Undercover Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams

Reviewed by Ambrea

 

Braden Mack is the mastermind behind the Bromance Book Club and, truthfully, he considers himself a bit of an expert on love – except he’s about to get a rude awakening when he meets Liv Papandreas.  Liv is a sous chef at the hottest restaurant in Nashville, until she discovers her celebrity chef boss is a predator.  Now, she’s been blacklisted and, despite her distaste for the man, Mack – and the Bromance Book Club – are the only ones up for helping her.

Like the previous novel, Undercover Bromance is an enjoyable romantic comedy.  I was so excited to meet the Bromance Book Club again and I enjoyed reading about all their antics.  It sets a faster pace than the previous novel – there’s an element of espionage and action-adventure that wasn’t in its predecessor – and it seems to ratchet up the enemies-to-lovers angst a little more, but I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing.

Mack was easily one of my favorites from the Bromance Book Club, so I was excited to read about him.  Liv, on the other hand…well, not so much.  She’s so bitter and snarky and, occasionally, just plain mean that it was really difficult to enjoy her as a character; however, I did appreciate that she had a chance to grow and develop as an individual.  It wasn’t all bad!

Even so, Undercover Bromance just couldn’t quite meet my expectations that the first novel set.  Personally, I think I prefer Mack as a character in other people’s stories versus the protagonist in his own.

Nevermore: King, Patterson, Newman, Metzl, Gotist

Reported by Lauren

This week’s meeting started off strong with one Nevermore reader sharing a horror novella by the master himself, The Sun Dog by Stephen King. One of his lesser-known works as it was published as part of a 1990 short-story collection, it’s about a teenage boy named Kevin who receives a camera, a Polaroid Sun 660, for his birthday. Everything seems fine until Kevin realizes every photo he takes contains a vicious, snarling dog that moves closer and closer to the forefront with each shot. He’s terrified of course, but when the sleazy pawn shop owner hears about this gift, he must have it for himself. Our reader called it “super scary, basically a Cujo 2!” and warned us not to read it before bed.

                Next we discussed one of James Patterson’s newer novels The Chef. Our reader loved this book, saying the descriptions of the featured dishes were mouth-watering. The plot is also exciting. It’s about a police detective named turned chef named Caleb Rooney living in New Orleans who is asked to help investigate the threat of a terrorist attack during Mardi Gras. Rooney also happens to be under investigation himself for a murder he didn’t commit. Like a typical Patterson novel, suspense, action, and romance abound, but the food was her favorite part!

                Our next reader reviewed a dystopian novel called The Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman. Set in futuristic America, a plague called the Posies has wiped out the adult population, killing everyone before they reach the age of twenty. The main character, a young girl named Ice Cream Star, sets off on a journey across the country in search of a cure that is rumored to exist. Our reader called this novel sadistic and bleak, but said the rhythmic prose was riveting. The way the characters spoke reminded her of a futuristic Gullah dialect, and kept her reading until the end. While she wouldn’t call this book one of her favorites, it definitely stuck with her.

                Sticking with futuristic novels, our next reader shared Genesis Code by Jamie Metzl. Metzel is an expert on biogenetics as well as Asian affairs, so the novel was very realistic. Set in 2023, the United States has defaulted on its debt and is now owned by China. When young women start mysteriously dying, an investigative journalist named Rich is determined to figure out what’s happening. However, the tyrannical government owns all news publications and does everything in their power to squash the story. Our reader thoroughly enjoyed the action, suspense, and realistic science this book offers, and was eager to read more of Metzl’s work, both the fiction and the nonfiction. 

                Our last reviewer picked up Enough About You: The Narcissist’s 7-Step, 1-Minute Guide to Sacred Spirituality, a Self-Empowered Career, and Highly Effective Relationships by Mimi E. Gotist on a whim. She enjoyed the snarky humor, and could empathize with the writer as she offered advice on how to get over it and move on when your relationship with a narcissist ends. Gotist uses her writing to satirize the self-help genre; almost every element of this book is humorous. Even the blurbs reviewing the book are hilarious. For example, “N. Bonaparte” writes, “Thanks to Mimi E. Gotist, history will finally understand me!” Our reader recommended this short novel if you’re looking for a laugh.

Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown

Reviewed by Ambrea

1819:  Owen Wedgwood, famed as the “Caesar of Sauces,” has found himself kidnapped by a strange and ruthless pirate captain known as Mad Hannah Mabbot and named chef aboard the Flying Rose.  Now trapped on Mabbot’s ship, Wedgwood learns he must cook a satisfactory meal for her each Sunday if he hopes to survive on the open seas.  But, as he spends more time aboard the Flying Rose, Wedgwood discovers there is a method to Mabbot’s madness—and he’ll discover companionship in the most unlikely places.

Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown is a strangely compelling novel, yet I’m still not sure what to think.  It’s a long, winding odyssey that takes our narrator, Owen Wedgwood, to the edge of the empire and nearly drags him to the depths of the sea.  Like Odysseus, Wedgwood—or Wedge, as Mabbot affectionately calls him—takes a journey that leads him across oceans and into the dens of monsters.  You can almost think of Mabbot as Calypso, a cross between a wicked temptress and a pirate queen.

Alluring and wild, Mabbot is as dangerous and capricious as the sea.  She’s just as liable to like you as shoot you, and yet she has a strange moral compass that leads her to punish slavers, opium peddlers, murderers and anyone who crosses her.  She is, as Wedgwood accuses, a red-haired tyrant, but she’s not unduly cruel or intentionally malicious.  She’s a strange amalgamation of opposites, which makes her oddly likable.

Like Wedgwood, I didn’t know what to make of her.  I mean, is she a villain or is she a hero?  Neither, I suppose.  She’s just a woman who has been tempered by the sea and shaped by the unkindness, barbarity, she’s endured.  She’s human and she’s desperately flawed, which makes her compelling—and, truthfully, a bit hard to stomach.

Piracy is an occupation that’s neither gentle nor gentlemanly.  It can be senselessly cruel and completely tragic, which reflects in Brown’s novel; moreover, it’s also an occupation in which readers will not find a hero.  In Cinnamon and Gunpowder, it’s impossible to look upon the world with only one version of right and wrong.  There is no black and white, merely the anticipation of survival.  You won’t find anything heroic about Mabbot, despite our fondest expectations set by Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Altogether, Cinnamon and Gunpowder is an intriguing if unusual novel.  It’s an adventure story, but it’s quite unlike what I’ve read in the past, especially regarding pirates.  Sure, I’ve had a taste with Pirates! by Celia Rees, as well as the Wave Walkers series by Kai Meyer and Vampirates by Justin Somper.  But those are so mild in comparison to Eli Brown’s novel, which is weighed down by tragedy and riddled with the cruel truths of reality.

It belongs in a class of its own, truly.

When in Doubt, Add Butter by Beth Harbison

Reviewed by Ambrea

Gemma Craig has had enough of dating; instead, she has decided to focus on her job, which she’s surprisingly good at—and that suits her just fine.  She’s thirty-seven, she has a successful business working as a private chef, and she has a steady stream of clients who keep her life busy.  She loves the challenges, but, more than anything, she loves the predictability.  “Recipes are certain.  Use good ingredients, follow the directions, and you are assured success,” as she points out in the book, whereas life is much, much messier.

And then her life is turned upside down—first by a peacock, and then by an unexpected fling with handsome gentleman.  As Gemma struggles to pull the pieces of her world back together again, she finds herself coming face-to-face with her past and wondering how she could have walked right off the edge of straight-and-narrow.  But with a little luck, a pinch of hope, and, of course, a little bit of butter, Gemma will discover the true value of happiness and just how important love can be.

I listened to When in Doubt, Add Butter earlier this year, picking it specifically for the evenings when I walked my dog.  I originally chose it because I liked the title—and, if I’m being honest with myself, I probably picked it for the image of cupcakes on the cover as much as the title—but I was pleasantly surprised by Beth Harbison’s novel and Orlagh Cassidy’s narration.  Filled with lots of crazy, quirky characters and heart-warming stories, When in Doubt, Add Butter is a truly fabulous novel.

