1st part = 1.5 stars. 2nd part = 3 .5 stars. Started out as silly nonsense with a woman making ludicrous choices. The second part was sweet and satisfying. I loved the cooking scenes and the way food and traditions connect generations. ( )

This book is not like her others. NOT an edgy novel. The cooking stories however are nice and so are the recipes. I think a good editor would have cut the rest of the book and expanded the cooking part. I may keep this book with my cookbooks for the straticella recipe. ( )

This was an enjoyable, light hearted read. It would have been a perfect beach read, instead I read through most of it during a snow storm, which while reading it made some sense. If you are looking for something light, this is a good choice. Not recommended if your into really deep and meaningful subjects. I would however like to try all the recipes! ( )

I found this book in a "take one, leave one" bookshelf at the cottage we stayed at in Maine. Mostly taking place on the same small island where we were vacationing (Mount Desert Island, home of Acadia National Park), this was a perfect vacation read. I also loved the recipes dotted throughout the book. ( )

Three things drew me to this novel. First, it takes place in Maine. I’ve always wanted to live on the coast of Maine; it’s just so darn beautiful. Second, sometimes when I reflect upon my life, I think, “This isn’t what I signed up for; this isn’t the way life was supposed to be.” The third reason is the author, Christina Baker Kline. After reading, and loving, Orphan Train and A Piece of the World, Kline is one of my favorite authors and I want to read all the books she has published. And just icing on the cake, the front cover blurb is from Caroline Leavitt, an author I’m just discovering. So I ask you, “How could I resist this novel?”

Angela Russo lives in New York City and is thirty-three years old. She is an event planner for one of the lesser-known museums. On her office bulletin board is a cutout magazine photo showing a cottage on the coast of Maine. It portrays such a simple life; the life Angela has always wanted.

With her love life is nonexistent, she decides to look into some internet dating sites. A profile name MaineCatch. He’s thirty-five, has ice-blue eyes and lives in Cushing, Maine. Angela spends more time mooning over MaineCatch than she does thinking about the big fundraising event she is planning for the museum. She has to go to Boston on business, and luckily, MaineCatch sails down to meet her. The sparks fly.

When the event goes horribly, horribly, horribly wrong, Angela is fired from her job. She decided to move north to be with her catch. Things go horribly, horribly wrong; seems she has misunderstood MaineCatch’s intentions.

Without a job to return to, Angela decides to stay in Cushing. She finds a little shack to rent that she can renovate, gets a job in a local coffee house, and begins to rebuild her life. The knack for the Italian cooking she learned from her grandmother rises to the surface.

The novel is written in first person, which I think helps add immediacy to the story while Kline’s scenic description have me longing to pack me bags and head Northeast. I was able to live vicariously through Angela. I could barely put this story down and I didn’t want it to end. I hope in the future Kline writes a follow-up novel. The Way Life Should Be 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. ( )