the art of bread making while surviving one of the most turbulent phases of her life: teenage pregnancy. Now, grown and asked to look after her daughter Sophia's teenage stepdaughter while Sophia travels to be by her wounded soldier's side, Ramona turns to the one thing that has always been a consistent source of calm...her bread. Katie has been abandoned by everyone she loves in one way or another: her addict mother has been arrested and carted off to jail, her father...more
A perfect life? Well, maybe not so much....But making perfect sense and finding a reason for all the unplanned and unexpected turns in life? Definitely. Ramona is a 40 year old bakery owner who finds satisfaction and true zen in the form of baking bread. All kinds of breads with long histories, with "mother dough starters"...I don't bake (except Christmas cookies with the help of the Pillsbury Doughboy) so I did't know about the mystical, and healing magic of baking bread. The process was descri...more
"How to Bake a Perfect Life" was about a baker in Colorado who is close to losing her bakery, working through a family feud, takes in her daughter's step-daughter and reunites with a man she loved in her past.
Overall, I liked this book. One thing that stood out to me was how the author incorporated bread starter recipes and recipes for a couple other baked goods. A few of them sounded like something I would like to try! I always think it is neat when an author puts in elements that break up the
This is the first book I've read by Barbara O'Neal and I wasn't sure what to expect, but the book was very good. The story is about Ramona who gets pregnant at the age of 15 and is shipped off to live with her eccentric Aunt. The story then progresses to present day where Ramona is struggling with her home-based bakery business. Ramona's daughter, Sophia is grown and pregnant when she gets a call that her husband has been seriously injured in Iraq and has to leave to go overseas. Sophia's stepda...more
Okay... I really think the summary tells you most of what you need to know.
Characters: Ramona is wonderful. She has her Book of Breads that she started when she was fifteen and some of the recipes are shared within the chapters of the book (my mom made a couple of them... they're good). Sophia and Katie and book great additions to the story. Sophia is sitting, pregnant, at the bedside of her wounded husband. And Katie is stuck at Ramona's house with her dog Merlin. Jonah is Ramona's man from her...more
Characters: Ramona is wonderful. She has her Book of Breads that she started when she was fifteen and some of the recipes are shared within the chapters of the book (my mom made a couple of them... they're good). Sophia and Katie and book great additions to the story. Sophia is sitting, pregnant, at the bedside of her wounded husband. And Katie is stuck at Ramona's house with her dog Merlin. Jonah is Ramona's man from her...more
How to Bake a Perfect Life is two books in one. The longer book is a wonderful story of the joy and heartache of being in a family of women, and the shorter, a very nice selection of bread and muffin recipes including information about creating and caring for sourdough starters.
The protagonist is Ramona, a forty-something bread baker whose pregnant daughter, Sophia is married to Oscar, a soldier wounded in Afghanistan. He has a teenaged daughter from his first marriage. Katie comes to live with...more
The protagonist is Ramona, a forty-something bread baker whose pregnant daughter, Sophia is married to Oscar, a soldier wounded in Afghanistan. He has a teenaged daughter from his first marriage. Katie comes to live with...more
One of life’s comforts is a small constants that are always true. If you mix water, yeast, and flour, it will rise and make bread. This is the constant in Ramona Gallahger’s life. Born into a large family, she has been somewhat of an outcast since becoming pregnant at 15. Bread and baking comforted her then and do so now.
Separated from the family restaurant business, Ramona, now 40, owns her own bakery and shares her life with her daughter, Sofia. When Sofia’s husband has been injured while ser...more
Separated from the family restaurant business, Ramona, now 40, owns her own bakery and shares her life with her daughter, Sofia. When Sofia’s husband has been injured while ser...more
I don't have the words to describe how much I loved this book. It is warm, funny, and entertaining while still being poignant and heart-breakingly real. It's like a mug of hot chocolate on a frosty cold day...with a shot of Bailey's in it. And as with all of O'Neal's books, the recipes are a great bonus.
