Cherries in Winter

Cherries in Winter

Suzan Colon

Genre: Memoir

Summary (from Goodreads): What is the secret to finding hope in hard times?

When Suzan Colón was laid off from her dream job at a magazine during the economic downturn of 2008, she needed to cut her budget way, way back, and that meant home cooking. Her mother suggested, “Why don’t you look in Nana’s recipe folder?” In the basement, Suzan found the tattered treasure, full of handwritten and meticulously typed recipes, peppered with her grandmother Matilda’s commentary in the margins. Reading it, Suzan realized she had found something more than a collection of recipes—she had found the key to her family’s survival through hard times.

Suzan began re-creating Matilda’s “sturdy food” recipes for baked pork chops and beef stew, and Aunt Nettie’s clam chowder made with clams dug up by Suzan’s grandfather Charlie in Long Island Sound. And she began uncovering the stories of her resilient family’s past. Taking inspiration from stylish, indomitable Matilda, who was the sole support of her family as a teenager during the Great Depression (and who always answered “How are you?” with “Fabulous, never better!”), and from dashing, twice-widowed Charlie, Suzan starts to approach her own crisis with a sense of wonder and gratitude. It turns out that the gift to survive and thrive through hard times had been bred in her bones all along.

Cherries in Winter is an irresistible gem of a book. It makes you want to cook, it makes you want to know your own family’s stories, and, above all, it makes you feel rich no matter what.

Review: This was a quick and interesting read about a magazine writer who lost her job during the recession of 2008.  She used her newfound free time to delve into her family's history, discovering that the women in her family were used to dealing with hard economic times.  Colón linked the past and the present using recipes, but food didn't feel like the primary focus of the book.  Instead, the author took her readers on a journey through the past, learning about her grandparents and great-grandparents, and how they made do with what they had.  Few people that I know were affected by the economic downturn in 2008, so it was educational to read about well-off New Yorkers who suddenly found themselves living on one salary instead of two.  I was a little frustrated that the author made a big deal of saying that she could no longer shop at Whole Foods and that she had to turn her heat down (to a temperature that's still higher than I keep my heat at!).  I have to believe the average person is already living their life the way that Colón did after she was laid off, and for her to make a big deal of it was a little patronizing.

Rating: 3 stars

The Love Goddess' Cooking School

The Love Goddess' Cooking School

Melissa Senate

Genre: Chick Lit

Summary (from Goodreads): Camilla’s Cucinotta: Italian Cooking Classes. Fresh take-home pastas & sauces daily Benvenuti! (Welcome!)

Holly Maguire’s grandmother Camilla was the Love Goddess of Blue Crab Island, Maine—a Milanese fortune-teller who could predict the right man for you, and whose Italian cooking was rumored to save marriages. Holly has been waiting years for her unlikely fortune: her true love will like sa cordula, an unappetizing old-world delicacy. But Holly can’t make a decent marinara sauce, let alone sa cordula. Maybe that’s why the man she hopes to marry breaks her heart. So when Holly inherits Camilla’s Cucinotta, she’s determined to forget about fortunes and love and become an Italian cooking teacher worthy of her grandmother’s legacy.

But Holly’s four students are seeking much more than how to make Camilla’s chicken alla Milanese. Simon, a single father, hopes to cook his way back into his daughter’s heart. Juliet, Holly’s childhood friend, hides a painful secret. Tamara, a serial dater, can’t find the love she longs for. And twelve-year-old Mia thinks learning to cook will stop her dad, Liam, from marrying his phony lasagna-queen girlfriend. As the class gathers each week, adding Camilla’s essential ingredients of wishes and memories in every pot and pan, unexpected friendships and romances are formed—and tested. Especially when Holly falls hard for Liam...and learns a thing or two about finding her own recipe for happiness.

Review: I was hoping this book would be more in the women's fiction genre, but it turned out to be total chick lit, and I think I'm just old to appreciate chick lit now.  The characters were formulaic, the plot predictable, and the romance too cheesy.  I was especially frustrated by the fact that Holly, who admitted she didn't know how to cook, was able to take over her grandmother's business and cooking school after practicing for what, two weeks?  Completely unbelievable.

Rating: 2 stars

The Coincidence of Coconut Cake

The Coincidence of Coconut Cake

Amy Reichert

Genre: Chick Lit

Summary (from Goodreads): YOU'VE GOT MAIL meets HOW TO EAT A CUPCAKE in this delightful novel about a talented chef and the food critic who brings down her restaurant—whose chance meeting turns into a delectable romance of mistaken identities.

In downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Lou works tirelessly to build her beloved yet struggling French restaurant, Luella’s, into a success. She cheerfully balances her demanding business and even more demanding fiancé…until the morning she discovers him in the buff—with an intern.

Witty yet gruff British transplant Al is keeping himself employed and entertained by writing scathing reviews of local restaurants in the Milwaukee newspaper under a pseudonym. When an anonymous tip sends him to Luella’s, little does he know he’s arrived on the worst day of the chef’s life. The review practically writes itself: underdone fish, scorched sauce, distracted service—he unleashes his worst.

The day that Al’s mean-spirited review of Luella’s runs, the two cross paths in a pub: Lou drowning her sorrows, and Al celebrating his latest publication. As they chat, Al playfully challenges Lou to show him the best of Milwaukee and she’s game—but only if they never discuss work, which Al readily agrees to. As they explore the city’s local delicacies and their mutual attraction, Lou’s restaurant faces closure, while Al’s column gains popularity. It’s only a matter of time before the two fall in love…but when the truth comes out, can Lou overlook the past to chase her future?

Set in the lovely, quirky heart of Wisconsin, THE COINCIDENCE OF COCONUT CAKE is a charming love story of misunderstandings, mistaken identity, and the power of food to bring two people together.

Review: It was fun to read a book set in Wisconsin, especially one that highlights the awesome things about Wisconsin, instead of making fun of small town people living in fly-over country.  From the first page, it was easy to see where this book was going, but the author got there with well-developed characters, delicious descriptions of food, and a great deal of charm and whimsy.  A fun and light-hearted read that will make you wish that you, too, lived in Wisconsin!

Rating: 3.5 stars

The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe

The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe

Mary Simses

Genre: Chick Lit

Summary (from Goodreads): A high-powered Manhattan attorney finds love, purpose, and the promise of a simpler life in her grandmother's hometown. 

Ellen Branford is going to fulfill her grandmother's dying wish--to find the hometown boy she once loved, and give him her last letter. Ellen leaves Manhattan and her Kennedy-esque fiance for Beacon, Maine. What should be a one-day trip is quickly complicated when she almost drowns in the chilly bay and is saved by a local carpenter. The rescue turns Ellen into something of a local celebrity, which may or may not help her unravel the past her grandmother labored to keep hidden. As she learns about her grandmother and herself, it becomes clear that a 24-hour visit to Beacon may never be enough. THE IRRESISTIBLE BLUEBERRY BAKESHOP & CAFE is a warm and delicious debut about the power of a simpler life.

Review: The title of this book is deceptive; it is NOT about a bakeshop and cafe.  Instead, it's a story of an accident prone young woman who keeps getting herself into unlikely situations and developing more and more ridiculous lies about her life.  I could just see her digging herself deeper and deeper into a hole, and I tend to really dislike that type of character and plot.  But that is just something quirky about me.

This book had an interesting premise, a lovable cast of small-town characters, and a satisfying sense of the main character discovering her true self.  It just happened a little too quickly and a little too predictably for my taste.

Rating: 2.5 stars

Too Many Cooks

Too Many Cooks

Dana Bate

Genre: Chick Lit

Summary (from Goodreads): In this hilarious, insightful new novel from the author of A Second Bite at the Apple, a cookbook ghostwriter finds that she’s bitten off more than she can chew…

When Kelly Madigan is offered a job abroad right after reading a letter from her late mother urging her to take more risks, she sees it as a sign. Kelly’s new ghostwriting assignment means moving to London to work for Natasha Spencer--movie star, lifestyle guru, and wife of a promising English politician. As it turns out, Natasha is also selfish, mercurial, and unwilling to let any actual food past her perfect lips.

Still, in between testing dozens of kale burgers and developing the perfect chocolate mousse, Kelly is having adventures. Some are glamorous; others, like her attraction to her boss’s neglected husband, are veering out of control. Kelly knows there’s no foolproof recipe for a happy life. But how will she know if she’s gone too far in reaching for what she wants?

Review: This was a quick, fun read about a cookbook writer working for a celebrity.  Kelly Madigan is a thoroughly likable character, even when she is making choices that the reader knows are completely wrong for her.  She manages to maintain her composure while working for a truly terrible boss -- think Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada.  The descriptions of her recipes were mouthwatering, and it was delightful to discover some recipes in the back of the book.  A fun and quick summer read!

