Sunday, September 29, 2013

Lighthouse Bay

Lighthouse Bay
Kimberley Freeman

Lighthouse Bay

Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads):  From the author of Wildflower Hill, this breathtaking novel travels more than a century between two love stories set in the Australian seaside town of Lighthouse Bay.

In 1901, a ship sinks off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The only survivor is Isabella Winterbourne, who clutches a priceless gift meant for the Australian Parliament. This gift could be her ticket to a new life, free from the bonds of her husband and his overbearing family. But whom can she trust in Lighthouse Bay?

Fast-forward to 2011: after losing her lover, Libby Slater leaves her life in Paris to return to her hometown of Lighthouse Bay, hoping to gain some perspective and grieve her recent loss. Libby also attempts to reconcile with her sister, Juliet, to whom she hasn’t spoken in twenty years. Libby did something so unforgivable, Juliet is unsure if she can ever trust her sister again.

In these two adventurous love stories, both Isabella and Libby must learn that letting go of the past is the only way to move into the future. The answers they seek lie in Lighthouse Bay.


Review: This is one of my favorite kinds of books - a light and captivating read about women and their relationships.  It made me want to cozy up on the couch with a blanket and a cookie and read the day away.  I enjoyed the Australian setting, as well as the stories of life on a ship, in a lighthouse, and owning a B&B.  I was tempted to give this 5 stars, because it really was fun to read, but I realized that I just didn't like either of the main characters that much.  I could have overlooked some of their personality flaws, like Isabella's obsession with Xavier and Libby's lack of consideration for her sister, as instrumental parts of their growth during the novel, but they each made questionable moral decisions that weren't really addressed. 

Rating: 4 stars

Saturday, September 28, 2013

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe

Genre: Non-Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads):  The life Kamila Sidiqi had known changed overnight when the Taliban seized control of the city of Kabul. After receiving a teaching degree during the civil war—a rare achievement for any Afghan woman—Kamila was subsequently banned from school and confined to her home. When her father and brother were forced to flee the city, Kamila became the sole breadwinner for her five siblings. Armed only with grit and determination, she picked up a needle and thread and created a thriving business of her own.

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana tells the incredible true story of this unlikely entrepreneur who mobilized her community under the Taliban. Former ABC Newsreporter Gayle Tzemach Lemmon spent years on the ground reporting Kamila's story, and the result is an unusually intimate and unsanitized look at the daily lives of women in Afghanistan. These women are not victims; they are the glue that holds families together; they are the backbone and the heart of their nation.

Afghanistan's future remains uncertain as debates over withdrawal timelines dominate the news. The Dressmaker of Khair Khana moves beyond the headlines to transport you to an Afghanistan you have never seen before. This is a story of war, but it is also a story of sisterhood and resilience in the face of despair. Kamila Sidiqi's journey will inspire you, but it will also change the way you think about one of the most important political and humanitarian issues of our time.


Review: I wanted to love this book.  Kamila's story is certainly inspiring and deserves to be told; she sounds like a phenomenally brave and resourceful young woman.  The author had clearly done her research about life in Kabul during the Taliban era, and she did a good job bringing that terrifying time to life.  I certainly learned a lot about how the Taliban came to power and how they treated women during that time.  However, the writing style was overly simplistic (perhaps because the author had been a journalist previously?) and I would like to have seen much more depth to the main characters. 

Rating: 3 stars

Friday, September 27, 2013

The Transfer

The Transfer: A Divergent Story
by Veronica Roth


Genre: Short Story/Young Adult Dystopian Fiction

Synopsis: More Four! Fans of the Divergent series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth will be thrilled by "The Transfer," the first of four new short stories told from Four’s perspective. Each brief story explores the world of the Divergent series through the eyes of the mysterious but charismatic Tobias Eaton, revealing previously unknown facets of his personality, backstory, and relationships.
From GoodReads

Review: This was an interesting quick read (think 15 minutes) that gave a little more background into Four and why he transferred into Dauntless.  We heard about his issues with his father in Divergent and Insurgent but this gives a first hand view of his father's cruelty.  This short story also gives a little bit of insight into Eric, one of the leaders of Dauntless who I really didn't like.  I was left wanting to read more about Four at the end of this short story and there are other short stories told from Four's perspective.  I read this story because my library had purchased the ebook of it and I was curious.  Don't go out of your way to get it.  It's interesting but not necessary for understanding more about the Divergent series.  I'm having a really hard time rating this because it was really just a chapter from a larger book.

