Judith R. HendricksBesprekingen

FROM AMAZON: The first time I saw my mother was the night she died. The second time was at a party in Santa Fe.

After a childhood spent in an institution and a series of foster homes, Avery James has trained herself not to wonder about the mother who gave her up. But her safe, predictable life changes one night when she stumbles upon the portrait of a woman who is the mirror image of herself.

Slowly but inevitably, Avery is compelled to discover all she can about her mother, Isabel. Avery is drawn into complex relationships with the people who knew her mother. As she weaves together the threads of her mother's artistic heritage and her grandmother's skills as a healer, Avery learns that while discovering Isabel provides a certain resolution in her life, it's discovering herself that brings lasting happiness.

FROM AMAZON: Sunny Cooper has been running since she was eighteen—from the New Mexican commune where she grew up . . . and from the haunting memory of the freak accident that took the life of her younger sister. Now, at thirty-two, Sunny voices radio spots in Albuquerque while struggling to hold on to a floundering relationship. But when a second tragic accident—and the devastating truths that come to light in its aftermath—turns her world upside down, Sunny runs again.

In the town of Harmony on San Miguel Island, she takes a new job, learns to ride a motorcycle, and makes some surprising new friends. But the past is never far behind. A startling discovery—along with an emotional and revelatory reunion with her estranged mother—is forcing Sunny to step out from the shadows of yesterday to embrace an uncertain future.

FROM AMAZON: The sequel to Judith Ryan Hendricks' absorbing debut novel, Bread Alone

Having found her calling, Wynter Morrison is blissful about her new career in Seattle as a baker -- cherishing the long days spent making bread and the comforting rhythms of the Queen Street Bakery. Still, she struggles with the legacy of her failed marriage and with her new boyfriend Mac's reluctance to share his mysterious past. When Mac abruptly leaves Seattle, Wyn again feels abandoned and betrayed, at least until intimate letters arrive in which Mac at last reveals his deepest secrets. But the more she learns about her absent lover, the more Wyn discovers about herself -- and when tragedy threatens, she will have to decide if there is a place for Mac in this new life she has made.

FROM AMAZON: In Wyn Morrison’s world a 5 AM 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 and the news ignites a firestorm of memories and regrets. Ineligible for widowhood, Wyn is nonetheless shaken to her core as she discovers that the fact of divorce offers no immunity from grief.

As Mac's executor, she is now faced with sorting his possessions, selling his house and trying to help his daughter Skye deal with financial and legal aspects of her inheritance--a task made more difficult by Skye’s grief, anger and resentment.

Ironically, just when Wyn needs support most, everyone she’s closest 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 protégé 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.

Once again the bakery becomes her center as she places herself back in the bread rotation. In the cool, gray light just before dawn, enveloped by the familiar smells of wheat and yeast and coffee, the hypnotic rhythms of Bach, the radiant warmth of the ovens, the borderline softens, becomes a permeable membrane letting her pass freely between past and present. She might be Jean-Marc’s apprentice at the Boulangerie du Pont, washing bowls and pans, shaping clumsy beginner’s loaves and learning to make levain. Or working nights at the Queen Street Bakery in Seattle with the ever-obnoxious Linda, teaching Tyler to bake, experimenting with different flours and techniques, testing, searching for the ultimate loaf of bread.

Now she will sift through her memories of Mac and their life together, eventually coming to terms with who he was and why, with Skye and her anger, and with Alex, who was once more than a friend. Soon she will re-learn the lessons of bread that she first discovered at the Queen Street Bakery in Seattle… that bread is a process--slow, arduous, messy, mysterious--and should be consumed with the eyes closed and the heart open…

Wynter's baking journey begins in Toulouse with her mentor, Jean-

Despite David's later downfalls, the humor in his masked encounter was unexpected fun.

Intriguing bread-making and recipes will inspire many to join with the fluffy loaves.

Despite Wynter's over-extended and ultimately boring to readers futility
in hoping that David will totally reverse the new reality of his life and return to her,
the plot does move forward with her move to Seattle to accept a generous offer as a night baker
with a depressing bossy co worker.

Why she doesn't save her little fir tree by simply digging it up is a mystery.
Why there needs to be so much alcohol, puking, and hangovers is another mystery.
And why string Gary along when she knows he's not The One...?