Rating: 3.5 stars

The Accidental Alchemist

The Accidental Alchemist

Gigi Pandian

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads): A modern tale of ancient intrigue from a USA Today bestselling author

When Zoe Faust--herbalist, alchemist, and recent transplant to Portland, Oregon--begins unpacking her bags, she can't help but notice she's picked up a stow away: a living, breathing, three-and-half-foot gargoyle. Dorian Robert-Houdin is no simple automaton, nor is he a homunculus; in fact, he needs Zoe's help to decipher a centuries-old text that explains exactly what he is. Zoe, who's trying to put her alchemical life behind her, isn't so sure she can help. But after a murder victim is discovered on her front porch, Zoe realized she's tangled up in ancient intrigue that can't be ignored.

Includes recipes!
 
Review:  The premise of this book sounded fascinating, but sadly, the book didn't deliver.  There was virtually no character development, which was a serious problem given that the main character, a 300 year old alchemist, should have been amazingly interesting.  And the plot was constantly being interrupted by talk about cooking, veganism, tea, healing herbs, and the troubles of random secondary characters.  It seemed like as soon as the suspense would build and I would think "Yay, something exciting is actually going to happen!" the author would detour into the benefits of drinking a protein packed vegan smoothie.  I would recommend this book to people who are militaristic about encouraging others to become strict vegans while also enjoying some light fantasy/romantic fiction.  But otherwise, I'd say to skip this book.

Which is too bad, because with a better editor, this could have been a great story.

Rating: 2 stars

Bon Appetempt

Bon Appetempt

Amelia Morris

Genre: Memoir

Summary (from Goodreads): When Amelia Morris saw a towering, beautiful chocolate cake in Bon Appétit and took the recipe home to recreate it for a Christmas day brunch she was hosting, it resulted in a terrible (but tasty) mess that had to be served in an oversize bowl. It was also a revelation. Both delicious and damaged, it seemed a physical metaphor for the many curious and unexpected situations she's found herself in throughout her life, from her brief career as a six-year-old wrestler to her Brady Bunch-style family (minus the housekeeper and the familial harmony) to her ill-fated twenty-something job at the School of Rock in Los Angeles. 

As a way to bring order to chaos and in search of a more meaningful lifestyle, she finds herself more and more at home in the kitchen, where she begins to learn that even if the results of her culinary efforts fall well short of the standard set by glossy food magazines, they can still bring satisfaction (and sustenance) to her and her family and friends. 

Full of hilarious observations about food, family, unemployment, romance, and the extremes of modern L.A., and featuring recipes as basic as Toasted Cheerios and as advanced as gâteau de crêpes, BON APPÉTEMPT is sure to resonate with anyone who has tried and failed, and been all the better for it.
 
Review:  I don't even really remember this book, so perhaps I should take a star away for not being memorable. I thought this was a fictional chick-lit type of story, and was a little surprised to find that it was actually a memoir.  Becky, I don't think you'd like this type of memoir though, because the author is basically an ordinary person who started a food blog and then decided to write a memoir.  Some of her stories were funny, some were moving, some were entertaining, but it was mostly a story about her trying to find herself amidst dead-end jobs in LA.  The summary is a little deceitful because she doesn't describe all that many failed attempts at cooking, which would maybe have been fun to read about. 

Rating: 3 stars

Kitchens of the Great Midwest

Kitchens of the Great Midwest

J. Ryan Stradal

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads): “Foodies and those who love contemporary literature will devour this novel that is being compared to Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge. A standout.” —Library Journal (starred review)
Kitchens of the Great Midwest, about a young woman with a once-in-a-generation palate who becomes the iconic chef behind the country’s most coveted dinner reservation, is the summer’s most hotly-anticipated debut.

When Lars Thorvald’s wife, Cynthia, falls in love with wine—and a dashing sommelier—he’s left to raise their baby, Eva, on his own. He’s determined to pass on his love of food to his daughter—starting with puréed pork shoulder. As Eva grows, she finds her solace and salvation in the flavors of her native Minnesota. From Scandinavian lutefisk to hydroponic chocolate habaneros, each ingredient represents one part of Eva’s journey as she becomes the star chef behind a legendary and secretive pop-up supper club, culminating in an opulent and emotional feast that’s a testament to her spirit and resilience.