Rating: 3 stars

The Baker's Daughter

The Baker's Daughter
Sarah McCoy

The Baker's Daughter

Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads):  In 1945, Elsie Schmidt was a naïve teenager, as eager for her first sip of champagne as she was for her first kiss. But in the waning days of the Nazi empire, with food scarce and fears of sedition mounting, even the private yearnings of teenage girls were subject to suspicion and suppression. Elsie’s courtship by Josef Hub, a rising star in the Army of the Third Reich, has insulated her and her family from the terror and desperation overtaking her country. So when an escaped Jewish boy arrives on Elsie’s doorstep in the dead of night on Christmas Eve, Elsie understands that opening the door puts all she loves in danger.

Sixty years later, in El Paso, Texas, Reba Adams is trying to file a feel-good Christmas piece for the local magazine. Reba is a rolling stone, perpetually on the run from memories of a turbulent childhood, but she’s been in El Paso long enough to get a full-time job and a full-time fiancé, Riki Chavez. Riki, an agent with the U.S. Border Patrol, finds comfort in strict rules and regulations, whereas Reba knows that in every good story, lines will be blurred.

Reba's latest assignment has brought her to the shop of an elderly baker across town. The interview should take a few hours at most, but the owner of Elsie's German Bakery is no easy subject. Elsie keeps turning the tables on Reba, and Reba finds herself returning to the bakery again and again, anxious to find the heart of the story. For Elsie, Reba's questions have been a stinging reminder of darker times: her life in Germany during that last bleak year of WWII. And as Elsie, Reba, and Riki's lives become more intertwined, all are forced to confront the uncomfortable truths of the past and seek out the courage to forgive.


Review: I thoroughly enjoyed the story of young Elsie, coming of age in Germany towards the end of World War II.  It was rewarding to see her growth from a good German girl to a woman who follows her conscience regardless of consequences.  The details of the Lebensborn program and the actions of her Nazi fiance were disturbing, of course, but weren't the primary focus of the story.  While I appreciated learning what happened to Elsie and her family and friends after World War II, I am downgrading this to 4 stars because I didn't feel that the story of Reba and Riki was as well-thought-out or compelling as the younger Elsie's story.

Rating: 4 stars

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

When We Were Strangers

When We Were Strangers
Pamela Schoenewaldt

When We Were Strangers

Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads):  "If you leave Opi, you'll die with strangers," Irma Vitale's mother always warned.

Even after her beloved mother's passing, 20-year-old Irma longs to stay in her Abruzzo mountain village, plying her needle. But too poor and plain to marry and subject to growing danger in her own home, she risks rough passage to America and workhouse servitude to achieve her dream of making dresses for gentlewomen.

In the raw immigrant quarters and with the help of an entrepreneurial Irish serving girl, ribbon-decked Polish ragman and austere Alsatian dressmaker, Irma begins to stitch together a new life . . . until her peace and self are shattered in the charred remains of the Great Chicago Fire. Enduring a painful recovery, Irma reaches deep within to find that she has even more to offer the world than her remarkable ability with a needle and thread.


