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The Union Street Bakery
The Union Street Bakery
The Union Street Bakery
Audiobook11 hours

The Union Street Bakery

Written by Mary Ellen Taylor

Narrated by Susan Boyce

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

()

About this audiobook

Daisy McCrae's life is in tatters. She's lost her job, broken up with her boyfriend, and has been reduced to living in the attic above her family's store, the Union Street Bakery, while learning the business. Making things worse is the constant feeling of not being a "real" McCrae, since she was adopted as a child and has a less-than-perfect relationship with her two sisters.


Then a long-standing elderly customer passes away, and for some reason she bequeaths to Daisy a journal dating back to the 1850s, written by a slave girl named Susie. As she reads, Daisy learns more about her family-and her own heritage-than she had ever imagined. Haunted by dreams of the young Susie, she is compelled to look further into the past of the town and her family.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateAug 25, 2014
ISBN9781494572259
The Union Street Bakery
Author

Mary Ellen Taylor

A southerner by birth, Amazon Charts bestselling author Mary Ellen Taylor’s love of her home state of Virginia is evident in her contemporary women’s fiction. When Mary Ellen’s not writing, she spends time baking, hiking, and spoiling her miniature dachshunds, Buddy, Bella, and Tiki.

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Reviews for The Union Street Bakery

Rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

40 ratings12 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Reviewed by: Crystal BBook provided by: Publisher Review originally posted at Romancing the BookI love books about families. They are almost always a great read, and The Union Street Bakery is no exception. I really enjoyed this book and the family dynamics.Daisy McCrae is use to life in the fast lane, when that life falls apart she returns home. Home is a family owned bakery. She takes over the financial and business aspects of the bakery. She’s the money girl, her sister Rachel is the baker of the family and her other sister Margaret is the people person. These three sisters don’t always get a long well together, what sisters do, but they sure do make a good team.Daisy was adopted after she was left at the bakery when she was three years old. This leaves a lot of scars on Daisy as she grows up. She has a lot to over come with feelings of being left and not getting to emotionally attached to others for fear that they will leave her.There is a great family history mystery in this book. I LOVED it, it was so fun watching these sisters work together to uncover the mystery. Working together also helps bring these sisters closer together and understand each other better.I love the family dynamics in this book, it is very easy to relate to. There not a lot of romance in so if you are looking for romance this isn’t the book for you. If you are looking for a touching family story I think you’ll enjoy The Union Street Bakery.I don’t know if there is a follow up to this book yet, if not I sure hope there is. I would love to read more about these girls and their lives. I also enjoyed Mary Ellen Taylor’s voice as an author and I’ll be looking for more books by her.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Wonderful read full of history and mystery, keeps you turning the pages until the end. Then followed by a sequel that is just as comfortable a read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book is a story about a woman who was abandoned as a child and finding her family and discovering that family isn't all about blood. Also some great recipes.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Daisy McCrae never imagined her life as it is right now. She's lost her job as a financial manager, broken up with her fiancé, and moved home to live in the tiny attic room above her family's bakery. She's trying to help untangle the bakery's finances and take some of the stress off of her family while she figures out where her life should go next. In this interim, Daisy would also like to find out something more about her mother, the woman who abandoned her at the bakery as a three year old. This early abandonment has marked Daisy hard. She feels like she isn't a real McCrae even though the family formally adopted her and folded her into their hearts. She has a fairly tense relationship with her sisters and that makes her current situation in the bakery that much tougher. When a long time elderly customer who seems to know quite a bit about Daisy dies, she bequeaths an 1850s diary to Daisy without any word of explanation. Daisy has no idea why she's been given this historical document written by a slave girl named Susie when it's one of her sisters who is interested in history. The diary is, in fact, a treasure trove of history, personal and public, and it holds the answers to a lot of Daisy's questions, as she discovers as she delves deeper into its contents. It also brings the presence of a slightly malevolent feeling ghost into the bakery and into Daisy's attic in particular. The insecurity that Daisy feels as a result of her abandonment and subsequent adoption is very well handled. The fact that she is loved and accepted in her family helps some but doesn't completely mitigate the result of the deep trauma on her. That she stays somewhat aloof and doesn't share important things in her life like her engagement and the subsequent breaking off of that engagement with her family is understandable given her feeling of outsider status. But the love and acceptance that the McCrae family offers her is unrelenting despite her holding back. The mystery of Daisy's origins is revealed slowly and tied into general history quite well. As Daisy learns about Susie and her connection not only to herself but to the McCrae family, she also learns more completely what it takes to be a fully fledged member of a loving family such as the McCraes. The story was an interesting one with multiple threads running through it, the current day story, the historical angle, and the paranormal as well. Daisy's character is a sympathetic one, desperately wanting to fit in, mourning the loss of the man she loves, and trying to save the bakery despite the dire financial situation. The rest of the McCrae family isn't quite as fleshed out as Daisy is, perhaps a reflection of her own feeling of distance from them. The paranormal element here is more of a distraction than a necessary piece of the plot. This is the first in a planned series and there may be more plot and character development in future books and the paranormal may tie in more necessarily as well. A fast read, this tackles some deeper issues in an easy and engaging way.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    There was a lot I liked about this book -- the details of running a bakery, interactions between the sisters, the bits of history of Alexandria, the back story of Susie, a lost ju=ournal, and yes, even the ghosts, but there was a lot that also detracted from my pleasure reading it. The relationships in the back story, and the connection to the front end of things were convoluted, and more complex than I could appreciate as a bedtime read. It was unclear why both ghosts felt the need to haunt. Mrs W's reluctance to speak up on things, thirty years ago or in the present (before she died.) Plus, I didn't fully connect with Daisy. But, all in all, I enjoyed the book, and have studiously avoided looking at the recipes in the back, since I have an allergy to wheat. Why torture myself further?tags: big-misunderstanding, bookcrossing, currently-reading, foodie, i-liked-it, places-i-have-been, vampires-ghosts-and-other-creatures, will-look-for-more-by-this-author
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    There are several things I like in a book - romance, history, ghosts or hauntings, geneology and/or family history. In UNION STREET BAKERY I got them all! I picked up the book on a whim and once I started reading I couldn't put it down.The story centers on the Union Street Bakery in Alexandria, VA. For well over 150 years the bakery (or USB for short) has been in the McRae family. This is the place where sisters Rachel, Margaret, and Daisy have been brought up. The bakery has been the center of their early lives. Margaret is the historian in the family and is currently seeking her doctoral degree in archeology; Rachel and her husband have taken over the family business; and Daisy has graduated college and works in finance as vice-president of a prestigeous firm. The McRae parents have recently retired from running the bakery full time although they help out on occasion.When the economy turns sour and Daisy loses her position in a corporate take-over she finds it difficult to find another job. Having tapped all of her savings to sustain her lifestyle while she searches for work, she agrees to help out her sister Rachel who husband passed away suddenly. When Daisy returns she finds the bakery in a downward spiral and on the verge of going broke. While baking is not her forte (she leaves that to Rachel) Daisy is most at home straightening out financial chaos - unlike other members of her family. Although she claims she will only be working at the bakery until she can land anotherfinance job, Daisy is pulled deeper into history when an elderly customer leaves her an old, leather-bound diary written by a slave girl.The lynch-pin of the story is that Daisy is an adopted daughter. The McRae's took her in after her real mother abandoned her at the bakery when she was merely three years old. Daisy has memories of that day and has a problem with getting too close to anyone for fear of them leaving her. Her insecurities are what drives her. But the old diary and its former owner hold the key to Daisy's past. And when she receives a letter from a woman named Terry who she surmises is her birth mother, she agrees to meet the woman only to find out why she was abandoned all those years ago. Does she really want to know more about her birth mother? Can she hope to find comfort in the embrace of the woman who abandoned her? Will it make any difference in her life and her relationship with her sisters? And who is the ghost who shares Daisy's attic room and who wants her gone?This book had me hooked from the first page. The writing is crisp and moves the story along without bogging down in historical recollections. As with all families the connection between people is complicated and so it is in this book. But by story's end I was satisfied with the outcome. It's an easy to read book that you'll enjoy - it even comes with recipes at the end for some of those delicious treats that you'll drool over as you read. The second book in the series is due out in a few months.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I wanted to like this book more. I expected more emphasis on the historical elements and I was a bit disappointed with the lack of character development. I understand there is a second book in this series due out in November. There are several loose threads in this book. Perhaps they'll be tied up in the next book. We'll see.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Daisy loses her job and goes back home to manage and try to save the family bakery. Although it is not a mystery, there are many questions that need to be answered. Who is Susie? Who is Sally? Why did Daisy receive the diary? Who is the ghost that is haunting Daisy and why he is so upset? Why did Daisy's birthmother abandon her? What is Daisy's background? Those are just the main questions. Read this book and find the answers. The story gives us insights on family, work ethic and of course, the bakery business. We also get a glimpse into the life of slaves in the nineteenth century through a slave girl's diary. The book does a good job of following Daisy's life and lets us in on her thoughts and her interactions with the people she meets along the way. There are plenty of areas that could be explored or expanded. I would love to read a sequel.
    I received this book free in a Goodreads Giveaway.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Union Street Bakery was my first book by Mary Ellen Taylor and it was divine! I have already purchased Sweet Expectations (#2 in the series) via e-reader.

