I wanted to love this book more than I did because I adored the first book I read by this author, The School of Essential Ingredients. This was a coming of age story, a story of families lost and found, and a story of how the sense of smell can trigger and evoke memory like no other sense organ can. Sometimes, though, it felt like there was too much trying to get packed into the book and for me, anyhow, that didn't always work. Parts felt too vague, parts felt a bit unreal but all that said, it was a good read, if not as satisfying as I had hoped.

What you have in your hands is an honest-to-goodness gift, no strings attached. You may keep it forever and ever, pass it on to a friend, or release it into the wild like I did.

If you are new to BookCrossing and find this book and this site, welcome! Enjoy the site, the book and hopefully the BookCrossing community. I hope you'll join BookCrossing (it's free!) and if you do, please consider using any previous reader of this book, or me, jessibud, as the member who referred you. Or you may remain anonymous!

If you are an old hand at BookCrossing, thanks for picking up the book! Either way, I hope you'll journal so all the previous and future readers can track this book's journey. Thanks, and happy BookCrossing!

Thank you. I am running out of witty things to write as I go through this ridiculous pile of books I picked up yesterday. I was clearly very tired and overwhelmed! I do think I asked for this one and a few others a while ago ..... but still!

I enjoyed "The School of Essential Ingredients" so I was excited when I saw this on the table at our meet up.

This novel has the same mystical, whimsical and other-worldly feel that The School of Essential Ingredients has but the characters are richer and deeper.

The idea of scents having transformative and transportive properties is not new; but Bauermeister weaves this into a story about family and love and how all that is wrapped up in our memories of scents. To this day, when I smell toast, I feel comforted and warm and is there any scent more heart-filling than the scent of a baby's head?

In some ways, Emmeline reminded me of Kya (Where the Crawdads Sing) in the way her whole body and personality are tied into nature and her life on the island.

Thanks for sharing this.

Sending to an HGG recipient.

Thank you, C'est Mo, for the wishlist book!! Along with bookmark and postcard!

I've read The School of Essential Ingredients, which I loved!! I also read The Lost Art Of Mixing by the same author, but didn't love it as much as I did The School of Essential Ingredients. Keeping finger crossed I'll love The Scent Keeper!!