By: Susan Wiggs
ASIN: B019MMUATW
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: 6/14/2016
Format: Audio/Kindle
A Novella Short Story
My Rating: 4 Stars From #1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs comes a wonderful short story, and companion tale to her unforgettable novel Family Tree Every great love story has a beginning. Annie Rush’s started at a food cart in a vibrant city park. Annie, then a film student, came across a ruggedly handsome, charismatic chef serving up gourmet street food to an ever-growing clientele lining up for his creations. Together, Annie and Martin Harlow conceived The Key Ingredient, a cooking show featuring Martin as the star while Annie handles production.As they travel to Annie’s Vermont hometown to film their pilot episode, she realizes that she might want to create more than television magic with Martin. But does he feel the same way? The weather is miserable, their shoot is a disaster, and the maple syrup just isn’t flowing.
While Annie tries to cling to her vision for their show, she can’t help but wonder if she could be as unlucky in work as she is in love. Is she always destined to stay behind the scenes? Just as some recipes only come together at the last minute with the addition of a key ingredient, sometimes a single moment can change everything—turning Annie’s life into a cornucopia of good fortune, the feast of her dreams.
My Review
Susan Wiggs introduces her upcoming Family Tree with her prequel short story, THE KEY INGREDIENT, with a delicious stunning, front cover - a story of love, recipes, food, and an idyllic Vermont setting. Annie Rush comes from a history of food. Starting a food cart, she met the charming chef, Martin and together they created the famous cooking show, The Key Ingredient. Martin is the star of the show and Annie handles the production. In the short charming teaser, Annie travels to Vermont, her hometown to film their pilot episode. Things do not go as planned. An avid fan of Wiggs, for many years, she is the "queen" of women’s contemporary stories of the heart - from love, family, and hope. The Key Ingredient and Family Tree both have all the essentials for a Hallmark Channel TV series. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Christina Traister,delivering a heartwarming performance. A nice promotion as an introduction sneak preview for upcoming Family Tree.Highly recommend; where we continue the saga of Annie Rush. As sweet as maple sugar, a fan of Vermont, short stories, and the author. A nice way to introduce a new and charming series.
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Family Tree
Coming August 9, 2016
By: Susan Wiggs
ISBN: 0062425439 Publisher: HarperCollins Publication Date: 8/9/2016 Format: Other Read My Review
For readers of Kristin Hannah and Jodi Picoult comes a powerful, emotionally complex story of love, loss, the pain of the past—and the promise of the future.
Sometimes the greatest dream starts with the smallest element. A single cell, joining with another. And then dividing. And just like that, the world changes. Read More
About the Author
Using blunt scissors, pages from a Big Chief tablet, a borrowed stapler and a Number Two pencil, Susan Wiggs self-published her first novel at the age of eight. A Book About Some Bad Kids [I still have this-CL] was based on the true-life adventures of Susan and her siblings, and the first printing of one copy was a complete sell-out.
Due to her brother's extreme reaction to that first prodigious effort, Susan went underground with her craft, entertaining her friends and offending her siblings with anonymously-written stories of virtuous sisters and the brothers who torment them. The first romance she ever read was Shanna by the incomparable Kathleen Woodiwiss, which she devoured while slumped behind a college vector analysis textbook. Armed with degrees from SFA and Harvard, and toting a crate of "keeper" books by Woodiwiss, Roberta Gellis, Laurie McBain, Rosemary Rodgers, Jennifer Blake, Bertrice Small and anything with the words "flaming" and "ecstasy" in the title, she became a math teacher, just to prove to the world that she did have a left brain. Late one night, she finished the book she was reading and was confronted with a reader's worst nightmare—She was wide awake, and there wasn't a thing in the house she wanted to read. Figuring this was the universe's way of taking away her excuses, she picked up a Big Chief tablet and a Number Two pencil, and began writing her novel with the working title, A Book About Some Bad Adults. Actually, that was a bad book about some adults, but Susan persevered, learning her craft the way skydiving is learned—by taking a blind leap and hoping the chute will open. Her first book was published (without the use of blunt scissors and a stapler) by Zebra in 1987, and since then she has been published by Avon, Tor, HarperCollins, Harlequin, Warner and Mira Books. Unable to completely abandon her beloved teaching profession, Susan is a frequent workshop leader and speaker at writers' conferences, including the literary institution Fields End and the legendary Maui Writers Conference. Her novel The Charm School was voted one of RWA's Favorite Books of the Year. She is the proud recipient of three RITA awards for Lakeside Cottage, Lord of the Night and The Mistress, and is often a finalist for the prestigious award. Her books appear regularly on numerous "Best Of" lists. Susan enjoys many hobbies, including sitting in the hot tub while talking to her mother on the phone, kickboxing, cleaning the can opener, sculpting with butter and growing her hair. She lives on an island in the Pacific Northwest with her family. Read More