    First, the covers are a huge draw –you find yourself smelling the heavenly aromas of the bakery and the desire to stroll the quaint shops and tree lined streets. If you enjoy historical fiction, drama, ghosts, little mystery, family, and romance – this read is for you!

    An intriguing and interesting fast paced story of sisters, family, careers, betrayal, and hidden family secrets. You fall in love with the characters –Daisy love her) who was left at a bakery when she was 3 yrs. old and adopted by the owners of the bakery who are a close knit family.

    Daisy has kept all her relationships at arm’s length to protect her heart and buries herself in her work with large investment firm. When her job ends, she finds herself back living above the bakery (where she swore she would never return). Haven’t we all been there – city girl comes home.

    However, she finds her family needs her and her finance expertise to manage the bakery business which is going downhill fast. Her older two sisters (one a widow with two young girls) is a baker, and Margaret who also is working part time (an archaeologist and historian)--all ban together to save the family business.

    In the midst of trying to survive the bakery business, a local elderly woman dies and leaves a journal for Daisy. Margaret and Daisy begin to uncover hidden secrets from the past as well as the mother who left her in the bakery 30 yrs. ago, combined with Gordon (her ex-finance) who has left the corporate business and sets up a bike cycle shop down the street.

    You will fall in love with the McCrae family and a book you cannot easily put down – a wonderful family story with some great recipes as well! I look forward to reading more from this author!!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Daisy is down on her luck after she has lost her job, broken up with her boyfriend, and has to move to a little apartment above her family's bakery. The Union Street Bakery isn't in such great shape either; the economy has taken a toll on the demand for baked goods. Daisy is also on the outs with her two sisters, which is even more difficult because she is adopted. Everything changes when an elderly customer dies and leaves Daisy a journal dating back to the mid-1800s. Daisy starts dreaming about Susie, the author of the journal, and must investigate the past in order to let her rest in peace.Southern novels are one of my favorite genres to read, and this book was no exception. Mix in the South with history, baking, and a ghost story, and you have one heck of a book. Daisy represents us all when we are experiencing difficult times and are reticent to face these challenges at first. Yes, the plot deals largely with the journal and the Susie speaking to Daisy, but it also a book about family and how our personal and family histories really do matter. Daisy is really a detective when it comes down to researching her family's history and the origins of Susie's journal - she puts all of the pieces of the puzzle together while learning about herself in the process. I also love that the setting is Old Town Alexandria in Virginia which is close to where I live - I've been to many of the areas mentioned and the description was very accurate. The book is entertaining and a quick read - I definitely recommend it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Once again the author has drawn me into the lives of these characters, I'm not sure if it's the history of it all but it is so captivating. I can't wait to find out what happens next. I never really liked stories like this but from Winter cottage I was hooked on her work.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Surprising little gem of a book. First time reading anything by this author and I really enjoyed this story. The female characters are strong and likable. The author addresses slavery, genealogy, history, baking, adoption and widowhood. I am interested in reading another book by this author.