Each chapter in J. Ryan Stradal’s startlingly original debut tells the story of a single dish and character, at once capturing the zeitgeist of the Midwest, the rise of foodie culture, and delving into the ways food creates community and a sense of identity. By turns quirky, hilarious, and vividly sensory, Kitchens of the Great Midwest is an unexpected mother-daughter story about the bittersweet nature of life—its missed opportunities and its joyful surprises. It marks the entry of a brilliant new talent.
 
Review:  This book was bizarre, in that it seemed to be more of a collection of short stories that somehow related to the main character, Eva, rather than a novel.  Eva was the focus of only one chapter in the novel, and was hardly mentioned in some of the chapters.  The last chapter provided a bit of a resolution to a few of the characters, although Eva didn't even make an appearance in it.  But overall, the novel was a bit dark and the recipes/dishes were too bizarre and pretentious for me.

Rating: 2 stars

When In Doubt, Add Butter

When In Doubt, Add Butter

Beth Harbison

Genre: Women's Fiction - Chick Lit?

Summary (from Goodreads): From the New York Times bestselling author of Shoe Addicts Anonymous and Always Something There to Remind Me comes a delicious new novel about the search for true love and all the ingredients that go into it.

As far as Gemma is concerned, her days of dating are over. In fact, it’s her job to cater other peoples’ dates, and that’s just fine by her. At thirty-seven, she has her own business, working as a private chef, and her life feels full and secure. She’s got six steady clients that keep her hands full.

There’s Lex, the fussy but fabulous department store owner who loves Oysters Rockefeller and 1950s comfort food; Willa, who needs to lose weight under doctor’s orders but still believes butter makes everything better; a colorful family who may or may not be part of the Russian mob; an überwealthy Georgetown family; the picture-perfect Van Houghtens, whose matriarch is “allergic to everything”; and finally, a man she calls “Mr. Tuesday,” whom she has never met but who she is strangely drawn to.

For Gemma, cooking is predictable. Recipes are certain. Use good ingredients, follow the directions, and you are assured success. Life, on the other hand, is full of variables. So when Gemma’s takes an unexpected turn on a road she always thought was straight and narrow, she must face her past and move on in ways she never would have imagined. Because sometimes in life, all you need is a little hope, a lot of courage, and---oh yes---butter.
 
Review:  This was an entertaining easy read about a personal chef struggling to make a living while dealing with her eccentric clients.  I saw the plot twist coming early in the book, felt that the romance was a little formulaic, and was appalled at how Gemma decided to deal with her "unexpected turn on the road."  Nevertheless, I enjoyed the well-drawn diverse characters that Gemma interacted with; the supporting characters were almost more interesting than Gemma herself.  I was surprised that there wasn't more focus on food and recipes given the story, the title, and the cover, and I think the book would have benefited from those things, or alternately, the title and cover should have been changed.  For a chick-lit book, this was quite fun and entertaining, but I was looking for a little more.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Life from Scratch

Life from Scratch

Sasha Martin

Genre: Memoir

Summary (from Goodreads): It was a culinary journey like no other: Over the course of 195 weeks, food writer and blogger Sasha Martin set out to cook—and eat—a meal from every country in the world. As cooking unlocked the memories of her rough-and-tumble childhood and the loss and heartbreak that came with it, Martin became more determined than ever to find peace and elevate her life through the prism of food and world cultures. From the tiny, makeshift kitchen of her eccentric, creative mother to a string of foster homes to the house from which she launches her own cooking adventure, Martin’s heartfelt, brutally honest memoir reveals the power of cooking to bond, to empower, and to heal—and celebrates the simple truth that happiness is created from within.
 
Review:  The idea of cooking dishes from every country in the world was an intriguing one, and I enjoyed reading about how the author selected her recipes and what her family thought about all the meals.  The stories about her past were interesting, too, but I couldn't help feeling that there must have been more going on with her mother than she admitted to.

Rating: 3 stars

All You Can Dream Buffet

The All You Can Dream Buffet

Barbara O'Neal

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads): Perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah and Susan Wiggs—Barbara O’Neal’s new novel of food, friendship, and the freedom to grow your dreams brings together four very different women longing to savor the true taste of happiness.
 
Popular blogger and foodie queen Lavender Wills reigns over Lavender Honey Farms, a serene slice of organic heaven nestled in Oregon wine country. Lavender is determined to keep her legacy from falling into the profit-driven hands of uncaring relatives, and she wants an heir to sustain her life’s work after she’s gone. So she invites her three closest online friends—fellow food bloggers, women of varied ages and backgrounds—out to her farm. She hopes to choose one of them to inherit it—but who?

