Sweet Novella about changing ones life

A Slice of Life

By: Margaret Lake

Rating: 4 of 5

This is a quick read novella about Grace. Grace is a woman of 37 who has been painfully shy her entire life. The one place she feels confident is as the chef in her family-owned restaurant. When the recession hits and it looks like the restaurant will suffer, Grace comes up with an idea to try to save the jobs of those who work with her. She wants to write a cookbook featuring recipes from people she meets.

The thing is, she never meets anyone new. She forces herself to leave the cocoon of the restaurant (even her apartment is the upper floor in the same building.) She decides to take a bus and try to talk to people and get them to give her recipes.

The story chronicles her adventures on the bus and the people she meets. She ends up hearing about the struggles in life that other people have endured and that helps her with her own issues. When she hears of a young girl (Mandy) who is becoming as shy as she is, she decides to take action. Along the way, Grace also gets to know Mandy’s father, Hank, who is also the bus driver on her adventures.

Definitely a sweet story and, while concise, it is complete in itself. I would have loved to have read some of the recipes that Grace collected – perhaps at the end of the novella or even as a book on its own.

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