The Secret of Orange Blossom Cake

by Rachel Linden

Overview

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

A magical cookbook and a summer on her family’s Italian olive farm help a brokenhearted social media chef cook up a satisfying new life in this delectable novel from the bestselling author of Recipe for a Charmed Life.

Rising star Jules Costa loves re-creating vintage recipes for her popular online cooking show. But when personal and professional disaster strikes, her only chance to save her career is to complete her new cookbook before the end of the summer. Panicked, Jules returns to her family’s beloved olive farm on the shores of Italy’s stunning Lake Garda. Seeking culinary inspiration, she’s hoping to convince her spunky eighty-year-old Nonna Bruna to share her precious collection of family recipes.
 
Jules’s plans quickly go awry as she discovers that Nonna’s cookbook has magical and unpredictable powers. It reveals only one recipe at a time, offering a cooking experience guaranteed to satisfy the chef’s palate and bring clarity to their life. Yet the pages remain stubbornly blank for Jules. To make matters worse, the olive farm is in deep financial trouble, and Jules soon uncovers a web of family secrets involving the cookbook and a lost recipe for orange blossom cake that holds the key to everything. Then there’s Nicolo, the boy next door, who broke her young heart years ago. He is now all grown up, even more attractive, and the only person poised to help Jules find answers. 
 
In a whirlwind summer beyond her imagination, Jules begins to unravel the mysteries baked into her family’s history and discovers the essential ingredients to create the future of her dreams.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593816646
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/30/2025
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Rachel Linden is a novelist and international aid worker whose adventures in more than fifty countries around the world provide excellent grist for her writing. She is the author of Recipe for a Charmed Life, The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie, Ascension of Larks, Becoming the Talbot Sisters, and The Enlightenment of Bees. Currently, Rachel lives with her family on a sweet little island in the Pacific Northwest where she enjoys creating stories about hope, courage, and connection with a hint of romance and a touch of whimsy.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1

The summer that changes my life begins with a bright orange molded Jell-O salad.

"A Jell-O salad just feels perfect for June, don't you think?" I chatter breezily to my roommate and cohost Drew as I set out grated carrots, crushed pineapple, and a big box of lemon Jell-O on the kitchen counter of our apartment, arranging all the ingredients in a pleasingly photogenic way. "Now that we're finally getting some sunshine, I think a molded gelatin salad is just the thing for this last segment." Only this week did it finally feel like summer in Seattle after months of gray drizzle.

Drew adjusts the lights and recording equipment, fine-tuning before we start shooting. It's late afternoon on a Sunday in mid-June, and we're getting ready to record the last of the short cooking show segments we release each week on Instagram. We're using our day off to film an entire month's worth of segments for our show The Bygone Kitchen, just as we have once a month for the past five years.

"I just don't get the appeal of Jell-O salad," Drew admits. "It feels like old lady at a church potluck type of food." He shoots me a wry, dimpled grin. "I'd go for a craft brew IPA and some cheese curds over Jell-O any day." (Drew is from Wisconsin, a state in which cheese features prominently in the comfort food category.)

"Scandalous!" I gasp in mock outrage, rearranging a few ingredients on the counter so I can grab everything easily as we are filming. "Clearly, you don't understand the positive power of Jell-O salad. I'm convinced any sadness or disappointment in life can be helped by a nice big scoop. And there are so many to choose from. Sunshine Salad, cherry cola Salad, strawberry pretzel Salad, orange sherbet Salad, broken glass Salad . . ."

Drew pulls a face. "Nothing people eat should be named 'broken glass,'" he says, giving me a playful smirk. He fiddles with the sound levels, his sandy blond head bent over our fancy new recording equipment.

"Okay, you might be right. But our followers are going to love this, you watch. Ethel especially," I promise, brushing a wisp of dark hair from my cheek, smoothing it back into my short, wavy bob and untying my flour sack apron-red polka dots with a bluebird on the front, made from an actual Blue Bird Flour sack. I wore it for the episode we just shot where I made a peach pandowdy. Now I'm doing a quick costume change. Underneath the apron I'm wearing a 1960s orange, yellow, and green floral polyester shift with a white Peter Pan collar, my outfit for the Sunshine Salad segment. Usually, I thrift my outfits for the show, but this one came from my own closet. I love everything with a '60s vibe.

"Did you see the comment Ethel left on the johnnycake recipe segment from last week?" Drew asks with a raised eyebrow and a grin. Ethel is one of our most ardent followers, a spunky eighty-nine-year-old great-grandmother from Pennsylvania who leaves detailed comments in all capitals on every segment we post but hasn't quite mastered the nuances of emojis.

