The Love Goddess' Cooking School

The Love Goddess' Cooking School by Melissa Senate

Summary from Goodreads

Holly Maguire's grandmother 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 from marrying his phony lasagna-queen girlfriend.

As the class gathers each week, adding Camilla's essential ingredients of wishes and memories into 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.

My Thoughts

This was my first taste of reading a book by Melissa Senate. I have to say she has the recipe for a great, feel good story down to a tee! From page one this book had me! The book starts off with Holly making sa cordula otherwise known as lamb intestines to her boyfriend of two years. If he doesn't like it, it means he is not the love of her life according to her grandmother. Of course he hates it and Holly goes home to Maine to be with her grandmother. When her grandmother passes, Holly takes over her business teaching Italian cooking. One problem..Holly can't cook. Holly soon learns that there is more to cooking than following a recipe. She learns more about her grandmother through her grandmother's diaries. Holly's students each have their own story also. I like when secondary characters are given a side storyline. It gives them a life, I think. Makes them a bit more real. I became involved in their stories as well as Holly's. I loved Holly and her grandmother. They had a very special relationship and it was heartwarming to read about. Will Holly be able to keep her grandmother's business going? Will she ever find a man who likes sa cordula? Melissa Senate even included some recipes from the class in the back of the book which I hope to soon try out. If you read this book you will want to try them out too. I was wishing I could reach into the book during the cooking classes and sample the recipes myself except of course for the sa cordula. This book is one that will leave you feeling good and fulfilled at the end. I absolutely adored this book! If you like a warm, charming story than this is the book for you. It is as comforting as the food that was made in the book.

I give this book 5 stars


I received this arc for my honest review from Inkwell Management. Thank you Rose Marie!

Mailbox Monday October 25

Mailbox Monday is meme created by Marcia from The Printed Page. Marcia says,"Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists." Mailbox Monday is on tour and this months hostess is the delightful Avis of She Reads and Reads. Thank you Avis for hosting this month!

I can't believe that October is almost over! Where did the month go? I didn't receive any review books this week but I am okay with that. I did get a couple books from Amazon, one book that jumped into my cart at Target, and I hit our library sale on Saturday and picked up a few goodies.



The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (this was the book from Target)
The Girl With The Dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson
(I felt like I was the only person not to have read these books so I decided to pick them up)
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin (I bought this used on Amazon but it actually ended up being a brand new book)
My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira (this has been on my wish list for quite some time)




These are my library sale finds. They were each a dollar so I only spent $5 and I got a few books that have been on my wish list. There weren't too many donated books this time. Most items were withdrawn from the library.

Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon (audiobook)
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
A Matter of Class by Mary Balogh
Fatally Flaky by Diane Mott Davidson
The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow

Now I am off to see what wonderful books made their way into your home!

Waiting On Wednesday

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. This is my first WOW post. I am anxiously and not so patiently waiting for the following book to be published:




I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg

To be released November 9

A major new novel--the first in four years!--by the irresistible bestselling author of Can't Wait to Get to Heaven, Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!, and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café.

Though her friends think Maggie has the perfect life, she's actually perfectly miserable. The former Miss Alabama is worried about how her life has turned out--she's given up on her dream of living in a beautiful home like Crestview, and instead is a real estate agent in Birmingham. But just when Maggie begins to wonder if there's much point in going on, her life takes a wild turn, and she finds herself catapulted into one surprising discovery after the next. As Maggie learns valuable lessons about the nature of friendship, the challenges of modern life, and the dangers of impossible dreams, she starts to see how much more there is to life than what can be listed in a Miss Alabama bio. Bestselling author Fannie Flagg's trademark comic flair is out in full force in this fabulous new novel about the unpredictability of life.

I love Fannie Flagg and I can't wait to get my hands on this book!

What books are you anxiously waiting for?

Backseat Saints

Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson

Summary from Goodreads

Rose Mae Lolley is a fierce and dirty girl, long-suppressed under flowery skirts and bow-trimmed ballet flats. As "Mrs. Ro Grandee" she's trapped in a marriage that's thick with love and sick with abuse. Her true self has been bound in the chains of marital bliss in rural Texas, letting "Ro" make eggs, iron shirts, and take her punches. She seems doomed to spend the rest of her life battered outside by her husband and inside by her former self, until fate throws her in the path of an airport gypsy---one who shares her past and knows her future. The tarot cards foretell that Rose's beautiful, abusive husband is going to kill her. Unless she kills him first.