Review:  Quite simply, I loved this book!  It's the story of a young woman who makes the difficult decision to immigrate to America on her own, then works hard to find her place in her new country.  Irma is a strong woman to face all the challenges that she encounters and she's full of hope for a better future, yet she is also shockingly naive about the dangers she faces.  Her voice is clear and simple and very real, and I appreciated how she struggled with some terrible moral decisions.  My biggest complaint is that Irma had truly terrible luck - it seemed like every misfortune that could befall a new immigrant happened to her at some point, but she struggled through and in doing so, discovered her true place in life.  The descriptions of her hometown in Italy and the various cities she traveled through and lived in were so real that you could almost smell them.  This book really brought the immigrant experience to life, and made me curious to read more books about that time in history.

Rating: 5 stars

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

Where'd You Go, Bernadette?
Maria Semple

Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads):  Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle—and people in general—has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence—creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world


Review: It took me a little while to get into this book, which is primarily written as letters or emails between the characters, interspersed with entries from Bernadette's daughter, Bee.  Bernadette's character initially came across as neurotic, selfish, crazy and completely unlikeable.  But once I figured out who all the characters were, learned more about Bernadette, and got used to the writing style, I found that I couldn't put the book down.  It's quirky and funny and almost soap-opera-ish with the unbelievable things that happen, and I found myself laughing my way through the book just waiting to see what crazy thing would happen next.  The satire of private school parents, Seattle, Microsoft and even Canadians was very entertaining, too.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Between Shades of Gray

Between Shades of Gray
by Ruta Sepetys



Genre: Historical Fiction
*Many people in GoodReads have this listed as Young Adult but my library had it shelved in the adult fiction

Synopsis: In 1941, fifteen year old Lina is preparing for art school, first dates, and all that summer has to offer.  But one night, the Soviet secret police barge violently into her home, deporting her along with her mother and younger brother.  They are being sent to Siberia.  Lina's father has been separated from the family and sentenced to death in a prison camp.  All is lost.

Lina fights for her life, fearless, vowing that if she survives she will honor her family, and the thousands like hers, by documenting their experience in her art and writing.  She risks everything to use her art as messages, hoping they will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive.

It is a long and harrowing journey, and it is only their incredible strength, love, and hope that pull Lina and her family through each day.  But will love be enough to keep them alive?
From the book jacket

Review:  This was a beautifully written story about an atrocities that happened to Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians.  I personally didn't know what had happened and I'm quite appalled.  I felt so sorry for Lina and her family and I'm amazed at their ability to survive and to have the attitudes that they did.  I'm glad that there was an epilogue so I knew what happened to Lina in the future but it was also quite depressing to find out how long she endured being in a labor camp.  This story is quite engaging and is a fast read.  The chapters are very short.  You can read this book in little time.  The one thing I didn't care for was all the flashbacks where Lina talked about her life pre-labor camp.  They just seemed a little contrived.  But overall, a fabulous read.

Rating: 4 stars

Saturday, September 21, 2013

The Age of Miracles

The Age of Miracles
Karen Thompson Walker

The Age of Miracles

Genre: Dystopian Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads):  “It still amazes me how little we really knew. . . . Maybe everything that happened to me and my family had nothing at all to do with the slowing. It’s possible, I guess. But I doubt it. I doubt it very much.”

Luminous, haunting, unforgettable, The Age of Miracles is a stunning fiction debut by a superb new writer, a story about coming of age during extraordinary times, about people going on with their lives in an era of profound uncertainty.

On a seemingly ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, 11-year-old Julia and her family awake to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow. The days and nights grow longer and longer, gravity is affected, the environment is thrown into disarray. Yet as she struggles to navigate an ever-shifting landscape, Julia is also coping with the normal disasters of everyday life--the fissures in her parents’ marriage, the loss of old friends, the hopeful anguish of first love, the bizarre behavior of her grandfather who, convinced of a government conspiracy, spends his days obsessively cataloging his possessions. As Julia adjusts to the new normal, the slowing inexorably continues.

With spare, graceful prose and the emotional wisdom of a born storyteller, Karen Thompson Walker has created a singular narrator in Julia, a resilient and insightful young girl, and a moving portrait of family life set against the backdrop of an utterly altered world.