There’s Ginny, the freckle-faced Kansas cake baker whose online writing is about to lead her out of a broken marriage and into a world of sensual delights. And Ruby, young, pregnant, devoted to the organic movement, who’s looking for roots—and the perfect recipe to heal a shattered heart. Finally, Val, smart and sophisticated, a wine enthusiast who needs a fresh start for her teenage daughter after tragedy has rocked their lives. Coming together will change the Foodie Four in ways they could never have imagined, uniting them in love and a common purpose. As they realize that life doesn’t always offer a perfect recipe for happiness, they also discover that the moments worth savoring are flavored with some tears, a few surprises, and generous helping of joy.
 
Review: I have thoroughly enjoyed O'Neal's other books, but this one wasn't quite as delightful as the others.  Perhaps it was because the narrative was split between four different women, meaning that none of them were quite as fleshed out as I would have liked.  Or perhaps it was because each chapter contained a blog post, and I found the blogs a little annoying.  Or perhaps I just didn't buy into how such four completely different women could have formed a strong friendship without ever meeting.  This was still a nice book, just not as enjoyable as her others.

Rating: 3 stars

Friendship Bread

Friendship Bread

Darien Gee

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads): An anonymous gift sends a woman on a journey she never could have anticipated.

One afternoon, Julia Evarts and her five-year-old daughter, Gracie, arrive home to find an unexpected gift on the front porch: a homemade loaf of Amish Friendship Bread and a simple note: I hope you enjoy it. Also included are a bag of starter, instructions on how to make the bread herself, and a request to share it with others.

Still reeling from a personal tragedy that left her estranged from the sister who was once her best friend, Julia remains at a loss as to how to move on with her life. She’d just as soon toss the anonymous gift, but to make Gracie happy, she agrees to bake the bread.

When Julia meets two newcomers to the small town of Avalon, Illinois, she sparks a connection by offering them her extra bread starter. Widow Madeline Davis is laboring to keep her tea salon afloat while Hannah Wang de Brisay, a famed concert cellist, is at a crossroads, her career and marriage having come to an abrupt end. In the warm kitchen of Madeline’s tea salon, the three women forge a friendship that will change their lives forever.

In no time, everyone in Avalon is baking Amish Friendship Bread. But even as the town unites for a benevolent cause and Julia becomes ever closer to her new friends, she realizes the profound necessity of confronting the painful past she shares with her sister.

About life and loss, friendship and community, food and family, Friendship Bread tells the uplifting story of what endures when even the unthinkable happens.
 
Review: If you are looking for another Debbie Macomber type story about women developing new friendships around a homey type craft in a small and friendly town, this is the perfect book for you.  There are times when I'm looking for that type of story, and this one fit the bill perfectly.  It was sweet, had delicious homey recipes, and celebrated friendship and kindness.  Having said that, it was perhaps a little too sweet...

Rating: 3.5 stars

Lizzy & Jane

Lizzy & Jane

Katherine Reay

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads): Lizzy and Jane never saw eye to eye. But when illness brings them together, they discover they may be more like Austen’s famous sisters after all.

Lizzy was only a teenager when her mother died of cancer. Shortly after, Lizzy fled from her home, her family, and her cherished nickname. After working tirelessly to hone her gift of creating magic in the kitchen, Elizabeth has climbed the culinary ladder to become the head chef of her own New York restaurant, Feast. But as her magic begins to elude her, Paul, Feast’s financial backer, brings in someone to share her responsibilities and her kitchen. So Elizabeth flees again.

In a desperate attempt to reconnect with her gift, Elizabeth returns home. But her plans are derailed when she learns that her estranged sister, Jane, is battling cancer. Elizabeth surprises everyone—including herself—when she decides to stay in Seattle and work to prepare healthy, sustaining meals for Jane as she undergoes chemotherapy. She also meets Nick and his winsome son, Matt, who, like Elizabeth, are trying to heal from the wounds of the past.

As she tends to Jane's needs, Elizabeth's powers begin to return to her, along with the family she left behind so long ago. Then Paul tries to entice her back to New York, and she is faced with a hard decision: stay and become Lizzy to her sister’s Jane, or return to New York and the life she worked so hard to create?
 
Review: This book combined so many different themes that I enjoy - discovering a new path in life, developing a relationship with a sister, exploring new recipes - but the addition of Jane's struggles with cancer and chemotherapy took this book to an entirely different place.  While it was difficult to read the details about a woman battling cancer, it brought a seriousness and depth to the book that made it even more satisfying than I had expected.  I'm not an Austen addict, so I found the references to Austen not in keeping with the other themes of the book, and frankly, a little distracting from the story.

