Rating: 
Summary: Self-Discovery and More
Review: When Wynter's smarmy husband unexpectedly suggests that they separate, she is floored. She has little job experience and has drifted in an unfulfilling marriage and life in LA for years. Wyn soon finds solace in baking bread, despite her crusty co-worker, Linda. Relocating to Seattle, she establishes a place for herself in a small bakery and starts a new life. She moves from a desire to get revenge to a search for fulfillment.Hendricks has taken a modern-day romance and populated it with some really memorable and well-developed characters. The story and the characters ring true and the novel moves along quickly as we follow Wyn on her journey of self-discovery. All kinds of relationships are explored in this book and the author looks at them with honesty and humor. While a bit predictable, it is never pedestrian. And the bread-baking tips were a welcome extra.
Rating: 
Summary: Delicious read!
Review: Who hasn't had to reinvent her life at least once in modern Amerika? This is a dynamite, uplifting read about just that and it is set in the backdrop of the land I love best: the west coast, and particularly the Pacific Northwest. The book is well-written, funny, comforting, and a tribute to friendship between the sexes and particularly between women. Thank you for writing this book. It's getting passed around the food co-op where I work and we're loving it!
Rating:
Summary: Sweet But Imperfect Debut
Review: With a little more polish, this could have been a great debut novel. Having said that, I fell for the author's lyrical tone as well her sense of texture. I swear I could smell the bread in the book! Wyn is the most developed character, with lots of nuance and subtely, yet you almost want the author to do something MORE with her (or something less, in the case of the tortuous relationship with her soon-to-be ex.). She's about 8/10ths of the to being a full, vibrant main character, but she doesn't really make it there. The secondary characters suffer the same flaws -- just a little too shallow, but full of potential. For some reason, only the character of Mac had any resonance for me (and even he is drawn a bit thin and cliched). And then there were the really tangential characters that just clogged the book without any adding real flavor (like Linda and Richard and the Encino police guy whose name I already forgot). It's not that they all had to add something, but the author spends a considerable amount of time giving them life and then she just hangs them out to dry. So, why the four stars? Like I said, the author had me hooked on the bread. You literally get a whiff of freshly-baked bread as you read through the book. You also hear Mac's music running in the background. The prose also flows nicely, almost to some hidden music you are straining to hear. Overall, it's a sweet book with a ton of potential.
Rating:
Summary: Treat yourself to Bread Alone
Review: Wyn Morrison is feisty, funny and at-large. This is a woman who's strong and vulnerable, witty and morose, self-aware and clueless. In other words -real! Judith Hendricks has set her down in a vivid landscape with a cast of characters that ring true with every word. People that you'll recognize (but no stock characters these - distinct and conflicted with secrets of their own) and the ones you've never met, you kinda wish you had (well, maybe with the exception of Linda, Wyn's belligerent, cantankerous co-worker). She explores the prism of relationships from familial to romantic to platonic to collegial with honesty and wit. But Hendricks is not only witty, she's plenty smart, too. I learned about the art of baking (besides all the tempting recipes), Seattle (did you know the skyscrapers have nicknames?), music (in a special way you'll have to find out for yourself) and the innards of cars (well, I guess I didn't learn enough on that subject). Her prose is fluid and seamless and when it was over, I wanted more. Judith Hendricks goes on my list of writers whose books I look forward to reading. I enjoyed every bite of Bread Alone.
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