Hot-blooded Rose Mae escapes from under Ro's perky compliance and emerges with a gun and a plan to beat the hand she's been dealt. Following messages that her long-missing mother has left hidden for her in graffiti and behind paintings, Rose and her dog Gretel set out from Amarillo, TX back to her hometown of Fruiton, AL, and then on to California, unearthing a host of family secrets as she goes. Running for her life, she realizes that she must face her past in order to overcome her fate---death by marriage---and become a girl who is strong enough to save herself from the one who loves her best.

My Thoughts

This is the second Joshilyn Jackson book I have read. I must say I like that her characters are well developed and most have a quirkiness about them. This cover caught my attention right off the bat. There had to be a great story as to why this woman would cut off her beautiful hair and hold it in front of herself while looking down. As I read and got acquainted with Rose Mae Lolley, I found myself having a love/hate relationship with her. There were times I wanted hug her and tell her everything was going to be all right. Other times she did things that were absolutely crazy. The story does deal with domestic violence and while it is a heavy subject, there were times I found myself laughing at some of the antics in the book. Rose Mae Lolley was quite the character and needless to say so were the people who were part of her life. This book took me on a roller coaster ride and in the end gave me one final twist which was a doozy! There are some pretty graphic scenes in the book, some sexual and some violent. Just a warning for those who don't wish to read that sort of thing. I hope to read more of Joshilyn Jackson's novels. I have all ready picked up a few more of her books.

Fall Into Reading Question #4

I am participating in the Fall Into Reading Challenge. Every week Katrina at Callapidder Days has posted a question for us to answer. It's fun to see what everyone's reading habits are. This weeks question is:

Do you ever dog-ear the corners of book pages to mark your spot? Or are you a faithful bookmark user, refusing to damage the pages of your books? OR do you have another way to keep track of where you are in a book?

I do not dog ear books now but that was not always the case in my teenage years. Now I just can't bring myself to do that. I have many bookmarks, some which have been given to me by friends that are very dear to me. If I don't have a bookmark handy I will use a scrap of paper or whatever is handy until I can get to my bookmarks.

Now for my progress on the FIR Challenge. I have finished 4 out of the 10 books I have listed. Not bad at this stage of the game.

Do you dog-ear or are you a bookmark user?

Mailbox Monday October 18

Mailbox Monday is meme created by Marcia from The Printed Page. Marcia says,"Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists." Mailbox Monday is on tour and this months hostess is the delightful Avis of She Reads and Reads. Thank you Avis for hosting this month!




I have an amazing stack of books this week! I received one book for review. The rest are books that I got from swapping books with a book loving friend!

First off I received The Love Goddess' Cooking School by Melissa Senate. I am excited to read this book. It seems like I book I will enjoy. Thank you to Rose Marie from Inkwell Management.

Holly Maguire's grandmother 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 from marrying his phony lasagna-queen girlfriend.

As the class gathers each week, adding Camilla's essential ingredients of wishes and memories into 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.

The rest are the book I received from my book angel! Thank you book angel! I hope you enjoy the books I sent to you too.

Summer's Child by Diane Chamberlain
A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve
The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf
Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand
A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand
True Colors by Kristin Hannah
The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain
Summer People by Elin Hilderbrand
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Something Blue by Emily Giffin
The Last Child by John Hart
The Last Will of Moira Leahy by Therese Walsh
Catching Genius by Kristy Kiernan
Matters of Faith by Kristy Kiernan

What books made their way into your home?

Somewhere Inside; One Sister's Captivity in North Korea and the Other's Fight to Bring Her Home

Somewhere Inside; One Sister's Captivity in North Korea and the Other's Fight to Bring Her Home by Laura Ling & Lisa Ling
I have been a huge fan of Lisa Ling ever since she was on The View. In fact when she left I pretty much stopped watching it. I liked how she would bring stories to our attention that I never knew were going on. When the story of how her sister Laura Ling and her colleague, Euna Lee had been captured and were being held prisoner in North Korea broke, I was surprised to learn that she had a sister in the same field as she. I was very concerned for Laura and Euna Lee and prayed for them. The two were working on a documentary about North Korean defectors who had fled the terrible conditions in their country only to end up in some terrible situations in China. While near the China- North Korean border the girls were captured by North Korean soldiers and dragged into North Korea where they were imprisoned. The book is told alternately through both Laura's eyes and Lisa's eyes. Laura tells of her ordeal in prison and being tried in North Korea. She was determined to survive and find a way out of what seemed to be a no-win situation. Lisa tells of what it was like waiting and wondering and how she diligently worked to find a way to bring her sister home. I don't think two sister's could be any closer to each other. You will want to hug your sister tightly after reading this book.

I also have Euna Lee's book The World Is Bigger Now and am looking forward to reading it as Laura and Euna Lee were separated for most of their imprisonment. I am wondering how Euna Lee was treated and what her experience was like.

I borrowed this book from my local public library. I would give it 5 stars.