Rating - ⭐⭐⭐.25
"Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Café.
It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the café and settle her grandmother’s estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her father’s side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to the quirky Southern town her mother ran away from so many years ago, and the mysterious blackbird pie everybody can’t stop talking about.
As the truth about her past slowly becomes clear, Anna Kate will need to decide if this lone blackbird will finally be able to take her broken wings and fly."
Midnight at the Blackbird Café is a standalone fiction/magical realism novel by Heather Webber.
I was in a particular mood when I put this book on hold at my library, and I honestly forgot I even put it on hold in the first place since it took a while to get it. When I discovered this book, I was in the mood for a story involving baking or cooking, and this one was recommended. Here is the thing though, that is what I wanted, and the book was barely about that.
Is my rating of this book mostly my fault for my own expectations, maybe? But I did want the baking to be more at the forefront of the story rather than in the background. The meaning behind the pies and the results from consuming it, which sounds a bit weird, mattered more than the actual baking. Does it make sense because of the plot, yes, but again it is not what I came here for.
I do like a good found family story when I am in the mood for one, but I wasn't entirely invested in Anna Kate and Natalie and their stories. That is also partially due to the fact that it took a while for the author to reveal what happened that broke their families apart, and by the time it got there I no longer cared.
That being said though, this wasn't a bad book. Was it anywhere as near good as the rating would suggest, seeing as there is a surprising amount of ratings, no. But it was just slightly above a 'meh' rating.