Too Good to Be True by Kristan Higgins
Published by HQN on January 27, 2009
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Goodreads
How far would you go to get over a guy?
When Grace Emerson's ex-fiancé starts dating her younger sister, extreme measures are called for. To keep everyone from obsessing about her love life, Grace announces that she's seeing someone. Someone wonderful. Someone handsome. Someone completely made up. Who is this Mr. Right? Someone…exactly unlike her renegade neighbor Callahan O'Shea. Well, someone with his looks, maybe. His hot body. His knife-sharp sense of humor. His smarts and big heart.
Whoa. No. Callahan O'Shea is not her perfect man! Not with his unsavory past. So why does Mr. Wrong feel so…right?
Higgins has become a go-to when I want a book that will touch my heart and make me laugh. Once again, she put the main character in a tough situation. Let me tell you, Grace seemed to live up to her name when it came to her family. My heart broke for Grace every time she was subjected to sharing time with her beloved little sister who was now dating Grace's ex-fiancé. My goodness, twist the knife a little deeper. I am sure her sister cared for Grace, but how oblivious could you be? And the rest of the family was worse.
I could totally understand her making up a boyfriend to escape the pity of her family, but I liked it even more when she fell for her neighbor. Callahan was a tough nut to crack. Here was a man who was being judged for his past, and when I learned more about how he got into that situation, I could understand how difficult it had been for him. It seemed a bit unfair, how hard he had to work to show he was more than his past, but I was happy that Grace was able to see the man beyond that because Cal was great.
Packed with humor and quite a bit of slapstick fun, I had a great time listening to this book. Higgins always seems to hit the spot for me, and that precious ending left me with a huge smile on my face.
The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on January 22, 2009
Age/Genres: Adult, Fiction
Goodreads
Reminiscent of Chocolat and Like Water for Chocolate, a gorgeously written novel about life, love, and the magic of food.
The School of Essential Ingredients follows the lives of eight students who gather in Lillian’s Restaurant every Monday night for cooking class. It soon becomes clear, however, that each one seeks a recipe for something beyond the kitchen.
Students include Claire, a young mother struggling with the demands of her family; Antonia, an Italian kitchen designer learning to adapt to life in America; and Tom, a widower mourning the loss of his wife to breast cancer. Chef Lillian, a woman whose connection with food is both soulful and exacting, helps them to create dishes whose flavor and techniques expand beyond the restaurant and into the secret corners of her students’ lives.
One by one the students are transformed by the aromas, flavors, and textures of Lillian’s food, including a white-on-white cake that prompts wistful reflections on the sweet fragility of love and a peppery heirloom tomato sauce that seems to spark one romance but end another. Brought together by the power of food and companionship, the lives of the characters mingle and intertwine, united by the revealing nature of what can be created in the kitchen.
A group of strangers gather for a cooking class where they end up finding each other and themselves.
Reading Bauermeister's books is always a sensory experience. Her descriptions are vivid and immersive. This time, the medium was food. The spices, the textures, the flavors were described in technicolor, and these dishes served as a vehicle for these characters to gain clarity about themselves.
A beautiful story of connection, I adored the way food brought these people together while also being a way to tap into their memories. Told in intertwining vignettes, I learned about each student's past while also seeing how this experience was shaping their future. Some stories were very relatable while other were heartbreaking. I did snotty cry once or twice, but mostly I will filled with warmth and happiness as I watch the power of good food bond these people.
As a sucker for stories of connection and a foodie at heart, I couldn't help but fall in love with this book.
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