You Were Always There: Notes and Recipes for Living a Life You Love (Stories of Motherhood, Cooking, and Chasing Your Dreams)

"In ten years of tender lessons, I have learned to hear this message: You were always there. You never left. You were never not you. Now walk with me a while and uncover that girl again. She's not far."

When we face setbacks and obstacles, it's easy to feel alone and unsure of who we are. At some point, we've all felt like we have lost our identities entirely. Drawing from her own life-changing disasters and surprising blessings, former restaurateur and up-and-coming cooking maven Danielle Kartes serves up perfectly portioned stories to remind us we are never truly lost.

With the decadent warmth of a Brown Butter Chocolate Bundt Cake, You Were Always There assures us that our even most challenging moments have their own glory. Mixing anecdotes of motherhood, cooking, and chasing your dreams with delicious, comforting recipes, You Were Always There is a devotional memoir that will inspire love, faith, and patience through the growing seasons of life. Take a little time each day to indulge in this conversation, reflect as you cook something delicious, and love yourself exactly where you are.

Here, the sweet is always generously folded into the sour, great joy shares space with great sorrow, and we learn that every single moment in our lives is worth savoring. You Were Always There is an uplifting, life-affirming book that will become a new favorite for readers of bestselling authors like Joanna Gaines, Shauna Niequist, and Brené Brown.

Danielle Kartes is an author, food stylist, and recipe developer living in Seattle, Washington, with her husband, Michael, a photographer, and their two sweet sons. Together, the Karteses run their boutique food photography business, Rustic Joyful Food, and host food styling workshops around the country. Danielle is a regular contributor on the hit daytime talk show The Kelly Clarkson Show and appears frequently on national television, speaking about joy and teaching how to cook simple, delicious food.