With “How To Bake A Perfect Life,” Barbara O’Neal once again shows why the Romance Writers of America awarded her their top prize for novels with romantic elements in 2010. And, in my opinion, she’s baked her own slice of perfection in this book. Yummy recipes and sensual descriptions of bread making and baking will satisfy the cravings of an ardent foodie. Those who want a story about family rifts and healing will find it in Ramona’s dealings with her strong, restaurant-owning clan. Lost love and teenage angst play against a hearty dose of war’s realism.
The creation of a book, much like the making of a loaf of bread, requires the careful combination and layering of many aspects—plot, structure, characterization, voice. “How To Bake A Perfect Life” takes all those elements and adds a dash of the unknown, a willingness to take a chance by focusing the story on an older heroine. There’s a lot going on, but somehow Ms. O’Neal simply makes it work, and the result is one of the best books I’ve read in ages.
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