Gemma is an excellent narrator.  Witty and realistic, plagued by all the familiar hopes and fears of the average woman who worries about her professional career and her financial state, she can easily connect to readers on an emotional level—and, more importantly, she’s funny.  She’s candid, and she has a way of recounting her story so that it has an emotional impact and makes you laugh.  Coupled with Orlagh Cassidy’s skills, Gemma comes to life in a way that is, simply put, spectacular.

And speaking of Orlagh Cassidy, I absolutely loved the variety and range of characters she could play.  I was suitably impressed by the emotion she could convey and the changes of tone that signified specific characters, distinguishing particular personalities apart, that allows her to really reach listeners.  When in Doubt, Add Butter seems to take on a life of its own, and I couldn’t wait to return again and again to the story.

Honestly, I can’t think of any reason this book isn’t appealing.  It features a fun, heartwarming story, oddball characters, food (I mean, who doesn’t like food?), an excellent narrator and a dash of humor.  Granted, I found the plot to be a little predictable for my usual tastes.  For instance, I totally called the identity of Gemma’s mysterious “Mr. Tuesday,” and I saw the romantic entanglement from a mile away.  However, overall, I found the story to be incredibly poignant and unexpectedly riveting.  I was drawn in to Gemma’s story from the very first chapter—and, if I wasn’t, I’d have certainly been hooked by the ignominious incident with a peacock in the second.

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal

Reviewed by Ambrea

Lars Thorvald is a chef.  He loves food, he loves his wife, Cynthia, and he loves his baby daughter, Eva.  But when Cynthia falls in love with wine—and a sommelier who steals her heart—Lars is left to raise their daughter on his own and he’s determined to pass on his love of food (and cooking) to her.  Instilled with a deeply ingrained appreciation of flavorful food and gifted with a once-in-a-generation palate, Eva grows up to explore the different dishes of her native Minnesota.  She dabbles in everything from Scandinavian lutefisk to chocolate habaneros to golden bantam corn, creating the dishes that encapsulate her history and her life, culminating in a dinner so spectacular that it can’t be missed.

I was surprisingly enchanted by J. Ryan Stradal’s Kitchens of the Great Midwest.  Although it ultimately revolves around Eva Thorvald, it delves into the lives of the people who have helped shape her life—her cousin Brock, her close friend Pat Praeger, her worst enemy Olivia, and her biological father, Lars.  It weaves together their lives, introducing the stories of many characters and developing their individual history, as well as their intertwined lives.

It’s truly fascinating to see the connections between them.  I especially liked that each chapter was named for the dish that influenced Eva's life the most.  Each chapter reflects a specific period in her life:  the lutefisk her father used to make, the chocolate habanero peppers she grew in her closet, the sweet pepper jelly her cousin loved to eat, the golden bantam corn she used in one of her dishes when she cooked for friends—and each piece fits into the puzzle so meticulously as to reveal her entire life.

I loved the interconnected feeling of Kitchens of the Great Midwest, like a web that holds Eva and all the other characters together, like separate dishes that come together to form an excellent dinner.  All these ingredients come together to form an exquisite and intricate novel with wonderful characters, excellent storytelling, and fantastic narrators.

And, speaking of narrators, I loved listening to Kitchens of the Great Midwest as an audiobook.  Amy Ryan and Michael Stuhlbarg make excellent narrators, bringing the characters of Eva and Lars and Brock and others to life.  It brings a little something extra to the novel, gives it a singular flavor that left me craving more even as I reached the final chapter.

The language is a little strong in some spots (especially Brock’s chapters, which are littered with an excess of expletives), and the novel deals with some very mature themes.  While I wouldn't exactly recommend it to younger readers, I don't think that should stop anyone else from reading (or listening) and enjoying Kitchens of the Great Midwest.

Overall, I was incredibly pleased with Stradal's first novel.  It was an epic undertaking that mixed together some of the best storytelling I’ve found, a complicated mother-daughter relationship, food, and characters, making something that is positively wonderful.