The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee

Title: The Glass Kitchen
Author: Linda Francis Lee
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: June 17, 2014
ISBN: 9780312382278
Number of Pages: 375
How I Got It: Publicist
Format: paperback

Goodreads Summary:

With the glass kitchen, Linda Francis Lee has served up a novel that is about the courage it takes to follow your heart and be yourself. A true recipe for life. 

Portia Cuthcart never intended to leave Texas. Her dream was to run the Glass Kitchen restaurant her grandmother built decades ago. But after a string of betrayals and the loss of her legacy, Portia is determined to start a new life with her sisters in Manhattan . . . and never cook again. But when she moves into a dilapidated brownstone on the Upper West Side, she meets twelve-year-old Ariel and her widowed father Gabriel, a man with his hands full trying to raise two daughters on his own. Soon, a promise made to her sisters forces Portia back into a world of magical food and swirling emotions, where she must confront everything she has been running from. What seems so simple on the surface is anything but when long-held secrets are revealed, rivalries exposed, and the promise of new love stirs to life like chocolate mixing with cream. The Glass Kitchenis a delicious novel, a tempestuous story of a woman washed up on the shores of Manhattan who discovers that a kitchen—like an island—can be a refuge, if only she has the courage to give in to the pull of love, the power of forgiveness, and accept the complications of what it means to be family.

My Review:
Did you love the movies "Practical Magic" and "Hope Floats"? This book had me thinking of them the whole time. Truly a magical read centered around food and family. Portia Cuthcart runs from her Texas home to take refuge in an apartment in New York. The multi-level building previously owned by her aunt was passed down to her and her two sisters. The sisters have sold their levels and now a single father with two young daughters reside above Portia. After one daughter discovers Portia's knack for cooking she convinces her dad to hire Portia to cook for them. Portia is not only a great cook but she has "the knowing." She knows exactly what to cook before she knows why, such as cooking up a batch of soup before someone shows symptoms of a cold. This gift manifested itself when she was younger and cooking at The Glass Kitchen with her grandmother. After trying to ignore her itch to prepare dishes before she knew why, Portia begins to embrace it and helps repair a fractured family as well as her own heart. 
I am recommending this book to everyone. I loved it!!

*** I received this book in exchange for an honest review ***