Rating: 4 stars

A Second Bite at the Apple

A Second Bite at the Apple

Dana Bate

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads): Sydney Strauss is obsessed with food. Not with eating it--though she does that too--but with writing about the wonders of the gastronomic world, from obscure fruit hybrids to organic farming techniques. Since food journalism jobs are more coveted than Cronuts®, Sydney pays her bills working for one of TV's biggest egomaniacs--until she's left scrambling for shifts at a local farmers' market.

Stacking muffins for the Wild Yeast Bakery isn't going to win her any James Beard awards. But soon Sydney is writing the market's weekly newsletter, and her quirky stories gain attention from a prominent food columnist. After years of putting her love life into deep freeze, she's even dating again. And then Sydney gets a shot at the story, one that could either make her career or burn it to a crisp--along with her relationship and her reputation...
 
Review:  I enjoyed reading this book about a young woman making her way through a career change from an okay job with a morning show to a dream job as a food writer.  The research that she does to write articles for the farmer's market newsletter was quite interesting, and the descriptions of the food sold were mouthwatering.  But I thought the story was lacking in two ways.  First, her fixation on her high school and college relationship was a little strange, wouldn't most people have moved on after five years?  And secondly, it drives me NUTS when girls do completely stupid, selfish and thoughtless things in books (SPOILER ALERT - Sydney stole emails from her boyfriend to write an expose that got him fired) and then everything works out alright.  She should have been forced to live with the real consequences of her actions and not get her happy ending.

Rating: 3 stars

Bread and Butter

Bread & Butter

Michelle Wildgen

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads): Kitchen Confidential meets Three Junes in this mouthwatering novel about three brothers who run competing restaurants, and the culinary snobbery, staff stealing, and secret affairs that unfold in the back of the house.

Britt and Leo have spent ten years running Winesap, the best restaurant in their small Pennsylvania town. They cater to their loyal customers; they don't sleep with the staff; and business is good, even if their temperamental pastry chef is bored with making the same chocolate cake night after night. But when their younger brother, Harry, opens his own restaurant—a hip little joint serving an aggressive lamb neck dish—Britt and Leo find their own restaurant thrown off-kilter. Britt becomes fascinated by a customer who arrives night after night, each time with a different dinner companion. Their pastry chef, Hector, quits, only to reappear at Harry's restaurant. And Leo finds himself falling for his executive chef-tempted to break the cardinal rule of restaurant ownership. Filled with hilarious insider detail—the one-upmanship of staff meals before the shift begins, the rivalry between bartender and hostess, the seedy bar where waitstaff and chefs go to drink off their workday—Bread and Butter is both an incisive novel of family and a gleeful romp through the inner workings of restaurant kitchens.
 
Review: This book was a little strange and didn't really work for me.  The author clearly knows her food and writes about it in amazing detail.  But I thought the food was too complicated and pretentious for the small town setting, and too unusual for me to really enjoy reading about.  The relationships between the brothers could have been fleshed out a little more, and the female characters were pretty much devoid of personality.   And the main drama in the book, Harry's nervous breakdown, didn't really hold my attention or get resolved in any satisfactory way.  So while this book sounded like it would be right up my alley, it didn't live up to my expectations. 

Rating: 2.5 stars

Delicious!

Delicious!

Ruth Reichl

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from the publisher):  In her bestselling memoirs Ruth Reichl has long illuminated the theme of how food defines us, and never more so than in her dazzling fiction debut about sisters, family ties, and a young woman who must finally let go of guilt and grief to embrace her own true gifts.

Billie Breslin has traveled far from her California home to take a job at Delicious, the most iconic food magazine in New York and, thus, the world. When the publication is summarily shut down, the colorful staff, who have become an extended family for Billie, must pick up their lives and move on. Not Billie, though. She is offered a new job: staying behind in the magazine's deserted downtown mansion offices to uphold the "Delicious Guarantee"-a public relations hotline for complaints and recipe inquiries-until further notice. What she doesn't know is that this boring, lonely job will be the portal to a life-changing discovery.