David coming unannounced to her Mother's house after the wedding was a ridiculous plot twist.

Second book I have read by this author and I will come back for more. The best thing about this one is the food, the place, the way she sets you right down in the scene. The main character is not perfect, and while you genuinely like her and sympathize you don't feel overwhelmed by pity. She's pretty much what you envision when you think down-to-earth.

I liked the writing style but not the characters. The main character left me disappointed. I can't tell why or I'd give away part of the story, but I would be hard pressed to recommend this book.

This tops off the third of this series and all I can say is I do hope she writes more, quickly.½

Good chick lit debut novel. An entertaining beach read.

Avery is a determined, sometimes outspoken, and intelligent young woman. We first meet her when she is in her mid-twenties, working for a catering company. Out of the blue, she sees a portrait which can only be of her mother... whom she never met.

This starts Avery on a journey into the past, where she was brought up in a children's home before running away at thirteen. As she thinks about people in the past, and learns more about her mother and her various friends, she is gradually able to accept herself and see how her future might pan out.

The style is racy, moving to different time-frames, though written primarily in the present tense. I found it surprisingly gripping, after a few chapters, and read the bulk of it in one sitting. Avery is a wonderful and believable creation, and while there are one or two coincidences that slightly stretched my credulity, they somehow don't matter in context.

Four and a half stars, really. Were it not for a little more bad language than I'm comfortable with I'd have given this five. Definitely recommended.

This was a lovely book! Told in the present tense, yet it works well. The story (about the break-up of a marriage) is puntuated with recipes for bread, and explanations of how bread is made. Somehow this doesn't disrupt the flow at all, but adds to it. Believable characters, very pleasant light read.

Wyn is passionate about breadmaking, and is co-owner of a small, specialist bread shop. She is in a fairly new relationship with the evasive Mac, a struggling writer. She's still coming to terms with her recent divorce, and not getting anywhere with her attempt at financial settlement, and she's not entirely comfortable with her new stepfather, either.

It took me a few chapters to get into this book, at which point I realised that the names and situations felt oddly familiar. My only excuse is that it's eight years since I read 'Bread Alone', for which - it turns out - this is a sequel.

I found the story a bit slow-moving at first, which doesn't sit too well with the present-tense narration, but gradually I found that I was more and more interested in what was going on. I loved the tetchy teenage Tyler, the 'apprentice' of the title, and I became rather fond of Mac too, who finds it very hard to get close to anyone and struggles with Wyn's emotional side.

All in all, I liked this book very much. It would probably have been better still if I had read 'Bread Alone' a little more recently, but it stands alone well.

After 7 years of marriage Wynter Morrison is told by her husband David that he feels unsure, conflicted, trapped - which is "David-speak" for "I'm dating a hot blonde and it's time for you to move out". Although Wyn knows in her heart that she has not been completely happy in their marriage either she is nonetheless stunned by David's emotional detachment. She spent her married life as a 'trophy-wife' helping David climb the corporate ladder in the cut-throat world of advertising. Her days were spent lunching with the ladies, serving on committees and tennis at the country club and now she finds herself without money or a job or the practical skills to pursue any kind of career. Wyn travels to Seattle to stay with her best friend, CM, as Wyn tries to find a new direction for her life. CM takes Wyn to her favorite bakery for breakfast every morning and the wonderful tastes and aromas of the freshly baked breads bring Wyn back to one of her first loves - creating recipes for mouthwatering loaves of bread. Wyn impulsively accepts a job at the bakery and begins a new life in Seattle but she continues to hope that David will see the error of his ways and come crawling back.

I definitely don't do this book justice by my review because it is so much more than a woman scorned trying to get over a broken heart. Wyn is a complex character who is not always loveable but I like her in spite of it. There is great backstory of a difficult relationship with her mother, a beloved father who died when Wyn was a teen, tentative steps towards new romantic relationships and loaves, and loaves of bread! Recipes are included for several breads, scones cakes and cookies. The book made me want to cut into a crusty loaf and slather it with butter.

My only complaint is that I bought enough bread,scones,muffins, etc for an army while reading this book. It is a very good read, fast. Thank goodness I finished it in one night, otherwise I would run out of freezer and cabinet space.