"You mean when she posted heart eyes and three eggplant emojis after the word 'tasty' in all caps?" I smooth the Peter Pan collar.

"That's the one." Drew laughs. "She's lethal with those emojis. Okay, we're all set. Give me a sec and I'll go get changed." He disappears down the hall toward his room.

I slick on a little Burt's Bees lip balm over my orangey-red lipstick and take a deep breath. I always feel a touch nervous before we start shooting, wanting everything to go to plan. I like things to go according to plan. I try to tamp down my anxiety, then remember the advice of Dr. Dana, the therapist I started seeing after the accident that claimed my dad's life. Acknowledge, embrace, release.

"It's okay to feel anxious," I murmur to myself, naming the emotion. "Just remember, if something gets messed up, we can always rerecord it." I take a second deep breath, hold it for four beats, breathe out through my nose. Right now the kitchen smells deliciously like freshly baked peach pandowdy. That could definitely be worse. Last month we made liver mush for an episode and the rank smell lingered for days. I still sometimes catch a ghostly whiff of it wafting from the stiff brown carpet near the kitchen doorway. I take another deep breath, hold it, then exhale slowly. Better. I still feel a flutter of anxiety in the center of my chest, but as soon as the camera clicks on and I read the first ingredient aloud, I know from experience that my nerves will dissipate and I'll be in my happy place once more.

I glance around in satisfaction. I love this basic little kitchen in the apartment we've called home for the past five years. The plain oak cupboards are brimming with my vintage kitchen gadgets and bakeware-glass-lidded pastel Pyrex dishes with their pretty snowflake pattern, a tall stack of aluminum Jell-O molds in pleasing shapes. In this simple little space I take such delight in sharing vintage recipes with viewers. These recipes helped me make it through the very darkest days of my life and helped me navigate overwhelming loss and grief. Now I want to share their strength with others.

People like Ethel are the reason I keep making these fifteen-minute segments each week. I do it for Ethel-who is widowed and can no longer drive-and many others who are disabled, retired, lonely, or simply needing an escape for a few minutes from the hard things in life. I love knowing that, for those few minutes, I'm giving our followers something useful and happy, filling people's lives with encouraging, informative, and hopefully entertaining content to make their day a little brighter.

This show is the most valuable thing in my life, the reason I get up every day. Which is why the thought of the meeting scheduled for later tonight causes my stomach to flip over with a new wave of anxiety mixed with a wild dash of hope. Tonight could change everything in the best way possible.

"Ready to roll?" Drew pops back into the kitchen wearing a gray suit, white shirt, and slim black tie and matching fedora he found at Goodwill. It's a very Frank Sinatra vibe. He doffs the fedora, a quick little trick of the wrist as he rolls it down his toned arm and flips it back onto his head. "Do you fancy the Twist, the Mashed Potato, or the Swim to go with your Jell-O salad?" He pushes a button on his phone, and the unmistakable notes of a doo-wop song swell through the kitchen. He demonstrates the dance steps, his movements quick and lively. I've never known someone who could move their body like Drew. He was born dancing, his mother told me once.

"Um . . . how about the Swim?" I pick one at random, not entirely sure what the dance move is. Jell-O salads shot to popularity in the 1950s and '60s, so Drew is leaning into the era with a little song-and-dance routine for the segment. It's the special sauce that he brings to the show. When I first began filming the cooking segments during the long, monotonous early days of the pandemic lockdowns in Seattle, Drew was solely behind the camera. He was a good friend and supportive roommate who generously helped me record my little hobby. It was a way to connect with other people and break up the stifling boredom and anxiety of those seemingly endless months, and we thought it was fun. Then one day after a few months of filming a new segment every week, on a whim Drew popped on-screen and performed a little soft-shoe dance routine wearing a straw boater while I was cleaning up an accidental soup spill. Viewer numbers spiked noticeably.

Realizing we'd stumbled upon a good thing, we capitalized on it. In the ensuing five years, I've remained the mainstay of the cooking segments, giving a little history of the dish and showing step-by-step instructions on how to make each vintage recipe, but Drew has become my invaluable sidekick, the goofy show-off that makes the segments funny and fun. By day Drew is a music teacher at an exclusive private school in Seattle, but he's always loved to dance, and his big dream is to move to LA someday and try to make a career in the entertainment industry. I'm trying as hard as I can to keep him here. Without him, I'm pretty sure I won't have a show worth watching. Realistically, I figure at least half of our viewers tune in each episode just to see Drew. Maybe more if I'm honest. He's charming and cute and a little zany, a good counterpoint to my more calm and studious on-screen presence. Together we make the magic that keeps this show going. If I lose him, I'm afraid it will spell the end of everything.

