The Memory of Lemon

By: Judith Fertig
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: June 2016
ISBN: 9780425277959
Reviewed by: Diana Hettinger
Review Date: June 18, 2016

Claire “Neely” is the owner of Rainbow Cake Bakery in Millcreek Valley, Ohio. As a top wedding professional, she has seen it all and has been able to deal with even the toughest of brides, thanks to her ability to identify with people based on flavors. Neely is able to pair these flavors with memories of the bride in order to create a completely personalized wedding cake that gives the bride exactly what she wants. Up until now, that is. A bride and her mother come into a cake tasting at total odds with each other and it is clear that what the bride wants and what her mother wants are two completely different things. Neely has to dig deep and decipher this family’s history in order to come up with a flavor that will enhance this wedding and make everyone happy. Neely knows exactly what the bride wants, but can she please her mother?

While she is trying to solve this mystery, she is also trying to solve the puzzle of her own past while moving on to her future. Her father, a Vietnam war veteran, left her when she was young, her grandmother’s memory is failing her, and she is struggling to get her unfaithful and famous husband, Luke, to sign divorce papers so that she can finally be with Ben, her old best friend and newfound love. It seems that just about everything wants to get in the way of her happiness, but in order for her to be happy and move on, she needs to learn about and face her past.

The Memory of Lemon has a nice, light reading feel that makes this book easy to read within a few days time or even in one sitting. How the desserts are described will not only make you crave sweets but literally taste them. The way this is written makes you contemplate what flavors identify with your own past and what flavors make you think of certain events that have happened and how they make you feel. It is easy to identify with Fertig’s characters and put yourself in their shoes and try to understand why they are the way they are and why they did what they did. This book makes you see that a little bit of passion, love, and flavor can go a long way.

Quill says: The Memory of Lemon is a fun and light read that is perfectly paired with a front porch and lemonade.