Delicious! carries the reader to the colorful world of downtown New York restaurateurs and artisanal purveyors, and from the lively food shop in Little Italy where Billie works on weekends to a hidden room in the magazine's library where she discovers the letters of Lulu Swan, a plucky twelve-year-old, who wrote to the legendary chef James Beard during World War II. Lulu's letters lead Billie to a deeper understanding of history (and the history of food), but most important, Lulu's courage in the face of loss inspires Billie to come to terms with her own issues-the panic attacks that occur every time she even thinks about cooking, the truth about the big sister she adored, and her ability to open her heart to love.

Review:  Maybe I should create a new genre called Foodie Fiction, because that's definitely what this book is.  Is it great literary fiction?  No.  The main character hints at tragedy earlier in her life, but this isn't explored until very late in the book, and then only briefly, so it was hard to really get to know Billie.  I found quite a bit of this book unrealistic - Billie's first day on the job, her relationship with her family, how perfectly things seem to happen to her, and then why on earth was there such a mystery about the Lulu Swan letters?  It just didn't make any kind of logical sense.  And the characters in this book are such serious foodies that it started to drive me a little crazy.  I mean really, do we need to only eat balsamic vinegar that has been aged in six different types of wooden casks?  Come on.

BUT.... this book was so much fun to read.  I enjoyed reading about Billie discovering herself in New York City, and I liked the sections that talked about recipe development.  I think travel food writer Sammy was my favorite character, with his impressive vocabulary and quirky personality. But my favorite parts were the Lulu Swan letters, and although I couldn't fathom why they were hidden so mysteriously, I did enjoy the mystery of finding them.  

Rating: 4 stars

The Glass Kitchen

The Glass Kitchen

Linda Francis Lee

Genre: Women's Fiction, Romance

Summary (from Goodreads):  Portia Cuthcart never intended to leave Texas. Her dream was to run the Glass Kitchen restaurant her grandmother built decades ago. But after a string of betrayals and the loss of her legacy, Portia is determined to start a new life with her sisters in Manhattan... and never cook again.

But when she moves into a dilapidated brownstone on the Upper West Side, she meets twelve-year-old Ariel and her widowed father Gabriel, a man with his hands full trying to raise two daughters on his own. Soon, a promise made to her sisters forces Portia back into a world of magical food and swirling emotions, where she must confront everything she has been running from. What seems so simple on the surface is anything but when long-held secrets are revealed, rivalries exposed, and the promise of new love stirs to life like chocolate mixing with cream.

The Glass Kitchen is a delicious novel, a tempestuous story of a woman washed up on the shores of Manhattan who discovers that a kitchen—like an island—can be a refuge, if only she has the courage to give in to the pull of love, the power of forgiveness, and accept the complications of what it means to be family.

Review:  I quite liked this book, but the title The Glass Kitchen - A Novel of Sisters was a little misleading, since the relationship between the different sets of sisters was secondary to the relationships between Portia and Gabriel, and Portia and Ariel.  So, if you are looking for a book that is primarily about sisters, this is not the book for you.

Having said that, it was a perfect summer read for me; it was well-written and easy to read, with a fun premise.  Portia's talent of being able to predict what kind of food people need added a little whimsy to the story, without being too unbelievable.  I enjoyed watching Portia and Gabriel's relationship blossom, but my favorite character was Ariel, a quirky twelve year old who is looking for a place to belong after the death of her mother. 

Rating: 4 stars

Angelina's Bachelors

Angelina's Bachelors

Brian O'Reilly

Genre: Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads):  Sometimes the shortest distance between two people is the length of a kitchen table. . . .

Far too young to be a widow, Angelina D'Angelo suddenly finds herself facing a life without her beloved husband, Frank. Late one night shortly after the funeral, she makes her way down to the kitchen and pours all of her grief and anger into the only outlet she has left - her passion for cooking. In a frenzy of concentration and swift precision, she builds layer upon layer of thick, rich lasagna, braids loaves of yeasty bread, roasts plump herb-rubbed chicken; she makes so much food that she winds up delivering the spoils to the neighbors in her tight-knit Italian community in South Philadelphia.

Retiree Basil Cupertino, who has just moved in with his kindly sister across the street, is positively smitten with Angelina's food. In a stroke of good fortune, Basil offers Angelina (not only husbandless but unemployed) a job cooking for him - two meals a day, six days a week, in exchange for a handsome salary. Soon, word of her irresistible culinary prowess spreads and she finds herself cooking for seven bachelors; and in the process discovers the magical power of food to heal, to bring people together . . . and maybe even to provide a second chance at love.

Filled to the brim with homemade warmth, Angelina's Bachelors is a sweet tale of overcoming grief, redefining family, and following your heart through food.

