Wow. This was far better than I expected it to be. Sarah Vaughan could have taken this particular plot in many different directions. She could have gotten bogged down with the different plot lines, or taken the cooking contest too far. She could have made the stories trite or silly. She could have made the solutions and consequences simple, or easy. Instead, she created 5 different and compelling storylines that tied together, not completely, not perfectly, but satisfyingly. The Art of Baking Blind managed to make me hungry for baked goods while pulling me into a compelling and interesting collection of plots.