Ramona Gallagher is a professional baker who is one plumbing disaster away from losing everying, including her business and her grandmother's falling-apart Victorian. To complicate things, her ve...more
Ramona Gallagher is a professional baker who is one plumbing disaster away from losing everying, including her business and her grandmother's falling-apart Victorian. To complicate things, her ve...more
This is one of those books I saw sitting misplaced on a library shelf as I went to pick up other books that I had on hold. For some reason I never expect much of the books that I randomly pick up. Perhaps, it is partly because of my low expectations, that I liked this book so much. "How to Bake a Perfect Life" captures the joy of baking (and its cathartic effects) along with challenge of living a life that it true to oneself. The story is interwoven with a few recipes for bread - an enjoyable su...more
I think a lot of love goes into Barbara O'Neal's novels. Certainly it is a major theme for the ones I have read. And for me, there is nothing wrong with love winning out in the long run.
I enjoy O'Neal's stories because they are about strong women overcoming adverse and difficult situations. Yes, I always know they will work out. However, she creates enough good tension that I am never quite sure if the situations will work out as I hope they will.
As always, I became involved in the character's l...more
I enjoy O'Neal's stories because they are about strong women overcoming adverse and difficult situations. Yes, I always know they will work out. However, she creates enough good tension that I am never quite sure if the situations will work out as I hope they will.
As always, I became involved in the character's l...more
I adored this book, far more than I expected to. I typically read historical romance or fantasy, and avoid most contemporary work. I guess I enjoy really escaping from reality into a different time or place. I also usually find the present tense awkward, annoying and confusing when I read novels.
Naturally, this novel was contemporary and in the present tense. I should have hated it. Instead, I found it to be a beautiful story. My eyes teared up on a regular basis, but the overall story was very...more
Naturally, this novel was contemporary and in the present tense. I should have hated it. Instead, I found it to be a beautiful story. My eyes teared up on a regular basis, but the overall story was very...more
4.5/5
Excellent read! Glad I gave this author a chance. Will definitely be reading more.
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At this year's RITA awards (which is the romance world equivalent to the Oscars), I had two books that I was cheering for in the Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category. One was The Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn (love this series, especially Nicholas Brisbane) and the other was The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley. If you have read my blog for any length of time you might have noti...more
Excellent read! Glad I gave this author a chance. Will definitely be reading more.
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At this year's RITA awards (which is the romance world equivalent to the Oscars), I had two books that I was cheering for in the Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category. One was The Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn (love this series, especially Nicholas Brisbane) and the other was The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley. If you have read my blog for any length of time you might have noti...more
Okay book on bread-making with a story about a baker and her trials and tribulations wrapped around it. This was that sort of book where a woman of a certain age overcomes obstacles and confronts past demons to find her true self and true love. There's the requisite quirky relative (in this case an aunt who turns out to be gay), the parental misunderstandings, sulky teenager, person from the past, wise pet, and some weird apparition that bordered on magical realism and did nothing for the story...more
How to Bake a Perfect Life is the story of Ramona Gallagher, a professional baker, mother, and soon-to-be grandmother. After having her daughter, Sophia, at fifteen, Ramona has worked hard to establish herself as a woman who does not need to rely on her family money and influence to make her bakery successful. When Sophia's husband, Oscar, becomes injured in Afghanistan and she has to go take care of him in the hospital, Ramona takes on the responsibility of caring for Oscar's 13 year old daught...more
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| Don't Forget | 1 | 26 | Dec 23, 2011 09:59am |
Barbara Samuel (also known as Barbara O’Neal) is the bestselling author of more than 40 books, and has won Romance Writers of America’s RITA award an astounding six times. Her books have been published around the world, including France, Germany, Italy, and Australia/New Zealand, among others. One of her recent women’s fiction titles, The Lost Recipe for Happiness (written as Barbara O’Neal) went...more
More about Barbara O'Neal...
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May 05, 2011 07:55am
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