Review: This was a nice story, but it was just way TOO nice for my taste, and I LIKE nice stories.  Angelina's husband dies at the start of the book, without ever getting a sense of him as a character, or providing the reader with a view of their marriage.  When Angelina finds herself jobless, she manages to quickly find 7 hungry and friendly bachelors who are willing to pay her generously to cook them dinner.  SPOILER ALERT!  Then she discovers that she's actually 5 months pregnant (hello, how dumb is she?) and then she opens a restaurant that's an immediate fantastic success.  It just seemed like everything went Angelina's way without her having to do anything.  And I never got a real sense of who Angelina was and what she wanted from her life (other than to cook for strangers). 

The recipes in this book sounded fantastic, but were extremely long and complicated, and not something I would have the time to make myself.  I couldn't figure out why the recipes were so fancy, and why this chick-lit foodie romance was written by a man, until I discovered that the author is a producer on The Food Network.  Which I think explains a lot about the book.

Rating: 2 stars

The Union Street Bakery

The Union Street Bakery

Mary Ellen Taylor

Genre: Women's Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads):  Life can turn on a dime. It’s a common cliché, and I’d heard it often enough. People die or move away. Investments go south. Affairs end. Loved ones betray us...Stuff happens.
Daisy McCrae’s life is in tatters. She’s lost her job, broken up with her boyfriend, and has been reduced to living in the attic above her family’s store, the Union Street Bakery, while learning the business. Unfortunately, the bakery is in serious hardship. Making things worse is the constant feeling of not being a “real” McCrae since she was adopted as a child and has a less-than-perfect relationship with her two sisters.

Then a long-standing elderly customer passes away, and for some reason bequeaths Daisy a journal dating back to the 1850s, written by a slave girl named Susie. As she reads, Daisy learns more about her family—and her own heritage—than she ever dreamed. Haunted by dreams of the young Susie, who beckons Daisy to “find her,” she is compelled to look further into the past of the town and her family.

What she finds are the answers she has longed for her entire life, and a chance to begin again with the courage and desire she thought she lost for good.

Review: I enjoyed reading this book about Daisy finding her place in her family and adapting to life working in the family bakery.  I know I'm a sucker for books about bakeries, but I really did enjoy learning about all the hard work that goes into owning one.  The recipes at the end sounded delicious!  I guess I found the setting to be a little more compelling than the plot, which had a weak mystery element and an interesting family/sister dynamic.  I found the big reveal about Daisy's birth mother completely predictable.  This review seems a little critical, but it was easy to read and entertaining.

Rating: 3.5 stars

How to Bake a Perfect Life

How to Bake a Perfect Life

Barbara O'Neal

Genre: Women's Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads):  In a novel as warm and embracing as a family kitchen, Barbara O’Neal explores the poignant, sometimes complex relationships between mothers and daughters—and the healing magic of homemade bread.

Professional baker Ramona Gallagher is a master of an art that has sustained her through the most turbulent times, including a baby at fifteen and an endless family feud. But now Ramona’s bakery threatens to crumble around her. Literally. She’s one water-heater disaster away from losing her grandmother’s rambling Victorian and everything she’s worked so hard to build.

When Ramona’s soldier son-in-law is wounded in Afghanistan, her daughter, Sophia, races overseas to be at his side, leaving Ramona as the only suitable guardian for Sophia’s thirteen-year-old stepdaughter, Katie. Heartbroken, Katie feels that she’s being dumped again—this time on the doorstep of a woman out of practice with mothering.

Ramona relies upon a special set of tools—patience, persistence, and the reliability of a good recipe—when rebellious Katie arrives. And as she relives her own history of difficult choices, Ramona shares her love of baking with the troubled girl. Slowly, Katie begins to find self-acceptance and a place to call home. And when a man from her past returns to offer a second chance at love, Ramona discovers that even the best recipe tastes better when you add time, care, and a few secret ingredients of your own.

Review: I really enjoyed reading this story, and can easily see myself lending it to friends or reading it again.  The author explores the relationship between mothers and daughters, and I was especially drawn into the story of Ramona and her step-granddaughter.  Although the characters dealt with difficult issues like teenage pregnancy, family estrangements, serious burn injuries and a traumatic childhood with a meth-addicted mother, the overall message of the book was one of hope and love.  It read so quickly and easily, yet still made the reader think about the issues the characters had to face.  Plus, the bread recipes looked delicious!

Rating: 4.5 stars