Publication Date: Sep 2025
Blurb:
Rising star Jules Costa loves re-creating vintage recipes for her popular online cooking show. But when personal and professional disaster strikes, her only chance of saving her career is to complete her new cookbook before the end of the summer. Panicked, Jules returns to her family’s beloved olive farm on the shores of Italy’s stunning Lake Garda. Seeking culinary inspiration, she’s hoping to convince her spunky eighty-year-old Nonna Bruna to share her precious collection of family recipes.
Jules’ plans quickly go awry as she discovers Nonna’s cookbook has magical and unpredictable powers. It only reveals one recipe at a time, offering a cooking experience guaranteed to satisfy the chef’s palate and bring clarity to their life. Yet it remains stubbornly blank for Jules. To make matters worse, the olive farm is in deep financial trouble, and Jules soon uncovers a web of family secrets involving the cookbook and a lost recipe for orange blossom cake that holds the key to everything. And Nicolo, the boy next door who broke her young heart, is now all grown up, even more attractive, and the only person poised to help her find answers.
In a whirlwind summer beyond her imagination, Jules begins to unravel the mysteries baked into her family’s history and discovers the essential ingredients to create the future of her dreams.
What To Expect:
Readers can expect a magical realism set in Italy with second chances at the heart of the story.
Content Warnings:
Language: Mild – A few curse words
Sexual Content: Closed Door – One moment mentioned where they were “wet” after a steamy takeout session as highschoolers. Make outs
Violence: Mild – Drowning mentioned
Substance Use: Mild – Getting drunk and tipsy
Prejudices: None
Religious Themes: Included Catholicism/Mass a few times with praying to Mother Mary.
Other Topics: Pregnancy out of wedlock
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