STONES FOR BREAD by Christa Parrish

A solitary artisan. A legacy of bread-baking. And one secret that could collapse her entire identity.

Liesl McNamara's life can be described in one word: bread. From her earliest memory, her mother and grandmother passed down the mystery of baking and the importance of this deceptively simple food. And now, as the owner of Wild Rise bake house, Liesl spends every day up to her elbows in dough, nourishing and perfecting her craft.

But the simple life she has cultivated is becoming quite complicated. Her head baker brings his troubled grandson into the bakeshop as an apprentice. Her waitress submits her recipes to a popular cable cooking show. And the man who delivers her flour --- a single father with strange culinary habits --- seems determined to win Liesl's affection.

When Wild Rise is featured on television, her quiet existence appears a thing of the past. And then a phone call from a woman claiming to be her half-sister forces Liesl to confront long-hidden secrets in her family's past. With her precious heritage crumbling around her, the baker must make a choice: allow herself to be buried in detachment and remorse, or take a leap of faith into a new life.



My thoughts...

Liesl is the owner of Wild Rose Bake House, bread baking has passed down generations in her family. It helps her work out her anger and grief and celebrate joys. Things are good until her assistant enters a reality show bake off and family secrets are no longer secret.

This is a book filled with the love of bread baking along with recipes, a story of love. I enjoyed it.

I received an copy of this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Christa Parrish is the award-winning author of three novels, including the 2009 ECPA Fiction Book of the Year "Watch Over Me." When she's not writing, she's a homeschool mother of three wonderful children. Married to author and pastor Chris Coppernoll, Christa serves with him as co-leader of their church's youth ministry as well as serving as a facilitator for a divorce recovery ministry. She is now also slightly obsessed with the art of baking bread.