Tag: cooking

REVIEW: A Crime of Passion Fruit by Ellie Alexander

REVIEW: A Crime of Passion Fruit by Ellie Alexander

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

The cruise ship Amour of the Seas is in desperate need of a temporary pastry chef to get them through until their new hire can arrive. Carlos, back on the ship after his time in Ashland, asks Juliet to step in. The cruise offers her double pay, and Carlos arranges for her mom and the Professor to join the cruise for free. Four glorious days at sea. What could go wrong?

Being back on the ship helps Juliet gain new insights into her marriage, her cooking and her dreams for the future. It also puts her in place to discover a dead body. Even through she’s been away for awhile, Juliet’s knowledge of the ship and crew could help the captain and the Professor figure out who the dead woman is and what happened to her. While Juliet is hunting for a murderer and trying to survive a storm at sea, her friends in Ashland are trying to keep things going at Torte in the midst of a quarrelsome neighbor, a shake up with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival leadership, and major renovations at Torte. There’s never a dull moment in the latest addition to the Bakeshop mystery series.

Review

I really enjoyed this new addition to one of my favorite cozy series. While I missed the usual Torte crew, I liked the change of setting for this book. It added to the ongoing story line of Juliet and Carlos while also shaking up the food, the characters, and the location of the action. And it was all great.

I thoroughly enjoy the core characters of this series. There’s great camaraderie at Torte. And a great balance between the ongoing relationships in Ashland and the new details in each book for the mystery at hand. Good mystery in this one. With an unknown victim (“Jane Dough”), the motive and suspect portions didn’t evolve until later in the book once we knew more about the victim.

Personally, I am “Team Tommy,” and ready for Juliet and Carlos to sort out their relationship. I am looking forward to Another One Bites the Crust (winter 2017/2018) to see what happens next with the Ashland crew and see if the author will finally resolve the Carlos situation.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: The World's Greatest Chocolate-Covered Pork Chops by Ryan Sager

REVIEW: The World’s Greatest Chocolate-Covered Pork Chops by Ryan Sager

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Zoey is a gifted and creative chef. Her unique taste creations have people lined up to try her cooking. She decides she wants to open her own restaurant, so she heads to the bank for a loan.

It probably would have gone better if she wasn’t a twelve-year-old kid.

But Zoey is a very creative and persuasive kid. She coerces the loan officer to come to her house for lunch. The food – and the $1200 Zoey makes from the people who come by for her lunch special – convince the loan officer to give her a shot. Then, Zoey just has to convince her parents.

Zoey shows incredible perseverance as she works towards her goal of having every person in the world try her cooking! But perseverance may not be enough when someone tries to sabotage her dream.

Review

This was so fun! Zoey’s creativity with food is astonishing. Her understanding of cooking principles is FAR beyond mine. For kids who love to cook, her ideas will be fodder for their own cooking experiments.

Zoey’s got a great support group around her. I love her best friend, Dallin. Zoey gets to learn some good friendship lessons while she pursues her goal of having her own restaurant. Her parents are interesting. Supportive yet skeptical. But Zoey knows how to get them on board.

This reminded me of the All Four Stars books by Tara Dairman about another girl with a passion for food and cooking. This book is quirkier and zany-er, but will appeal to some of those same readers. Recommend this one to all the budding chefs you know! This will be inspiring to kids who cook. Includes a few recipes for kids to try (with adult supervision!).

Many thanks to the publisher, Disney-Hyperion, for a electronic review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