I must admit that I have a bread machine. It probably doesn't redeem me in any way to say that it is generally dusty with disuse either. I know that it is merely a shortcut for homemade bread and that it cannot come close to the delectable stuff made by hand in artisanal bakeries and the kitchens of home bakers but we all work with our own skills. And much as I'd love to actually learn to bake my own bread from scratch, I just don't see it in the cards for me, at least not on a regular basis, and certainly not as a passion. That doesn't mean that I can't appreciate the skill that goes into making it or a gorgeous description of warm, yeasty bread with steam curling up from the torn bit of crust. Now I'm just making myself hungry! Judith Ryan Hendrick's newest novel, Baker's Blues, about a baker and her ex-husband, is the third in a trilogy that gets both bread making and the complications of love and relationships right.

Wynter Morrison owns a successful bakery in Los Angeles. She's somehow gotten away from making the bread herself, caught up in the logistics of owning the business rather than sinking her hands into the dough. She's been divorced from ex-husband Mac for several years but she is still thrown for a loop when she gets the early morning phone call that he has died unexpectedly. They share a long history and still cared for each other despite their divorce. Jumping back in time from the funeral and Mac's daughter's unreasonable anger at Wyn for her father's death, the novel turns to the past and the story of Wyn and Mac's marriage unraveling. Wyn works hard at her bakery and tries to support Mac, a best-selling author turning his book into a screenplay, as he does PR events and hits the party circuit. She misses the old, uncomplicated Mac she used to know, not certain of this slick and unhappy seeming version of himself. She wants him to open up and talk to her about his feelings, something he cannot do. In fact, he walks out on their marriage rather than face his demons or share his secrets. When Mac goes, Wyn has to find strength and meaning in herself again.

Opening the novel with Mac's death and then going back to plumb the depths of their relationship is very effective, allowing the reader to know that despite their divorce, Wyn's reaction to his death proves that neither Wyn nor Mac is a villain in the novel. The slow disintegration of their marriage and the reason behind it is incredibly emotional. Hendricks has drawn both Wyn's hurt frustration and Mac's deep despair and inability to stop sabotaging them very true to life. Wyn's character is hit with a confluence of terrible or life altering events all at once: Mac's desertion, the death of her beloved dog, an earthquake hitting Southern California, and her manager and friend leaving to go to school. It is no wonder that she's completely adrift or that she turns back to the slow art of creating, kneading, and baking bread as she tries to wrap her head around an unimaginable future. The majority of the novel is narrated by Wyn but there are several chapters where the perspective turns to the third person and the focus is on Mac. This gives the reader both Wyn's thoughts and reactions to Mac but also shows the depth of the depression crippling Mac's interpersonal relations and a well rounded explanation into the complexity of their love, which outlasts their marriage.

The novel is the final book in a trilogy but it easily stands on its own. Readers who start at the beginning with Bread Alone and continue with The Baker's Apprentice will already know some of the history that haunts Wyn and Mac and they will have a richer understanding of their relationships with many of the secondary characters but none of this knowledge is necessary to enjoy Baker's Blues. Although it tackles the hard topic of being depressed and living with someone who is depressed, there is still a warm and comfortable feel to the writing and the story. The reader is pulled along through the end of Wyn and Mac's marriage, knowing what is coming but still turning the pages to see how they get there and how Wyn will go on after Mac's death. There are a significant number of secondary plot lines here that compliment the main story arc. Be warned that the luscious descriptions of food and bread will have your stomach rumbling as you read. Sad and lovely, I recommend you read all three of the books but even just this one will do.½

I did not realize that this was the finale book of a trilogy when I decided to read it. I don’t think it would have changed my mind any to have known that in advance and the book stands alone just fine – I didn’t feel lost or like I was missing any information. The book opens with the funeral of Wyn’s ex husband although I could tell from the beginning that there was a lot unreserved between the two of them and between Wyn and her stepdaughter.

This is really a book about relationships and how life changes some for the better, others for the worse and makes others stronger. Sometimes they wax and sometimes they wane. But it’s important to keep people close because you don’t know when you’ll need them.

