Reservations for Two: A Novel of Fresh Flavors and New Horizons by Hillary Manton Lodge

Reservations for Two is the second book in the series Two Blue Doors by Hillary Manton Lodge.  I also read and reviewed the first book in the series, A Table by the Window, and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I liked this book even more.  It was a delightful read and I can hardly wait for the third book to be released in May.

The thing that made this book so much fun was the letters interspersed throughout the book.  The main character, Juliette, discovers a treasure trove of letters to and from her grandmother, and learns bits and piece of family history that she never knew.  She gets to know her grandmother as a young woman, wife and mother, not just as the elderly lady that she grew up with.

But there is so much more going on in this novel than the letters.  Juliette is opening a restaurant in Portland with her brother and takes a trip to Europe to find suppliers.  While there she visits family in both Italy and France.  It is in Italy that she finds the letters, and it is there that her romance with her boyfriend, Neil deepens. 

However, when Juliette arrives back home she finds that their relationship is difficult to maintain long distance.  Neil is a doctor in Memphis and phone calls, emails and occasional visits are just not enough. Juliette is also dealing with the stress of starting a new business and her mother's cancer.  I won't spoil it for you, reader.  You'll have to read the book yourself to find out what happens to Juliette and Neil, and how Portland receives the new restaurant, Two Blue Doors (hence the series name).  I promise you'll love reading all about it for yourself! Blogging for Books provided this book to me for free in exchange for my honest review.

The Pharaoh's Daughter by Mesu Andrews

Mesu Andrews, author of The Pharaoh’s Daughter, warns in her Note to Reader that “The names and themes of this book are complex” and she is right.  They are in fact so complex that even by the end of the book, I was still having a hard time keeping them straight.  It was not just the names of people that were complex, but the titles of people (mother, father, aunt), as well as the names of objects.  Ms. Andrews does include a genealogy and map of Egypt, but I would have very much appreciated a glossary as well.  The confusion of who was who and what was what actually took away from the enjoyment of the story for me.

That being said, however, the story was very good.  Of course the original story, straight from the pages of Scripture—the story of Moses and the Pharaoh’s daughter who rescued him from the Nile River is exciting all by itself.  The record of Moses’ birth and childhood is contained in the Bible in Exodus 2:1-10, with the history of what was happening in Egypt in that time recorded in Exodus chapter 1.  These 32 verses are the basis of the entire book, The Pharaoh’s Daughter.  

Ms. Andrews took the story a step further and (obviously) did much historical research to flesh the story out.  She includes many details about the culture and traditions of the day, the historical figures, their dress, work and food.  All her research and details really made the story and its characters come alive!  That’s what I love about historical Christian fiction that is based on actual Bible characters, it makes them very real to me.  Mesu Andrews did a wonderful job of that—making Moses and his adopted mother, the Pharaoh’s daughter come alive, not to mention their other family members and the rulers of day.  

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.

Pure Food: Eat Clean with Seasonal, Plant Based Recipes by Veronica Bosgraaf

Pure Food: Eat Clean with Seasonal, Plant Based Recipes by Veronica Bosgraaf is a great way to start incorporating more whole foods into your diet.  I have been trying to use much less processed food in my cooking and to eat more fruits and vegetables so this book seemed like it might be a good addition to my kitchen.  I read the book cover to cover and it was actually a very enjoyable and interesting read.

The author, Veronica Bosgraaf, is the founder of Pure Bar, an all natural snack bar.  She and her family live in Michigan and she bases her recipes on the midwest growing season. The book begins in January and works through each month of the year, providing recipes that are appropriate for each month and season.  The winter months are full of warm, comfort food; spring gives recipes using lots of herbs, greens and new vegetables; summer contains light recipes full of fruit and ideas for grilling out; autumn utilizes pumpkin, squashes and apples--all the bounty of the harvest.  Since I too live in Michigan, I know many of the towns she refers to in her book, which made it extra fun to follow along.

All in all, Pure Food contains many delicious sounding dishes for anyone who wants to eat and live healthier.  After reading the recipes, I can't wait to begin trying some of them for myself.  I won't be going vegan or even vegetarian, and I don't need to eat gluten free, but if you have any of those dietary restrictions, you'll find many great recipes here.  Or if, like myself, you just want to reduce processed foods and eat more whole foods, you too will find many great recipes here.
If this book had more colored photos of the recipes, I would have given it 5 stars, but it's still a good addition to my cookbook repertoire. 

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.

A Fifty-Year Silence by Miranda Richmond Mouillot

I am encountering my own silence--I'm not sure what to say about A Fifty-Year Silence: Love, War and a Ruined House in France.  From the description of the book, I was excited to read it. I very much enjoy memoirs and am very interested in Jewish history and the Holocaust.  This book however fell far short of my expectations. 

The book is authored by Miranda Richmond Mouillot and tells the story of her grandparents, who escaped France during its Nazi invasion in World War II.  For her entire life, her grandparents were divorced and each would not speak of the other.  Miranda attempts to piece together their tale, desiring to find out what happened to make them hate each other and wondering if they were ever in love at all. She decides that perhaps this house is the key to the missing pieces of their lives.  Miranda goes to France to take up residence in the house and to research her family history. The only truly interesting parts of the book take place there in France: her grandfather's decline of dementia and Miranda's own love story when she meets a local Frenchman.

Even as I type this, the premise is good, but the book itself is just strange.  The characters were very odd and hard to love.  I really couldn't relate to them at all. If this book had been a library book, I would never have finished it.  I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.

