Stacey Ballis

After losing her job and her fiancé at the same time, Anneke Stroudt moves into a half-finished historic house renovation project and discovers an old leatherbound book from the cook of the home's original owners, full of delicious recipes and family secrets. Original.

Recipe for Disaster

Reading this book was a constant surprise. I expected chick lit about house renovations, i found a weird tuned plot (funny, unconfortable, sometimes gross) and an unlikeable protagonist. But it strangely worked. A stern editor would have helped though, lol.

Cindy

my thoughts:
  


What's not to love about a foodie/house rehab book? Anneke is very easy to cheer on as a main character who loses her job, and fiance in one day. I love reading about old houses and the people who once lived there.  Anneke finds an old cookbook/journal and we get a glimpse of life, food and the past life in the old house that she is fixing up. I loved the schnauzer ( Anneke's pet dog) , she hates Anneke but seems to love everyone else. Anneke's relationship, or lack of, with her mother is sad and her grandmother was just so nasty to her as well! This character just had so much going against her in so many ways, at times I thought how can this happen, what more can go wring for her?!! Not to give too much away but I loved the surprise romance for Anneke and I thought that the ending of the book was exactly what I wanted for Anneke.This review was originally posted on

Recipe for Disaster

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