First third was depressing, characters became deeper in second third and then I was hooked by the end. Almost put it down in the beginning though - just realistically depressing ( )

Mom said she did not think I’d like this book

Great book about Sophie, a young widow and her mental collapses after her husband's death from cancer. Laugh out loud observations that are true to life, and I could feel the grief she had- I could taste it! She learns to deal with day to day life, complete with ups and downs and comes through very scathed, but alive. ( )

Widows journey.
Listened on audio Campbell ( )

After only 3 years of marriage, Sophie Stanton is suddenly a widow. Her computer programmer husband, Ethan, died of cancer leaving 36-year-old Sophie unsure of how to function in fast paced Silicon Valley. Most mornings she chooses to just remain in bed and eventually her high-pressure public relations job begins to suffer, most particularly when Sophie shows up at work in bathrobe and bunny slippers. As Sophie fumbles through the stages of grief she realizes that the best thing to do would be to move to a new city and try to start her life over. Sophie's best friend, Ruth, convinces her to come to Ashland, Oregon, a small artsy community. There, Sophie takes a job as waitress, with disastrous results, and is quickly downgraded to the salad prep station. After the head chef causes the pastry master to walk off the job, Sophie finds herself thrown into the world of cakes, pies and brioche. Summoning up a deep seated love of baking, Sophie revels in her new job and spends hours poring over cookbooks for new and enticing recipes. The dream of opening her own bakery becomes a concrete plan. Along with the stress of a new business, Sophie has taken on a surly teenaged girl, Crystal, in the Big Sister program, and has attracted the attention of a handsome actor, Drew, who unsettles Sophie's sense of loyalty to her husband.

I like Sophie's character very much and most of the supporting cast is good. Crystal is a neglected child with cutting and fire issues but is clearly crying out for someone to pay attention to her. Drew seems charming, although almost too good to be true, despite a dalliance with a beautiful actress. I didn't get a good sense of Ruth's character except that she seemed very bitter about men in general. At times the story was very funny while at other times the grief was nearly overwhelming.
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