The book starts in the present time but soon moves into the past as Wyn thinks back to how her relationship with Mac fell apart. His recently found daughter seems to think that it’s Wyn’s fault that Mac is dead. That it’s Wyn’s fault that they broke up but Wyn doesn’t want to speak ill of a man she loved. But eventually all with understand what happened – even Wyn. She turns back to something that always comforted her, baking bread. It’s at the core of who she is.

I really enjoyed this novel. I fell in love with the characters, even prickly Skye (Mac’s daughter). I also love to bake bread so I completely understood Wyn’s turning to something so soothing as her life tumbled out of control. It was a book I found hard to put down and I’m still thinking about it several days after I finished it. I’d really like to find time to pick up the other two books in the trilogy.½

This is a wonderful novel about vulnerability, discovery, forgiveness, fortitude, ... all that and a loaf of bread! I really liked the main characters, except for the bratty younger assistant, the 'apprentice,' who isn't really the focus of the book. Great love story, felt so believable that I was turning back page after page that felt like my own thoughts... also, great sense of humor. Definitely recommended for enjoyment and comfort.

When Justine's marriage ends she bakes bread to cope and earn a living. Soon she is a partner in a Seattle bakery adjusting to her new life with help from her mom and best friend and other friends. She becomes stronger, more independent and closer to her mom.

Good read.

This is a wonderful novel about vulnerability, discovery, forgiveness, fortitude, ... all that and a loaf of bread! I really liked the main characters, except for the bratty younger assistant, the 'apprentice,' who isn't really the focus of the book. Great love story, felt so believable that I was turning back page after page that felt like my own thoughts... also, great sense of humor. Definitely recommended for enjoyment and comfort.

I love this book! The bread recipes are a total plus, but the setting and the story are wonderful, too.

rabck from MyssCyn; excellent sequel, although the author gives enough background that this book stands alone. The story continues with Wyn, now a part owner of the bakery. Mac up and moves to Canada. Cises occur with members of the staff. In the end, Mac returns, but the bakery lease can't be renewed. And the ending is openended, maybe for another book.

Wyn's husband of seven years decides he wants a divorce, to the surprise of Wyn. She moves to Seattle to live with her girlfriend, and gets a job doing what she always wanted to do: bake bread. The story introduces the co-workers in the bakery, a rebound boyfriend, another guy that's a friend, that might turn into something more, and her dealing with the whole divorce thing. In the end, she uses the money from the divorce to purchase a half interest in the bakery.

I almost quite this book half way through, so I could make up my own ending. I was pretty sure I knew how it was going to end (and I was right) and it wasn't what I wanted to read. Instead of following the romance plot cliche, I was really hoping the resolution would be about Wynter's growth rather than Wynter's ability to stand by her man while *he* grows. I wanted a story about a woman realising that it's better to actively find what you need than to passively hope someone will become what you need. I guess I wanted Wynter's redemption, not Mac's.

Once upon a time I was housebound with a couple boxes of Harlequin Romance novels from the 60's. We had intended to use them as kindling (though yes, burning books is very Fahrenheit..whatever).It was the dead of winter in an uninsulated cabin, what can I say (except that, trust me, books don't give much heat when you burn them).
Anyway, I read the books, all of them, before they went to their dreadful end. And I discovered that there were about 6 plots in all 300 books.

So, I think maybe there are around that many in the realm of chick-lit also. At least Bread Alone seems to go through the expected paces. You have the heroine, suddenly alone and coping with the infidelity of her rich and handsome husband (who is such a shlump, though a pretty one, that one wonders why she hooked up with him in the first place. Maybe it was the colored contacts). You have the secret passion of her youth (though at barely past 30 she is still pretty young), put aside for marriage to contact-guy. You have venture to a new place, where suddenly opportunity presents for her to reclaim the passion (not sex, mind you, but bread..and the descriptions of bread are far more erotic than any of the sex in this book). You have the cute fixing up of the new but temporary rental. You have the tough best friend, the assortment of minor but interesting characters, the complicated daughter/mom relationship, and the sexy guys vying for attention. And the very very predictable ending.

So hey, it wasn't the best work of literature ever written. But it was fun, and the recipes tucked throughout sound very delicious. So sure, I might look for more books by Hendricks.

Good