The Paleo Chef cookbook by Pete Evans

I was very interested to receive The Paleo Chef cookbook.  Not that I had intentions of switching to a Paleo diet, but I am trying to cook much healthier and am always on the look for recipes that use fresh and nutritious ingredients.  Pete Evans, the chef and author of The Paleo Chef appears to be trendy and hip, and from the foreward and introduction to the book, it is obvious that he is extremely passionate about cooking and Paleo. He makes it clear that, to him, Paleo is more than a diet--it's a way of life.

Indeed, you would need to be dedicated to making it a way of life if you were to decide to go Paleo.  No convenience foods, or takeout allowed.  You would also need to have a huge grocery budget and to live in a large city where such items as duck fat, young green coconuts and fresh purple basil are available.  I live in the suburbs of a medium sized city and I can tell you I have never seen any of those items at any grocery store.  I'm sure they would all be stocked at a store like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods but I would have to travel three hours to shop there and that won't be happening anytime soon.

If indeed you can afford the exotic, organic foods the recipes call for and if you can find them in a store within driving distance of your home, the cookbook is lovely.  There are beautiful color photographs for almost every recipe (which I very much enjoyed looking at).  Indeed, the cookbook is a feast for the eyes.  Chef Evans also includes a personal introduction to each recipe, telling the cook/reader about the recipe, how he uses it at home, what to serve with the dish, etc.  There are over 200 recipes in the book, plus some basic recipes in the back for sauces, condiments, etc., so all in all it is a good buy if you do plan to try Paleo.

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.

My Battle Against Hitler: Faith, Truth and Defiance in the Shadow of the Third Reich by Dietrich Von Hildebrand

I was interested in reading My Battle Against Hitler: Faith, Truth and Defiance in the Shadow of the Third Reich because I am interested in history, especially of World War II history.  I very much enjoy autobiographies and memoirs and as a Christian, am inspired about stories of faith.  It looked to me like this book would really fit the bill.  I could not have been more wrong.  I seldom find a book that I really DON'T like, but this was one of them.  It was one of the most boring books I've ever read.  Honestly, if I had not agreed to review it, I wouldn't have read more than the first chapter. 

My Battle Against Hitler is the memoir of Dietrich Von Hildebrand, a German philosphy professor in the 1920s and 1930s.  He is also an extremely devout Catholic.  Unless you are also an extremely devout Catholic, you may not be able to relate to this book.  Although deeply opposed to any prejudice against Jews by the Nazis, he himself is prejudiced against any Christian who is not Catholic. I'm sure the word "Catholic" was used hundreds of times in this book, and it is in large part a record of what was happening in the Catholic church during that time period. 

Mostly the book records his conversations and journal writings against the Nazi regime.  I'm not saying that I don't agree with his anti-Nazi viewpoint, because I certainly do. But unless you are a scholar, I don't think there would be much in this book to hold your interest. The only division in the book are years and each chapter just goes on and on recounting meetings, lectures, symposiums and dinner parties that Von Hildebrand attended.

Thank goodness I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.  I would have been beyond upset if I had paid for it.

Where Treetops Glisten Sweetly by Tricia Goyer, Cara Putman, and Sarah Sundin

Where Treetops Glisten was such a sweet story, the perfect Christmas read.  The tagline on the cover is Three Stories of Heartwarming Courage and Christmas Romance During World War II, and that is a very apt description.  This book is actually three novellas by three different authors.  Each of the authors, Tricia Goyer, Cara Putman, and Sarah Sundin works together to weave their novella with the other two, and does it beautifully.

The book is about a family from Lafayette, Indiana in the 1940's, just after the bombing at Pearl Harbor.  There are three siblings in this family, and each is featured in one of the novellas.  I am a Midwesterner myself, so I especially enjoyed the setting.  It was fun to read of life in a small town during that time period.  The authors did a great job of including details about local landmarks, as well as national and international events.

The first novella, White Christmas by Cara Putnam, featured the middle sibling, Abigail.  Abigail is a student at Purdue University  and works part time at Glatz Candy in downtown Lafayette.  Her boyfriend died at Pear Harbor and she has closed her heart to love, not wanting to be hurt again.  However, she meets a young man on the bus who needs her assistance and she can't say no.  God heals her broken heart and helps her to open up and love again.

The second novella, I'll Be Home for Christmas by Sarah Sundin, is about the oldest brother, Pete.  Pete is a fighter pilot home on leave when he meets Grace, the younger sister of one of his boyhood friends.  Grace is a war widow with a young daughter, struggling to make ends meet. She wants nothing to do with Pete, who often bullied her as a child.  God heals Pete's heart, scarred by the horrors of war, and softens Grace's heart to see that Pete has indeed grown up and changed.  They fall in love, giving Grace's daughter the father that she so desperately wants for Christmas.

The third novella, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Tricia Goyer, tells the story of the youngest Turner, Merry.  Merry is a combat nurse, serving in an army hospital overseas.  Prior to shipping out, she had her heart broken by a young man named David whom she met during her medical training in Florida. Little does she know that the reason David left her is to join the Resistance in the Netherlands.  As God's plan would have it, Merry is stationed in the very town where David lives and works.  God brings them together and helps Merry forgive David and renews their love.

The common theme of these three novella is healing and grace.  Although primarily a Christmas book, it would be an enjoyable read anytime of year.