About the Book:
The Secret to Happiness
Series: Cape Cod Creamery, Book 2
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Revell
Publication Year: 2023
ASIN: B0BLW62NCR
ISBN: 9780800739485
Escape to Cape Cod–where you just might find the secret to happiness
Callie Dixon had the world by its tail . . . until it all slipped away. Fired from her dream job after making a colossalmistake, she’s escaped to her aunt’s home on Cape Cod for time to bounce back. Except it isn’t a home, it’s an ice cream shop. And time isn’t going to help, because Callie’s bounce has up and left. There’s a reason she made that mistake at work and she’s struggling to come to terms with it.
Things go from bad to worse when Callie’s cousin Dawn drags her to a community class about the secret to happiness. Happiness is the last thing Callie wants to think about right now, but instructor Bruno Bianco–a curiously gloomy fellow–is relentless. He has a way of turning Callie’s thoughts upside down. Her feelings, too.
My Thoughts:
This is the second book in the series but can easily be read and enjoyed as a standalone. This is the story of Callie Dixon, a master chef who finds herself unexpectedly unemployed. So she flees to hide out in Cape Cod with her Aunt Marnie and cousin Dawn. Dawn and Marnie are running an ice cream shop and barely making ends meet because it’s winter and all of the tourists have disappeared. After days of watching Callie malinger in bed, Dawn decides that she needs an intervention to her depression and insists that she go to a class called “The Secret to Happiness.” The instructor is a forbidding, non-smiling and stern man names Bruno Bianco, a man who is wise beyond his years and very intuitive about what is actually happening in Callie’s life. He begins to advise her in subtle ways that make her think and when she starts reading his book about finding happiness, she ultimately discovers what her problem is and what she needs to do about it. This book was brilliantly written, with a sub-plot (Dawn’s wedding plans) and a book within a book (as Callie reads Bruno’s instruction manual and shares with the readers). I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Callie and the way she was talented and determined but not very self-confident. The way the author weaves the story around the dynamic changes in Callie and her attitude is amazing and so engaging! The characters were all well-developed and totally realistic and relatable. The messages are loss, redemption and ultimately hope for the future. This is a book not to be missed because it is entertaining as well as thought-provoking, causing me to think about what I would do if I had one goal in life and that one goal was suddenly taken away. How would I respond to that change, and would I still be able to find happiness? This is a book that held me tightly in its grasp and did not let me go until I discovered what Callie found, her own secret to happiness.
Disclaimer
Discloure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell via Netgalley. I also purchased my own copy to enjoy again and again! I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”
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I have the first book in this series. I need to read both books. Excellent review. I really want to read this book!
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