Baker's Blue - Blog Tour Review + Giveaway

Baker's Blues by Judith Ryan Hendricks
Rating: 4 Stars
Source: Blog Tour

Description:  In Wyn Morrison's world a 5 A.M. phone call is rarely good news.  It usually means equipment trouble at her bakery or a first shift employee calling in sick - something annoying but mundane, fixable.  But the news she receives on a warm July morning is anything but mundane.  Or fixable.
Mac, her ex-husband, is dead.
He's not just in a different house with another woman, but actually, physically gone.  Ineligible for widowhood, Wyn is nonetheless shaken to her core as she discovers that the fact of the divorce offers no immunity from grief.
As Mac's executor, Wyn is now faced with not only sorting his possessions and selling the house, but also with helping his daughter Skye deal with financial and legal aspects of the estate - a task made more difficult by Skye's grief, anger, and resentment.
Ironically, just when Wyn needs support most, everyone she's closet to is otherwise occupied.  Her mother and stepfather have moved to Northern California, her best friend CM has finally married the love of her life and is commuting to New York, and her protege Tyler is busy managing the bakery and dealing with her first serious love affair.  They're all sympathetic, but bewildered by her spiral into sadness.  After all, it's been three years since the divorce.
On her own, she stumbles at first.  For the last several years Wyn has been more businesswoman than baker, leaving the actual bread making to the others.  Now, as she takes up her place in the bread rotation once more, she will sift through her memories, coming to terms with Mac and his demons, with Skye's anger, and with Alex, who was once more than a friend.  Soon she will re-learn the lessons that she first discovered at the Queen Street Bakery in Seattle... that bread is a process - slow, arduous, mess, mysterious - and best consumed with the eyes closed and the heart open.  (From GoodReads)

Genre: Fiction

Why I Picked This Book: I love books that involve healing and healing through food is even better!

My Impression: The day this book arrived I wasn't expecting it.  So when a package shows up in my mailbox from an address I didn't recognize I was so curious I opened it as I was walking down the driveway/  This led to me opening the book as I was walking which in turn led to me standing in the garage reading for the next 15 minutes.  The writing immediately pulled me in and I was swept into the story.  Even though I couldn't really identify with Wyn in a lot of ways, I really liked her.  Her thoughts were shown so clearly and so sympathetically that I understood her.  This is really a book that appeals to the senses.  I could feel the bread dough as Wyn kneads it and smell it as it's baking.  Everything is beautifully described and brought to life without getting too bogged down in details.  I also really enjoyed the characters.  They're not perfect and they don't always behave perfectly but they're not so flawed as to be completely unlikable.  I might want to reach into the book and give a character a good shake but the motives for their actions were always understandable if not logical.

This is the 3rd book in the series which was actually a surprise to me after reading it as it works so well as a stand alone.  The book did drag a bit in places and I think could have been a little shorter but it also could be that I'm feeling the pressure of a rather mammoth TBR.  Overall, this was a lovely book.  I liked the characters, loved the writing and was fully satisfied with the ending.

Giveaway:

The publisher is giving away 1 copy of this book for each tour stop!  To enter just leave the email address where I can reach you if you win.  On Monday 8/17 at 11:59 CST I'll pick a random number and whichever commentor corresponds with that number wins!  (US/Canada Only)

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?: I will definitely read more of this author though since I know how everything ends I'm not sure I'll go back and read the earlier books in the series though I am curious.

Would I Recommend this Book?:  Yes!  If you love foodie fiction or stories that really focus on relationships between people I think you'd like this one.

Challenges Met?