The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

Reading about food never sounded, tasted or smelled so good. I could swear the flavors were melting on my tongue and the aroma's were filling my senses all through the author's writing. Heavenly would be a perfectly suited word to describe the ambiance this book creates. It was incredible. I loved the food descriptions, the atmosphere, the characters, the relationships, it was all so balanced together like an incredible recipe itself. But here was my only regret - it was too short. There was so much more I wanted to know about these characters. I wanted to see more of their lives after the cooking school, what they did with their new found knowledge and passion. It just felt so unresolved at the end. I was left salivating for more!

I highly recommend this read; its light, delectable and will leave you wanting more! Thank you Erica for writing such a beautiful story! Oh and please, please, please write a sequel!

Description: 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.

Recommend: Absolutely!

Rating: ****

I got two new ARC's in the mail this week and I'M FREAKING OUT!!! Excited freak out, not bad freak out.

I can't wait to get started on them, cause they both look fabulous :-)

First, Bloomsbury sent me "The Actor and the Housewife" by Shannon Hale. For more info you can visit the author's website here.

Then the second book I recieved yesterday was through GoodReads.com, "I Apologize" by Bradley Booth. And the cherry on top? The author autographed the inside with a sweet note :-) I have a strong feeling this one is going to rock my world. For more info, you can click here.

I can tell already, this is going to be an AWESOME summer! Ok gotta run, I have some serious reading to do!!

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

I received an advanced copy of this book through Shelf Awareness and am so glad I did!! I didn't actually know a whole lot about the Salem Witch Trials and I was intrigued to learn more about them, especially written in the form of a story taking place between that era of history and modern day.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story - there was a perfect combination of mystery, suspense, history, intrigue, magic and even a little romance. I was a bit nervous to be honest, because I'm not a huge fan of the idea of witches or witchcraft whatsoever. But then at the same time I very much enjoy movies like Indiana Jones and there is socery weaved into the plot of those, so I was very much interested to see where this would go. And it did not disappoint. I found myself stealing away whenever I could so that I could finish it and find out what happens in the end between Connie and her professor. I will be honest there were times in the book that the spells written out made me uncomfortable and I would scan over them, because I believe there is power in words and the spiritual realm does exist and I didn't want to give anything demonic access into my life. That may sound wild to some of you, but that's honestly where I'm coming from when reading this book and would be my only caution to anyone else who wants to read it.

This author did her homework, and I can really appreciate that so much! She just didn't spew out a bunch of fiction, but she really tied in a lot of history and research, and it makes a big difference in the storyline. I also want to point out that author herself is a direct descendent of Elizabeth Proctor, who survived the Salem witch trials and Elizabeth Howe, who did not. It appears to be Katherine Howe's first novel and I think she nailed it.

I'm really grateful I had the opportunity to read it and if you might be interested in learning more about The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane or Katherine Howe, just click here.

Description: A spellbinding, beautifully written novel that moves between contemporary times and one of the most fascinating and disturbing periods in American history-the Salem witch trials.

Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie's grandmother's abandoned home near Salem, she can't refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key within a seventeenth-century Bible. The key contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane. This discovery launches Connie on a quest--to find out who this woman was and to unearth a rare artifact of singular power: a physick book, its pages a secret repository for lost knowledge.

As the pieces of Deliverance's harrowing story begin to fall into place, Connie is haunted by visions of the long-ago witch trials, and she begins to fear that she is more tied to Salem's dark past then she could have ever imagined.

Written with astonishing conviction and grace, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane travels seamlessly between the witch trials of the 1690s and a modern woman's story of mystery, intrigue, and revelation.

Rating: ****

Recommend: Yes, I think it was a great story!

My Sisters Keeper Trailer

I saw this trailer the other day and got so excited I marked my calendar for June 26th when the movie comes out!!! If you haven't read the book yet, you should read it before the movie hits the theatres - its one of my favorites! AND not to mention, my sister Kati will be in town, so I can go see it with her!!!!