Which is why I have to convince Drew to stay. He's been getting restless lately, talking about possibly doing a scouting trip to LA. Hopefully, the meeting tonight will provide just the right incentive for him to stick around. I've managed to cobble together a life again after losing almost everything fifteen years ago. I honestly don't know what I'll do if he leaves. I don't think I could handle losing him and the show both. They're the two most important parts of my life now.

"The Swim it is." Drew claps his hands together. "You ready?"

I nod, glancing at the clock. The meeting starts at nine. Plenty of time to film the segment and walk over to Needle & Thread, the trendy speakeasy near our apartment in the Capitol Hill neighborhood where Keith has arranged to meet us.

Keith Garvey is a TV series developer who stumbled upon our show on Instagram a few months ago and contacted us, saying he was interested in potentially helping us turn our segments into something far bigger. We've been in conversation since then about possibilities, and tonight he's meeting us because he says he has news to share. Now standing at the kitchen counter, I cross myself and kiss my thumb for luck, just as my Italian Nonna Bruna taught me when I was a little girl.

"Please let it be good news," I murmur a quick prayer, then firmly push the thought of the impending meeting away. Right now, I have a Sunshine Salad to teach viewers how to make. I don't have room to worry and fret.

"I'm ready." I give Drew a nod, turn to the camera, and grab the box of lemon Jell-O, offering my brightest, most welcoming smile as he starts the recording. "Good morning, friends, and welcome to The Bygone Kitchen. Today I'm going to show you how to make the perfect summery treat from yesteryear . . ."

And just like that I'm once again doing the thing I love the most. The anxiety and worry melt away under the glow of the lights and the eye of the camera, just as they always do. I am in my happy place, and I'll do everything I can to stay here.

Chapter 2

"Drew, Juliana, thank you for meeting with me tonight. As I said in my call, I have some news." Keith leans forward in a navy crushed velvet club chair amid the Art Deco elegance of Needle & Thread and smiles professionally.

"Good news, I hope?" I wiggle nervously in a ridiculously tall and not very comfortable linen balloon chair and take a sip of my bespoke cocktail, trying to look cool and sophisticated, not sweaty and antsy, which is how I actually feel. I can't believe that just thirty minutes ago I was washing off lemon Jell-O as we wrapped filming for the day. Now here we are in a business meeting that could change our futures.

Next to me in a matching balloon chair, Drew clears his throat nervously. Keith, Drew, and I are crowded around a tiny table in the glamorous, narrow speakeasy hidden above Tavern Law, a popular bar near our apartment. Currently, I am drinking a St-Germain-a deliciously bubbly twenty-dollar champagne and elderflower liqueur cocktail. Thank goodness Keith is paying. My job at Trader Joe's and my half of the modest amount we make through the show do not allow for such luxuries in a city as expensive as Seattle.

All around us there's a low hum of conversation. The dim lighting and muted jazz soundtrack make the small space seem exclusive and very posh. Beside me, Drew is sipping a fancy French gin cocktail. Outwardly, he looks calm and affable, but his knee is jiggling, a sure sign that he's as agitated as I am. He's seemed a little off today, to be honest. When I asked him on the way over if he thought it would be good news, he hesitated and didn't meet my eyes, which isn't like Drew. Usually, he's Mr. Enthusiasm. Maybe he's just nervous too. We both want this to go well. There's a lot riding on it.

"Well, that depends on how you look at it, I guess." Keith smiles coolly. He isn't drinking a cocktail, which for some reason makes me even more nervous. Actually, Keith makes me nervous period. He's very well-groomed for a man in his fifties, tanned with wavy blond hair and shockingly white teeth. His smooth, blank face gives away nothing. He must be a great poker player. I can never tell what he is really thinking, and I have this sneaking suspicion for some reason that he doesn't really like me. He's a successful talent scout for TV series and has turned more than one YouTube sensation into a genuine star. As the brains behind Nailed It! and Snack vs. Chef among other shows, he has a nose for winners, he's told us more than once. Somehow when he looks at me, though, I get the niggling feeling that I am being measured and found wanting. I never feel like a winner around Keith. And yet, here we are. I sip my cocktail, the elderflower liqueur and champagne tickling my nose.