Review: I don't know whether to classify this book as young adult or not, and that's making it hard to write this review because I guess I hold young adult books to a lower standard.  It's a coming of age story narrated by a woman reminiscing about being an eleven year old girl, and I think the author does a good job depicting the feelings of a lonely pre-teen girl.  It's introspective and beautifully written, but a little slow moving.  And the science!  The apocalyptic slowing of the earth was an imaginative premise, but the science was either lacking or sketchy, and the scientists were unbelievably clueless.  Overall, though, it was a quick and interesting read, with a sympathetic main character, and I enjoyed it.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Insurgent

Insurgent
by Veronica Roth

Genre: Young adult fiction/Dystopian Fiction

Synopsis:  Every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves, and herself, while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.
From GoodReads

Review: Just finished this book for the second time.  I still really liked it but I don't like this book as much as the first one.  There was too much romance and relationship squabbles in this book for my taste.  I wanted to see the action and the conflict between factions.  I felt like Tris was portrayed as much more young in this book than in Divergent.  She seemed more like a 16 year old (which she is) so perhaps it's a flaw of the first book not this one.  I think the author does a great job of developing a major conflict, resolving it in a fairly satisfactorily and then creating a a suspenseful ending that makes you want to read the third book.  Luckily it's not too long before the third book comes out and I'm already on the waiting list for that one!

Rating: 4 stars

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Divergent

Divergent
by Veronica Roth

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Dystopian Fiction

Synopsis:  In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.
From GoodReads
Review: This was my second time reading it was just as addicting as the first time I read it.  This story sweeps you up from the get go and carries you through the action of Tris' life.  I've read quite a few dystopian young adult fiction books and I think this is my favorite series.  I love the action, the character development and the conflict that happens.  While I didn't like the methods in Tris' initiation, it was the faction that she chose and it was their way of training their new members. There were also characters that I didn't like but I view that as the author did a great job developing her characters!  Once you finish reading this book, you have to read the next one!  Be prepared to set aside a day or two to read because you'll have a hard time putting it down.

Rating: 5 stars

Monday, September 9, 2013

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Jonathan Safran Foer

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads):  Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is an inventor, amateur entomologist, Francophile, letter writer, pacifist, natural historian, percussionist, romantic, Great Explorer, jeweller, detective, vegan, and collector of butterflies. When his father is killed in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre, Oskar sets out to solve the mystery of a key he discovers in his father's closet. It is a search which leads him into the lives of strangers, through the five boroughs of New York, into history, to the bombings of Dresden and Hiroshima, and on an inward journey which brings him ever closer to some kind of peace.

Review: I loved Oskar's voice and story; he was such a precocious, quirky and charming boy (definitely too smart for a nine-year-old, though, and I wondered the whole time where he was on the autism spectrum).  Watching him come out of his shell to interact with a random and fun assortment of strangers was really enjoyable.  But the storyline involving Oskar's grandparents was too confusingly written; it took over half the book before I figured out who his grandfather even was.  The writing style for the grandparents was distracting, and their story was just too bizarre.

Rating: 4 stars

Nowhere But Home

Nowhere But Home
Liza Palmer

Nowhere But Home

Genre: Chick Lit

Summary (from Goodreads):  A brilliant, hilarious, and touching story with a Texas twist from Liza Palmer, author of Conversations With The Fat Girl (optioned for HBO)

Queenie Wake, a country girl from North Star, Texas, has just been fired from her job as a chef for not allowing a customer to use ketchup. Again. Now the only place she has to go is home to North Star. She can hope, maybe things will be different. Maybe her family's reputation as those Wake women will have been forgotten. It's been years since her mother-notorious for stealing your man, your car, and your rent money-was killed. And her sister, who as a teenager was branded as a gold-digging harlot after having a baby with local golden boy Wes McKay, is now the mother of the captain of the high school football team. It can't be that bad…

Who knew that people in small town Texas had such long memories? And of course Queenie wishes that her memory were a little spottier when feelings for her high school love, Everett Coburn, resurface. He broke her heart and made her leave town-can she risk her heart again?

