A review by andimontgomery
Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies by Vicky Zimmerman

3.5

I enjoyed Miss Cecily’s Recipes for Exceptional Ladies, but it took some time to get engaged in the story and characters.  If this hadn’t been selected for book club, I likely would have put it down.  But I’m glad I didn’t!

Kate is a good-natured and kind woman, but she is a bit of a doormat throughout much of the book.  At thirty-nine years old, she moves back in with her sixty-five year old mother when her boyfriend, Nick, suddenly decides they shouldn’t move in together, and her former roommate has already sublet her room.  Kate meets ninety-seven year old Cecily when her mother encourages her to volunteer at the Lauderdale House for Exceptional Ladies.

Their introduction has a rocky start.  Kate is first asked to teach the ladies cooking classes, but is soon assigned as a one-on-one companion to Cecily.  Cecily is as acerbic as your worst nightmare.  She has no patience for idiots, hence she dislikes all of the other residents—and almost everyone else—and is just waiting to die.  But Kate plows on with their interactions and Cecily finally starts to warm towards her through their mutual love for food and cooking, sharing stories of her life.  Their friendship becomes very important to Kate, and is an impetus for positive change in her life.

This ended up being a very sweet story, and I liked that Cecily is based on the author’s own grandmother.