The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie

By: Rachel Linden

Narrated by: Katie Koster

Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

“Heartfelt, heartwarming, joyful, and uplifting. You can't go wrong with a Rachel Linden book.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

An uplifting novel about a heartbroken young pie maker who is granted a magical second chance to live the life she didn’t choose. . . . from the bestselling author of The Enlightenment of Bees.

Lolly Blanchard's life only seems to give her lemons. Ten years ago, after her mother’s tragic death, she broke up with her first love and abandoned her dream of opening a restaurant in order to keep her family’s struggling Seattle diner afloat and care for her younger sister and grieving father. Now, a decade later, she dutifully whips up the diner’s famous lemon meringue pies each morning while still pining for all she's lost.

As Lolly’s thirty-third birthday approaches, her quirky great-aunt gives her a mysterious gift—three lemon drops, each of which allows her to live a single day in a life that might have been hers. What if her mom hadn’t passed away? What if she had opened her own restaurant in England? What if she hadn’t broken up with the only man she's ever loved? Surprising and empowering, each experience helps Lolly let go of her regrets and realize the key to transforming her life lies not in redoing her past but in having the courage to embrace her present.

©2022 Rachel Linden (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“A triumphant story about chasing down a destiny, cleverly told and beautifully delivered. Rachel Linden reminds us on every page how wonderful and essential it is to believe in the magic of second chances.” (Susan Meissner, USA Today best-selling author of The Nature of Fragile Things)

“Lolly Blanchard’s life changed from lemonade to lemons in an instant, and she has spent years wondering what might have been. When her great-aunt gifts her the opportunity to find out, Lolly jumps at the opportunity, each of her forays into a different life leading her to surprising places. Ultimately, Lolly realizes that, no matter how dire the situation, the choices we make can change our fate in ways better than our wildest dreams. The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie is a poignant, hopeful must read for anyone who has ever wondered about a different path. Rachel Linden creates unforgettable characters that will work their way into your heart and a compulsively readable story that will keep the pages turning late into the night. Five huge stars!” (Kristy Woodson Harvey, New York Times best-selling author of The Wedding Veil)

“The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie is an enchanting tale about the one thing we’ve all imagined: a magical second chance. Rachel Linden expertly mixes romance, mystery and family-drama into a delicious recipe of a story. When Lolly is given three lemon drops, each a chance to do one day in her life over again, she sets off on an adventure that is as charming as it is exciting. With her trademark warmth, Linden delivers a captivating story with a magical heartbeat at its center.” (Patti Callahan, New York Times best-selling author of Surviving Savannah)

Wonderful Storytelling

Rachel Linden weaves a storyline that will enthrall the reader at every turn. “Follow your bliss.” But how does one go about that. Life takes so many turns. Linden celebrates her characters’ struggles as well as their successes. In the end, faith leads the way.

A bit bumpy at first but ended well!

I had the ending figured out around Chapter 38 (47 total chapters) but I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t take away from the charm of the ending. This was an audio book which made some of the timeline shifts a bit tricky to keep ahold of so I very well may put this on my physical reread TBR. Super cute story… charming just keeps coming to mind when I think of it. Would definitely recommend!

Sweet story

I enjoyed this coming of age story of Lolly and the growing pains she endured. A sweet read.

Sweet Read & fun story!

Easy listening and good narration:) Some nice twists throughout too, I would read this again.

Cute story but extremely predictable.

I thought this was a cute story with characters that were easy to like, but the premise of the magic lemon drops… I could never really buy into that. And it was pretty obvious to me that when she took the third lemon drop and saw what she saw, you knew how the book would end. The rest after that was just filler. I would say this is an average read, but would be unlikely to recommend it to friends.

Terrible British Accent!

The book was fine enough but didn't really grip me. It was easy relaxation material until the narrator put on one of the worst British accents I've heard. The character was supposed to be Northern and it sounded like some Frankenstein of accents all across the country. I immediately paused the book and returned it.

My Review of LDROP PIE

I thoroughly enjoyed this story as I love lemon meringue pie!




As an added note, I grew up in Seattle Washington and lived there until I was 27 years old and moved with my husband and family to Phoenix Arizona. Thank you for a charming story.
I could picture in my mind, all the neighborhoods described in this pleasant story🥰
Marilyn Mayo

Hope Springs Eternal…

I was hoping for a more powerful ending, something that had a different result however, it was a pure Hallmark movie ending. The British accents were poorly performed. I wish the character of Aunt Gertrude was used in a more intelligent point of view and not the same old seasoned white haired academic female who never married or had children, and who is quite the eccentric. Such a waste of what could have been and independent intelligent older woman.

Great premise but so.much.angsty handwringing

This story had a neat premise that by sucking on a lemon drop you could see what your life would have looked like if you’d made a different decision. The characters were good, the setting was wonderful, but OMG. The main character had absolutely no ability to think her way through a situation, and I get it, she missed her mother, but did we really have to have so much angsty handwringing about it in every 3rd chapter? It’s been 10 years girl - you will always miss her but get yourself together!!

The narrator was really good, I liked her voices. My only quibble was her dialectal way of pronouncing “bag” (sounded like baig, LOL).

Quick easy fun summer read, but could have been 1/3 shorter without missing anything but the overdone emotional churn.

Love the storyline

The storyline in this book was amazing! I really enjoyed everything about the book and the characters in it!