“Hand taste. Or taste of the hand. It means that each woman takes a recipe or a way of making food, and then if she feels it should be different, if she’s confident she can make changes that will be an enhancement for her time and family, she changes it, maybe just a little, maybe a lot to make it her own.”

This book is a celebration of growth and culture: passing down parts of our story to impact the next generation. Some of this connection takes place in a family garden. Recipes are also shared and adapted in the kitchen. Overall, this book is about using our roots to help us grow into who we are called to be.

At first, I was not sure about this book. Two Korean War Widows who become friends soon after their husbands die? But by the second chapter, I was drawn into their stories. Surviving such situations would have been so hard.

How the past blended into the present-day story was beautiful. This is a split timeline book. But rather than going back and forth from chapter to chapter, the story is told in sections. Each part made me want to know more. I could not wait to get back both to the present and to the past. I read this one in less than 24 hours because I had to know how everything related.

This book also covers how people are treated based on their race and also on their implied abilities. I feel like this book is honoring to those who do not fit into so-called “normal” parameters. This book celebrates life. Not only do the characters grow emotionally and mentally, but they also grow spiritually as well.

The line that will stick with me the longest: “What are you doing today that fulfills the hopes and prayers of someone yesterday?” As someone who was blessed with two praying grandmothers, I know that many of the opportunities and blessings that I have been given were because they went to God on my behalf. The story of faith through the generations was such a beautiful part of this story.

I absolutely LOVED this women’s fiction book that contained the perfect combination of friendships, family, faith and even a touch of romance. Thank you to the publisher (Tyndale House) for letting me read the book on NetGalley. It is one that I will be recommending for a long time to come. All opinions in this review are my own.