The Union Street Bakery by Mary Ellen Taylor

Title: The Union Street Bakery (book #1 A Union Street Bakery)

 Author: Mary Ellen Taylor

Source: Publisher request

Genre: Paranormal mystery

Length: Trade size 352 psg

Reviewed by: Laurie 

Life can turn on a dime. It’s a common cliché, and I’d heard it often enough. People die or move away. Investments go south. Affairs end. Loved ones betray us...Stuff happens.

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. Unfortunately, the bakery is in serious hardship. 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 bequeaths 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 ever dreamed. Haunted by dreams of the young Susie, who beckons Daisy to “find her,” she is compelled to look further into the past of the town and her family.

What she finds are the answers she has longed for her entire life, and a chance to begin again with the courage and desire she thought she lost for good.

Union Street Bakery is a delicious treat to read. I was hooked after the first chapter. The characters are fun, and the mystery and paranormal elements are very believable. This story has a lot going on, but the author is brilliant in her ability to keep it up beat and easy to understand.  I love the way the mystery is opened up little by little. The setting is fantastic and the author adds touches to the story to make you feel like you are right there in the mist of the bakery watching the sisters. 

This story is written in mostly Daisy’s POV. Daisy is a strong character, but when her mom left her at the age of three she find she sometimes feels no one wants her, so she has to work hard with that issue. Rachel and Margret are her sisters, you hear about them a lot in the story because they are with her just about every day. They are fun and they love Daisy as a sister and will do anything for her.

This book has a touch of paranormal elements because of the ghost and a touch of romance due to the interaction between Daisy and Gordon, but you don’t read about any sex between them. You also get an excellent mystery. So I would defiantly classify this more of a paranormal mystery. There is no HEA so you have to wait to see what happens between Daisy, the ghost Shaun and Gordon in the next book.  I believe it is set to be released this coming fall, so you won’t have long to wait.

I would recommend this to anyone who loves paranormal and mystery. I will give you a fair warning this book will make you want to run to the nearest bakery. LOL.  There are also some recipes at the end of the book so that should help;)