The Glass Kitchen

The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Portia Cuthcart was only seven years old when she got the knowing. Thoughts and scents of food would come to her, like magic, filling her with the urge to cook or bake like crazy. Living with her two sisters and Gram, Portia grew up learning the mechanics in her grandmother's cafe, The Glass Kitchen. But Portia also learned that her food could help heal, begin, or even end a journey. It was a single meal of cherry tomatoes stuffed with chile, cheese and bacon, pulled pork, endive slaw, and potato pancakes the foretold her Gram's death. And with that Portia promised herself she wouldn't cook again. Years later, after a nasty divorce and living in New York City, Portia again prepares to cook once again and bring back The Glass Kitchen to keep herself sane and financially afloat.

Such a great book about family, magic, interesting characters, and food - great summer read!

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The Sugar Queen

27 year old Josey Cirrini of North Carolina loves her sweets and candy so much that she made a secret compartment in her closet - what a great idea I think to myself! My kids can't snoop and steal my stash of yummies! But Josey hides candy because it's the only pleasure she gets: her mother is terribly overbearing and rude and Josey has no friends or significant other - her job is to take care of her mother. In other words, Josey's life is going nowhere fast - until one day she opens the closet door and there sits Miss Della Lee Baker eating her candy and reading her books. Miss Della has decided to hide out for awhile and coach Josey on getting back into the game of life and romance, slowly but surely! In her quest, Miss Della is going to let a lot of cats out of the bag - especially about Josey's domineering mother and beloved,late father!! Such a funny, magical story with a happy ending - I promise!

The Gilly Salt Sisters

The Gilly Salt Sisters by Tiffany Baker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Two sisters many thought of as witches. Eerie salt marshes with secrets. Salt that not only changes the taste-buds but foretells the future. What is magic and what is real?

Jo, burnt and scarred from a barn fire, is the hardworking daughter of a salt marsh farmer - who was considered a witch herself. Her sister Claire, younger, burnt and broken from high-school romance, hates the salt and is willing to do almost anything to get away. Both fall for the same man, Whit Turner, whose family has run up against the Gillys since the town of Prospect had been founded and settled generations ago. All three are surrounded by secrets and possibly curses of the salt which once brought to light can never be hidden again.

"If she knew anything, Claire thought, it was simply that though our time on earth was short, our lives were long. They seeped and spread, watery and wide, moving in unexpected directions...If she had to atone for her sins, she figured, so be it, she was ready, ice pitted in her bowels, frost gathered in her hair, and salt scattered painful beneath the papery skin of her feet - for as it was in the beginning, she suspected, so would it be forever in the end."





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All I Have to Give

All I Have to Give: A Christmas Love Story by Melody Carlson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Although Carlson's book is predictable, it's nice to see the Gift of the Magi, rewritten and updated. It's centered around lovely Christmastide when we try to outdo ourselves with giving the perfect gift, especially to our spouse - and that's exactly what Anna wants for Michael, because she feels like this will be her last Christmas ever.



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The Peach Keeper

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Take a setting in the North Carolina. Throw in a bunch of Southern ladies, an inn, some coffee, a few peaches, a skeleton, a lot of secrets, and some magic and you have The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen. Sweet, silly, and sad in some parts, this novel is a juicy peach in itself.

Wild Willa Jackson, (the high school Joker of days gone by) has settled down and laid her pranks to rest. She's an adult now and a legitimate, respectable, boring owner of a sports store. Her family, once part of the socialite scene, but now disgraced has lived for generations in Walls of Water, NC. The once beautiful family home, The Blue Ridge Madam, is now being restored as an inn by perfect in every way Paxton Osgood, Willa's high school arch-nemesis. Oddly enough, Paxon and Willa's grandmothers had been best friends as girls. As the grounds are dug up near the Madam's only peach tree, a skeleton and a suitcase are found. Will more scandal and secrets hidden for 75 years also be brought to light?



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