3.5
I think I would have absolutely loved this book if it had been less sad. Is anyone talking about how sad it is? I felt like the last chapter redeemed the story, it had everything I wanted earlier in the story.

I guess Lolly’s life had to get really bad to make the resolution so important. But I felt so bad for her through the majority of this book.

Lolly put her dreams aside to keep her family’s restaurant running. It’s been ten years since her mom died and Lolly hasn’t accomplished any of her own goals. She lost the love of her life, Rory, to keep the restaurant running and she still thinks of him every day.

The restaurant is struggling and her younger sister is thinking of dropping out of college. Things are getting past Lolly’s control.

Her great-aunt gives her magical lemon drop candies. With each candy she can live a day in an alternate life she could have had.

One of her choices involves her restaurant that never was. Another candy is used to see what her life with Rory would be like.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t sure for awhile how this would end. It was starting to lean towards Lolly’s life being fine just as it was, possibly better than the “what if” scenarios.

I’m not spoiling it by commenting on how it ends behind saying that I loved the ending.

Lolly had so many struggles and so much sadness in her life, she deserved to be happy again.

Again, I can’t rate this one any higher because the sadness of Lolly’s life was just really really heavy to me. I thought this book would be lighter. I’d have appreciated it being lighter. I don’t think Lolly had to be completely miserable in order to ponder what life would be like if she’d chosen different.

One additional note, if her great-aunt had arrived ten years earlier maybe Lolly wouldn’t have been stuck at the family restaurant. But honestly the great-aunt was my favorite character. Not only was she a cool older lady, she had a cool life, and she was the only one encouraging Lolly to put her own happiness first.

This book was so sweet (no pun intended)! I wasn’t sure how it was going to end up in parts, and there were themes of loss that ran throughout the book, but hope remained and love prevailed. I will definitely be taking a lesson or two from this book into real life. A great book to read if you want something that is not cheesy, but relatively light in many ways! 

I adored this book, pure and simple. With my 30th birthday approaching, I've been reflecting a lot on the past and unmet life goals, and dwelling on what-ifs, much like Lolly. The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie was an emotional read for me for this reason. I found Lolly and her struggles with her sense of duty incredibly relatable. It's not easy to live a life that is not entirely yours and to always strive to do the right thing, even when it comes at great personal cost.
Romances with a magical realism aspect have a special place in my heart, so I will definitely be revisiting this book in the future.

This was the absolutely cutest book of my whole life. Books that have a baker or baking in it are books that I will 10 out of 10 times pick up. And this book took that element and utilized it to perfection. I loved Lolly, and I loved Rory. I loved the lessons within this book, I loved the eatery, and the family, and the magic, and the love story, and the second chance romance, and the literally everything. It was so cute and so uplifting. It was such a delight to read. And I loved the setting and the authors voice and the local/organic/floral elements. I don’t think I disliked any element of this book to be honest and during a rainy January this was the spot of light that I needed.

It made me laugh. It made me cry. Its a  palette cleanser for the soul wrapped up in magical everyday moments.