The View from Prince Street by Mary Ellen Taylor

Mary Ellen Taylor is another author I've discovered in the past few years that I have grown to enjoy.  Yes, she has entered the category of "immediately purchase" whenever she has a new book published. This is her fourth book, and I was happy to dive back into Alexandria, Virginia and all the characters from her past novels.  It's my humble opinion that in order to get the most out of this book, you should read all the previous books first:  The Union Street Bakery, Sweet Expectations,  and At the Corner of King Street.  I've reviewed them all, so click on the titles to see my reviews.  You don't have to read them, but I believe it makes for a better story when you know the history of the characters.  Mary Ellen Taylor has made a hybrid of sorts:  The Union Street Bakery  and Sweet Expectations are a duo, and then At the Corner of King Street  and The View from Prince Street are another duo.  Characters from the first three novels all appear in Prince Street.  These books are all perfect for a reader who enjoys early American history, relationships between sisters and friends, contemporary issues, and a hint of mystery and the paranormal.  Once again, my history geek jumps out.  I would love love love to visit Alexandria, Virginia and the Washington, D.C. area again.  I had a chance years ago to visit Washington, D.C. for a weekend and have never forgotten how much I enjoyed it.  Someday, I'll go back.  

Prince Street features Rae McDonald and Lisa Smyth, two women connected by the death years before of Rae's older sister Jennifer.  Lisa and Jennifer were best friends and Lisa survived the car accident that killed Jennifer.  Lisa is a recovering alcoholic who travels the country as a photographer, while Rae still lives in her family home in Alexandria and has a successful practice as a therapist.  Both women are a bit of a mess.  Rae is emotionally withdrawn, and Lisa has regular conversations in her head with Jennifer.  Neither has seen each other in years.  Lisa is forced to return to Alexandria to take care of her ailing Aunt Amelia, who has Alzheimer's disease and suddenly confesses she was adopted as a child--and has proof, but no explanation of why her mother never came back for her. 

Enter in Margaret and Addie from the Shire Architectural Salvage Company, who arrive at Rae's house to look over the boxes of letter and documents passed down through Rae's family.  Over 300 years of family history, and a mystery to be solved.  Three witch bottles, three families, and a dark secret that stretches back to the early days of Alexandria.  How are the families connected, and do the witch bottles carry curses that have doomed each descendant of the original settlers?   Can Rae and Lisa find a way to break out of their self-imposed prisons and move on with their lives?  And how do all the dots connect together?  

There is a lot going on in this novel.  Luckily, the author has family trees set up at the beginning of the book.  I found myself looking at them over and over, trying to keep everyone straight.  It is a tangled mix of history that is fascinating and makes for a good story.  Can't wait to see what Mary Ellen Taylor has in store for her next novel.  

Rating:  7/10 for a continuation of family and city history that keeps revealing secrets made hundreds of years ago.  Strong female characters faced with emotional issues that will make or break them.  I love how all the novels by Mary Ellen Taylor fit together, but are distinctly different.  

Available in paperback and  e-book.  

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The View from Prince Street by Mary Ellen Taylor

At the Corner of King Street by Mary Ellen Taylor

I love Mary Ellen Taylor's books.  She's previously written a series (right now it's at 3 and I hope it's not done!) that featured the Union Street Bakery.  Now she's started another series, centered on the Shire Salvage Company, just a short scoot away from the Union Street Bakery set in Alexandria, Virginia.  At the Corner of King Street is another winner, combining local history, family drama, and a bit of romance mixed in with just a touch of paranormal.  

Addie Morgan had left her troubled sister behind years ago to begin a new life as the marketing director at a vineyard.  In love with the owner, happily planning the launch of a new wine, Addie does not want to be reminded of her past, her sad childhood, and the mental illness that has claimed her mother and sister.  It made her life hell as the one who had to take care of everything and make it all right.  A phone call from her Aunt Grace lands like a bomb in Addie's life.  Janet, her sister, has just given birth to a daughter, and Addie needs to come home.  Janet has been roaming the country, not taking her medicine, and is in serious trouble.  Addie reluctantly comes back to Alexandria for what she hopes is a very short trip to arrange for her nieces' placement in a foster home.  Addie has no intention of staying, nor of raising Carrie.  

But life is funny, and Addie's reluctance to face the past, and deal with Janet, comes to a head.  Also adding to the mix is her Aunt Grace's decline in health, which has led to the potential closing of the family business, Shire Salvage.  In between Addie's drama, we also get the back story of the roots of what Addie has always called the family curse:  the mental illness that plagues at least one sister in each generation of the Shire family.  How does an accused witch banished to Virginia in the 1740's and a doctor's wife living in Colonial Alexandria at the same time haunt the Shire women today?  