"So what's the news?" Drew asks with a strained smile. I draw a quick breath, equal parts anxiety and anticipation. What we are hoping for, what Keith has been working toward, is getting a contract for a limited series on one of the streaming networks like Peacock or Max. Netflix would be a dream come true, although Keith says that's a long shot. Any deal with a network would mean significantly more money and viewership reach than anything we've done before. And it would allow us to keep filming together. We'd have to move to LA, but that's a price I'm willing to pay. Seattle has always been my home, but since my dad passed away and my older sister Aurora got married and relocated to the East Coast, it's also felt lonely. Maybe something new could be good. I take a gulp of my cocktail for courage.

Editorial Reviews

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

"Linden has a permanent place on my list of auto-buy authors!"—Kristy Woodson Harvey, New York Times Bestselling author of The Summer of Songbirds

"Filled to the brim with comfort and coziness... A super sweet, food-filled family story with a side of romance."—Kirkus Reviews

"Fans of cozy romances and magical realism will not be disappointed in Linden's latest."—Booklist

Praise for the novels of Rachel Linden

“A magical novel about second chances! Warm, witty, and wise, I loved it! Linden is a master at creating loveable characters! Escapist reading at its best!”—Jill Shalvis, New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Deal

“Rachel Linden expertly mixes romance, mystery and family-drama into a delicious recipe of a story. With her trademark warmth, Linden delivers a captivating story with a magical heartbeat at its center.”—Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author of The Story She Left Behind

“Rachel Linden whips up an irresistible family drama oozing with charm and magic! A gem of a novel that charmed me from get-go, perfect for fans of Sarah Addison Allen and Alice Hoffman.”—Lori Nelson Spielman, New York Times bestselling author of The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany

“The perfect mix of delicious backdrop details, family secrets, and the quest for purpose and lasting love. Enchantingly delightful from first page to last.”—Susan Meissner, USA Today bestselling author of Only the Beautiful

"Rachel Linden writes complicated and compelling characters that are as relatable as they are likeable. I enjoyed every bit of this delightful novel."—Jenn McKinlay, New York Times bestselling author of Summer Reading

"Charming locales, delicious food descriptions and magic…this tale has it all!"—Woman's World

"A magical story!"—FIRST for Women

“A delightful tale of food, family, and sweet romance.”—Lauren K. Denton, USA Today bestselling author of The Hideaway and The Summer House

“Completely charming!”—Katherine Reay, bestselling author of A Shadow in Moscow

"Satisfied my voracious appetite for delectable foodie novels. Linden’s exploration of what we lose when we can no longer taste the flavors we love is savory food for thought. This magical story offers the perfect recipe for a gratifying read."—Kim Fay, USA Today bestselling author of Kate & Frida

From the Publisher

2025-08-02
A desperate cookbook writer unearths a magical secret when she visits her family’s Italian olive farm.

Juliana Costa loves nothing more than hosting her retro online cooking show,The Bygone Kitchen, with her roommate, Drew. She makes vintage recipes, like pandowdy and Jell-O salad, and her loyal viewers eat it up. Jules hopes to expand their show, but when Drew gets a big opportunity and moves on without her, she’s heartbroken. Worse, she has a cookbook under contract and her publisher doesn’t like the direction she’s taking. Her agent says they want her to have more of a personal connection to her recipes, and Jules is afraid she can’t provide that—after her father’s traumatic death years ago, she’s tried her best to not even think about her family’s past in Italy or the recipes that connect to her history. But now, with the threat of having to pay back her advance, she books a trip to visit her Nonna Bruna. Jules knows that if she can get her hands on Nonna’s book of family recipes, she’ll have more than enough material for her cookbook. With her teenage half sister, Alex, in tow, Jules shows up to discover that the cookbook is no mere collection of treasured recipes—it’s magic. It reveals only one recipe at a time, and that recipe will help the chef with some conundrum in their life. Jules must also deal with the reappearance of her first love, Nicolo, who has only grown more attractive since their teenage romance. As she and Nicolo work together to bring their families’ farms into the future, Jules starts to question what she really wants out of life. Linden blends romance and family drama as Jules uncovers secrets about her family, comes to terms with her father’s death, and gets to know Alex and Nonna. With so many plotlines, the pace can drag a bit at times, but the story is still filled to the brim with comfort and coziness. The detailed descriptions of Italian food don’t hurt, either—it’s hard to finish reading without wanting a taste of the titular orange blossom cake (recipe helpfully included!).

A super sweet, food-filled family story with a side of romance.

Kirkus Reviews