Tha Magic of Lemon Drop Pie

The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie by Rachel Linden 352 pages

On a hot, hot summer day, there is nothing better than staying indoors with a light, fun book. “The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie” is the perfect book to read indoors, or for sun lovers, lying on the beach or in a hammock.

Lolly Blanchard is in a rut. When her mother died ten years ago, she put all her dreams on hold. She took over her mother’s role at the family’s diner and acts as a mother to her thirteen-year-old sister, Daphne. She rises before dawn every day to make the lemon meringue pies for which the diner is famous. She takes care of the books and runs the front of the house. Dad is the chef, but he is still so lost in his grief that he can barely function.

One day, Daphne discovers one of Lolly’s high school journals where she listed her life goals. Much to her dismay, she has not completed any of them, and it’s even harder that there are only five. Four big goals and one smaller goal, but still.

Lolly sinks into a funk. Her thirty-third birthday is just around the corner. The diner is slowly losing business and bills are hard to pay.

Great-Aunt Gert, an eccentric old woman, gives Lolly a most unusual birthday present:  three lemon drops. But these aren’t just any lemon drops; they are magical. Each one will give Lolly the opportunity to “live a single day in a life that might have been hers.”

Lolly uses the lemon drops to answer some of her biggest regrets. She decides to spend a day with her mother, open a restaurant overseas and made a life with the only man she has ever loved.

This was a sweet, sweet (no pun intended) story. The choices Lolly makes with the three lemon drops will open her eyes to see the new possibilities in her existing life. And on learning of a fourth lemon drop that will allow her to stay in one of those lives, Lolly discovers the strength and happiness she had no idea could be hers.

A light read for a sweltering day, “The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie” is the perfect beach read and receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.