At least she has a new job-sure it's cooking last meals for death row inmates but at least they don't complain!

But when secrets from the past emerge, will Queenie be able to stick by her family or will she leave home again? A fun-filled, touching story of food, football, and fooling around.


Review: Southern small town fiction often seems to be full of prejudiced, gossipy women, and this book was no exception.  All the characters had known each other their whole lives, and no one had managed to change their status or friendships.  Perhaps that's the way small Southern towns are, but it is frustrating to read about and seems unrealistic.  Don't new people ever move to town or old people move out?  Aren't people smart enough to realize that the daughters of a philandering white trash ho can make decent lives for themselves?  Don't snobby, gossipy, cliquish mean girls ever grow up and mature?  Apparently not in this book.

Queenie's new job cooking for death row inmates was the highlight of this story, and I wish more time had been spent on her feelings about cooking last meals and the details involved in this.  I also enjoyed reading about her work with her two sous chefs and the prison guards.  And the descriptions of her food made my mouth water!  I would have enjoyed this book much more if this had been the primary focus of the book, rather than the small-minded small-town conflicts that made up the majority of the story.

Rating: 3 stars

Every Day

Every Day
David Levithan

Every Day (Every Day, #1)

Genre: Young Adult

Summary (from Goodreads):  Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.

There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.


Review: I really liked this book while I was reading it, and would likely have given it at least 4 stars if I had written the review right away.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that certain aspects of the book bothered me, so the rating was down-graded.  I think this would make a fascinating book for a book club discussion.

This was a quick and easy to read book with an engaging and thought-provoking Quantum Leap type plot.  The main character, known only as A, at first seemed like an extremely mature teenager who looked out for the best interests of the bodies he inhabited each day.  I felt sorry for him and the situation he was in, but he coped with it admirably, at least until he met Rhiannon.  He fell in love with her pretty much instantaneously, and while she seemed like a lovely girl, I guess I always have a hard time believing in love at first sight.  And then A's behavior turned stalker-ish, as he dedicated all his time trying to see Rhiannon again, ignoring the wishes of the bodies he was inhabiting at the time.  These tendencies seemed at odds with A's personality as it had been described at the beginning of the book.  The other complaint I had was that, in the two or three weeks the story covered, A inhabited an awful lot of people who had specific issues, like drug abuse, homosexuality, suicide, obesity, etc, and I felt like the author was using this as an opportunity to do a little preaching.  And finally, Rhiannon's reaction to trying to love A when he inhabited a completely different looking body each day seemed completely reasonable, and the fact that A didn't make an effort to understand that was completely unreasonable.

I know this review sounds primarily negative, but it really was a fun and easy book to read, and it made me think a lot.  So all in all, I did like it a lot.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Friday, September 6, 2013

Midwives

Midwives
by Chris Bohjalian


Genre: Drama

Synopsis:  The time is 1981, and Sibyl Danforth has been a dedicated midwife in the rural community of Reddington, Vermont, for fifteen years. But one treacherous winter night, in a house isolated by icy roads and failed telephone lines, Sibyl takes desperate measures to save a baby's life. She performs an emergency Caesarean section on its mother, who appears to have died in labor. But what if—as Sibyl's assistant later charges—the patient wasn't already dead, and it was Sibyl who inadvertently killed her?

As recounted by Sibyl's precocious fourteen-year-old daughter, Connie, the ensuing trial bears the earmarks of a witch hunt except for the fact that all its participants are acting from the highest motives—and the defendant increasingly appears to be guilty. As Sibyl Danforth faces the antagonism of the law, the hostility of traditional doctors, and the accusations of her own conscience, Midwives engages, moves, and transfixes us as only the very best novels ever do.