This is a book that has many levels:  the frustration and destruction mental illness puts on a family, the needs of an infant that can't be raised by her mother, a woman's desire to have a "normal" life, and for a bit of lightness, the fascinating history of a city that has many secrets to keep.  Characters from the Union Street Bakery novels are part of this one, too.  Mary Ellen Taylor has the potential to create a series of novels that bring to mind the world building of Debbie Macomber and her Rose Harbor and Blossom Street series of novels.  

Definitely for fans of Karen White!  If you loved the Union Street Bakery novels, you'll be thrilled to have another treat.  The next novel in the Shire Salvage  series comes out in January:

 Rating:  7/10 for a tale of a family curse, a woman's search for happiness, and compelling characters.  Makes you want to pack your bags for Alexandria.  

Available in paperback and ebook.

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At the Corner of King Street by Mary Ellen Taylor

Sweet Expectations: A Union Street Bakery Novel by Mary Ellen Taylor

 If you haven't read the first novel in this charming series, The Union Street Bakery, you must stop right now, borrow or buy it, and read it.  

If you have, then you'll be happy to know there's another tale about the McCrae family and their bakery.  Beginning just after the end of The Union Street Bakery, this time the bakery is closed for a few weeks in order to undergo renovations to the kitchen.  Daisy has managed to turn the bakery around, and now her and Rachel are working really hard with Jean Paul, the new French baker, to finish renovations quickly.  While knocking out a wall, they find a metal box with recipes and photos of a young girl and two soldiers from the 1940's.  Who's Jenna?  And how is she connected to the bakery?

Daisy's life seems to be going along smoothly, but a major bump in the road is 

quickly making itself apparent.  Her plans are all up in the air and Daisy doesn't know what to do.  And Rachel is making the process of moving into the life of a single woman and away from a grieving widow.   

I have to say, when I first saw the The Union Street Bakery last year, I fell in love with the novel and talked about it in my book talks and had it on my staff recommends bay at work for quite awhile.  And I'm happy to report other people embraced the novel, too.  It did my heart some good when I saw a woman buying Sweet Expectations and I asked her if she'd read The Union Street Bakery.  "Oh I did, and I can't wait to read the sequel!".  

Here's my review of The Union Street Bakery.  Trust me, read it first; when you dive in to Sweet Expectations it will feel like you're visiting old friends.  Now just to wait for the next novel….

Rating:  8/10 for a feel good novel that portrays real issues, a mini mystery, and evolving characters.  And baking!

Available in paperback and e-book.

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Sweet Expectations: A Union Street Bakery Novel by Mary Ellen Taylor

The Union Street Bakery by Mary Ellen Taylor

The title and the cover grabbed me on this one! But the story kept me turning the pages on Sunday, and coupled with a rainy day I quickly read this and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Daisy McCrae has lost her job as an investment banker, gone through all of her unemployment, and finds herself back in the family fold:  her parent's bakery in Alexandria, Virginia.  She's even living above the bakery in the attic and sleeping on a couch.  She's about as low as she can get.  But with no where to go, and no money, she's agreed to help out her sisters Rachel and Margaret run the bakery.  When she arrives, she quickly realizes the bakery is thisclose to shutting it's doors permanently. It seems Rachel is an amazing baker, but not so good with the books.  

Daisy is a bit different from her sisters--she's adopted.  Her mother left her sitting at the bakery when she was 3 years old, and the McCraes took her in and eventually adopted her.  She's not only physically different looking from her sisters, but has always felt abandoned and lost never knowing why her mother left her.  It has  colored her world; she left the bakery and moved away as quickly as possible.  Now that she's back, she has to face her demons and learn to forgive and forget.

That's one storyline.  The other storyline involves an elderly woman, Mabel.  She leaves a  150 year old journal to Daisy, and with the help of Margaret, they start to uncover the mysteries of Susie, a slave that lived in the area before the Civil War.  She's also the ghost that Daisy has seen upstairs from the bakery since she was a child.  What's the connection?  And who's the angry man spirit that keeps showing up in Daisy's attic apartment?  

I couldn't put this one down.  It was a perfect read for a rainy Sunday.  Daisy is a bit prickly, and her relationships with her sisters are a main focus of this novel.  She's looking for answers and feels that too much is happening all at once--it's a bit overwhelming.  Enter in her ex-boyfriend Gordon, and she's got a lot on her plate.  But--I loved the cooking/baking in this novel, the family ties, and the mysterious journal.  It all comes together in a neat bow and Daisy finds closure on a lot of her issues.

Available in paperback or in e-book format

Rating:  6/10  Loved the characters--even though Daisy was a bit prickly at times and I wanted to shake her!  The bakery was a lovely character in itself and helped to shine the light on the struggles of small businesses to flourish in today's world.

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The Union Street Bakery by Mary Ellen Taylor