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by Susan Bishop Crispell
26-year-old Rachel Monroe has spent her whole life trying to keep a very unusual secret: she can make wishes come true. And sometimes the consequences are disastrous. So when Rachel accidentally grants an outlandish wish for the first time in years, she decides it's time to leave her hometown - and her past - behind for good.
Rachel isn't on the road long before she runs out of gas in a town that's not on her map: Nowhere, North Carolina - also known as the town of "Lost and Found." In Nowhere, Rachel is taken in by a spit-fire old woman, Catch, who possesses a strange gift of her own: she can bind secrets by baking them into pies. Rachel also meets Catch's neighbor, Ashe, a Southern gentleman with a complicated past, who makes her want to believe in happily-ever-after for the first time in her life.
As she settles into the small town, Rachel hopes her own secrets will stay hidden, but wishes start piling up everywhere Rachel goes. When the consequences threaten to ruin everything she's begun to build in Nowhere, Rachel must come to terms with who she is and what she can do, or risk losing the people she's starting to love - and her chance at happiness - all over again.
"The fervent wishes and life-changing secrets at the heart of Crispell's magical tale are as addictive as the mysterious Catch's strawberry pie. I adored this story of romance and friendship, heartache and healing , and the transformative power of hope." - Loretta Nyhan, author of I'll Be Seeing You and All the Good Parts
"Susan Bishop Crispell delivers a page-turning and moving story of family, love, and second chances complete with touches of humor and heartache...Fans of Sarah Addison Allen will delight in this bright new voice in romantic magical realism. I know I did!" - Amy Sue Nathan, author of The Good Neighbor and The Glass Wives
"This is a lovely, lark of a novel filled with imagination and energy. The warm characters, in the most engaging way, learn that you must be careful for what you wish for or live with the consequences." - Ann Garvin, author of I Like You Just Fine When You're Not Around and The Dog Year
"A lyrical and imaginative read about the redemptive power of self-acceptance in the wake of heartbreak, and the ways in which new love can blossom even in the darkest, most hidden corners of the human heart." - Ilie Ruby, author of The Language of Trees
"How I loved this warm hug of a novel about what it means to get what you want most - and how to figure out what that really is."
- Melissa Senate, author of See Jane Date and The Love Goddess' Cooking School
"A romantic confection of pies, wishes, and a spoonful of magic. A delectable read." - Shelley Noble, New York Times-bestselling author of Whisper Beach
"Susan Bishop Crispell has created a magical world where secrets are baked into pies, wishes do come true, and second chances are possible. Sarah Addison Allen fans will flock to Crispell's charming novel, leaving the last page as satisfied as they would after a slice of homemade peach pie." - Karma Brown, author of Come Away with Me
"A truly enchanting tale. One to cherish." - Menna van Praag, author of The Dress Shop of Dreams
This information about The Secret Ingredient of Wishes was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Susan Bishop Crispell earned a BFA in creative writing from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Born and raised in the mountains of Tennessee, she now lives twenty minutes from the beach in North Carolina with her husband and their two literary-named cats. She is very fond of pie and is always on the lookout for hints of magic in the real world.
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