At 26, idealistic baker Mia West has her entire life planned out: a Craftsman cottage in Seattle, baking at The Butter Emporium, and the love of her life, her boyfriend Ethan, by her side. But when Ethan breaks up with her instead of proposing on their sixth dating anniversary (with the Tiffany blue box in his pocket), Mia’s carefully planned future crumbles.

Adrift and devastated, she determines to find new meaning in her life by helping those in need. Guided by recurring dreams about honeybees that seem to be leading her toward this new path in life, Mia joins her vivacious housemate Rosie on an around-the-world humanitarian trip funded by the reclusive billionaire, Lars Lindstrom. Along with a famous grunge rock star, an Ethiopian immigrant, and an unsettlingly attractive Hawaiian urban farmer named Kai, Mia and Rosie embark on the trip of a lifetime. From the slums of Mumbai to a Hungarian border camp during the refugee crisis, Mia’s eyes are opened and her idealistic vision is challenged as she experiences the euphoria, disillusionment, and heartbreaking reality of humanitarian work abroad.

As Mia grapples with how to make a difference in an overwhelmingly difficult world, circumstances force her to choose between the life she thought she wanted and the unexpected life she has built.

This is my first Rachel Linden book. I’d heard good things about this book. It didn’t look like my preferred style, but I decided to pick it up.

Overall, it’s not a bad book, it just didn’t do it for me. I had a hard time connecting with Mia, so it was easy to put the book down and walk away for a day or two. Personally, I prefer a book that moves a little more quickly and spends more time on character/relationship development than on setting and reflection. There are a lot of nice descriptions in this book, but it was a bit too much for me. I would have preferred seeing more of Mia, Kai, and Ethan and how they worked things out. I would say it has more of a literary feel.

Again, not a bad book — it just wasn’t for me.

Rated PG. Get your copy here!