From GoodReads

Review: I liked the concept of this book and I think it had a good story line, I just think the execution could have been better.  This book was slow to jump into the action.  There was so much background information that the author thought we needed about Sibyl's life and her career as a midwife.  There is also a lot of information that the author felt he needed to give us about Connie.  The trial doesn't start until after half way through the book-it's probably close to 2/3rds of the way through the book.  Once the trial starts, the book moves much more quickly.  I wish that the author had started the trial much earlier in the book and incorporated Sibyl's earlier life in with the trial.  The whole time I thought I knew what the outcome of the trial was going to be and I was surprised by the ending and boy the last page really surprised me even more!

Rating: 3 stars

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe

Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe
Jenny Colgan

Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe: A Novel with Recipes

Genre: Chick Lit

Summary (from Goodreads):  Having grown up in an apartment above her Grandpa Joe's little bakery, Issy Randal has always known how to make something sweet. She's much better at baking than she is at filing, so when she's laid off from her desk job, Issy decides to open up her own little caf . But she soon learns that her piece-of-cake plan will take all her courage and confectionary talent to avert disaster. Funny and sharp, Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe is about how life might not always taste like what you expect, but there's always room for dessert!

Review:  This is a cute little book about a woman who follows her dream of becoming a professional baker.  It's completely formulaic, from the self-centered old boyfriend to the supportive new boyfriend, and Issy's lucky success at opening such a niche business is completely unrealistic.  And personally, the almost 3-year-old boy's dialogue drove me nuts - that's not how 3-year-olds talk!  But it's an escapist novel about a woman who follows her dream, opens a business, ends up with the right man, and helps her friends out along the way.  Plus, it has delicious sounding (and funny to read!) cupcake recipes.  So what's not to like?

Rating: 3.5 stars

Cinnamon and Gunpowder

Cinnamon and Gunpowder
Eli Brown

Cinnamon and Gunpowder

Genre: Adventure

Summary (from Goodreads):  A gripping adventure, a seaborne romance, and a twist on the tale of Scheherazade—with the best food ever served aboard a pirate’s ship

The year is 1819, and the renowned chef Owen Wedgwood has been kidnapped by the ruthless pirate Mad Hannah Mabbot. He will be spared, she tells him, as long as he puts exquisite food in front of her every Sunday without fail.

To appease the red-haired captain, Wedgwood gets cracking with the meager supplies on board. His first triumph at sea is actual bread, made from a sourdough starter that he leavens in a tin under his shirt throughout a roaring battle, as men are cutlassed all around him. Soon he’s making tea-smoked eel and brewing pineapple-banana cider.

But Mabbot—who exerts a curious draw on the chef—is under siege. Hunted by a deadly privateer and plagued by a saboteur hidden on her ship, she pushes her crew past exhaustion in her search for the notorious Brass Fox. As Wedgwood begins to sense a method to Mabbot’s madness, he must rely on the bizarre crewmembers he once feared: Mr. Apples, the fearsome giant who loves to knit; Feng and Bai, martial arts masters sworn to defend their captain; and Joshua, the deaf cabin boy who becomes the son Wedgwood never had.
 

Cinnamon and Gunpowder is a swashbuckling epicure’s adventure simmered over a surprisingly touching love story—with a dash of the strangest, most delightful cookbook never written. Eli Brown has crafted a uniquely entertaining novel full of adventure: the Scheherazade story turned on its head, at sea, with food.

Review:  This was a really quirky book that can best be described as Pirates of the Caribbean  meets the Food Network show Chopped.  Which sounds bizarre, doesn't it?  The story got bogged down a little with the opium/tea trade situation between England and China, and the battle scenes tended to be a little gory for my liking.  But overall, I was intrigued to learn a little about the life of a pirate at that time in history, and profoundly grateful not to have been one!  The characters were certainly picturesque, but my main complaint is that Wedgwood was pretty whiny, and stood by his old employer for far longer than he should.  This is not a book I would recommend to everyone, but I think those who like bizarre stories will find this entertaining.

Rating: 4 stars