The Union Street Bakery (A Union Street Bakery Novel) Mass Market Paperback – January 6, 2015

I recently found this author. I love her books. She tells a great story. I’m off to the second one!

I liked the story and the history surrounding it but, the main character was always unhappy. I prefer more upbeat characters. I wished the story ended happily. But, I guess that’s not reality.

Outstanding maneuvering by Ms. Taylor. As convoluted a mystery as you're ever likely to read. Over 150 years of secrets that overlap time and again with one family make for a truly entertaining read.

The Union Street Bakery drew me in right away and I became invested with the characters. Tragedy and all the bitter feelings were keeping the characters trapped in unforgiveness but as the story unravels, they are challenged for a new mindset to be accepted and freedom to move on. I loved the setting of the story and the mystery that was revealed and the historical aspects as well.

Seems really good so far, have not completedreading it yet!

I absolutely loved this book. I didn’t really know what it was going to be about but once I started reading I couldn’t tear myself out of it.Daisy had a great job in the city making a decent living, however, she suddenly finds herself jobless and without a boyfriend. So, she moves back home and finds herself living in the attic above The Union Street Bakery, her family’s business. The store has fallen upon hard times so she’s learning the ropes in order to help out. She’s also learning to deal with the relationship she has with her sisters. She’s the only adopted one and can feel a bit out at times.One day, an elderly customer dies and finds that she’s been given a journal. The journal is from the 1850’s and was written by a slave girl named Susie. While she reads she learns a lot more about her family, her heritage, than she ever thought possible. Daisy is also dealing with a few ghosts of her own, literally, and dreams of young Susie who asks her to “find her”. All of these things together have caused her to feel compelled to dig into the past as deep as she can.This is a fantastic story about family, love, life, and more. It’s well written and you just find yourself getting all sucked in and enjoying the trip along the way. I can’t wait to dig into the next book in the series and definitely recommend this one!

This book was very interesting and informative, and very well written. Will be following this Author in the future.

I had put off reading this for awhile and finally picked it up for a change of pace. I found it to be a nice story with characters who were reasonably well developed. Descriptions were well done, especially the parts having to do with baking to the point that I half expected to find the Union Street Bakery in Alexandria. I did enjoy the characters, but found Margaret and Robin more interesting than the protagonist, Daisy!I think that this is one of the problems with the story: the secondary characters are more interesting than Daisy who has understandable emotional baggage but seems to take it out on everyone around her. Her adopted family's lives seem more believable, and they put up from a lot with her. Daisy is very much the "glass half empty", and does not realize what a really great family she has.Also, the plot is contrived and rather unbelievable concerning anything to do with Daisy's life and parentage. Her former job would have paid incredibly well (a VP for capital investment would make in the mid to high six figures!) yet she has no savings and few possessions, no property. Hard to believe she could have gone through that much money in such a short space of time so I was a bit bemused.Also, the whole problem with the ghost of Susie and her history could have been easily solved -- a quick visit to any research librarian could have found missing links through genealogy sites, ditto original records online which would have provided a lot of information (the biggest genealogy site which I will not name here is free for library card holders, and even small towns have genealogy librarians. The fact that the author did not use something which is common knowledge (especially to her sister Margaret who, if she were a good historian, would have known instantly!) These issues unfortunately revealed the problems in plotting, which is a pity because it could have been a better book. The author had the right idea about the plot which had potential, but her execution was a bit muddled.Despite the faults in this story, I have to say that I DID like it, hence the four stars. I found some of the characters very engaging, and there are several great recipes at the end of the book! All in all, a pleasant read for a chilly fall day. Bake yourself some cookies and enjoy it with a cup of hot cocoa!

This story might well have been a good read but unfortunately I just had to abandon it because of the really poor continuity.The errors were made from one page to the next so there was really no excuse and it suggests that it was lazily written and not checked.An example was when one of the characters placed an apron on a surface to protect a book that was being put down. In the next sentence the apron was being referred to as a towel. A silly error and one that I might have glossed over but it was one too many by chapter 5. I might return to the book at a layer date but to be honest I wasn't gripped enough by the characters to care how the story turned out.This book has got some good reviews though so don't let my one put you off. We all have different literary tastes.

Quick download to read on a Kindle app on my tablet. Wife hasnt finished reading it yet so dont know what she thinks of it.

Love the series and can’t wait for Amazon to release the other novels by Mary Ellen Taylor

I loved the story and the setting; Alexandria sounds like a fascinating placeThe characters are real and engaging.Please could you find an editor/proof reader because the mistakes in the text and continuity take a lot of the pleasure out of these books.

An enjoyable gentle story with a twist. It takes you there to union street bakery and a life made better by fate.