Definitely not one of her best books, but not nearly as poor as I was led to believe.  Admittedly, it's set in my home town, which never fails to delight me as my home town only read made it on to the map in the last 15 years or so.  But I enjoyed following the main character's vision and her hard work on restoring the Cracker house, and I thoroughly enjoyed the romantic interest's background of owning Jungle Jerry's, a fictional but entirely accurate take on Sarasota Jungle Gardens, right down to the parrot that rides a bike. 

Nostalgia definitely bumped the rating on this book at least a star; the villains were too villainous to be real - although in Florida non of them were impossible - and the plots were superficial at best.  I always hold up her non detective fiction against her an early work of hers, Hissy Fit, and this falls far short of that incredibly readable story, but it's not, as I said, her worst.  Living as far from home as one can get and still be on the planet, I thoroughly enjoyed the virtual trip home, so, 4 stars.

M/M historical romance.  The story was well put together.  It held my attention and made my heart race in all the right  places.

Nathaniel is sailing to a New World Colony with his sister when they are set upon by pirates.  As it turns out this is the very Privateer turned pirate at the betrayal of Nathaniel's father.  Once the Hawk knows who he has in his midst, he kidnaps Nathaniel as he is the only son and heir of his bitter enemy.  Hawk's plan in to ransom Nathaniel and finally visit revenge upon the man that took his legal life as a Privateer away.  What Hawk doesn't count on is falling for his captive.  Romance, mutiny and adventure ensues.

The plot was good, the characters were likeable, the romance was sweet and hot where it needed to be.  The narration was spot-on.  There was emotion and I felt as though I were truly "hearing" the characters.   Job well done.

This is pretty damn good. Good story, and hotness. I'm happy with this pick.

by Colman Andrews

Traditional British cookbooks can be difficult to find in England. Seriously, ethnic cookbooks are everywhere but apart from BeRo and Mrs Beeton, the more modern cookbooks tend to pass over the Brits.

This one is full of beautiful, full color pictures and information the author has picked up while traveling in the UK. Some of the observations made are interesting to read from an American self-professed Anglophile's point of view.

The recipes start out with good, basic recipes for oatcakes, porridge, bacon rolls, etc., then it gets fancy with Omelette Arnold Bennett, which I've never heard of. It struck me as the sort of thing you would find in a good restaurant.

Some of the soups were a bit fancy, also more like restaurant fare than home cooking. The chapters cover Breakfast, Soups, Fish and Shellfish, Poultry and Rabbit, Beef, Pork and Lamb, Wild Game and Offal and Savory Pies and Puddings. These are followed by Vegetables, Desserts and Confections, and then even cover sauces and condiments, Teatime and drinks.

They deviated from English food on Gnocchi, which is Italian. But this was followed by some traditional Scottish recipes and soon came back to English with fish and chips. It seemed to me there was a lot of fish and seafood, but we do have a history of that on this island nation. Some Indian recipes were included, which is a popular cuisine here since colonial times, and the poultry section even included grouse, which you won't see in the usual cookbooks.

I maintain that my Yorkshire Pudding recipe is better, but there were several recognizable traditional recipes. I didn't know what to make of the vegetable recipes. It seemed directed at vegetarians, and someone ought to tell the author that builder's tea means milk and one sugar!

I think this might make a good first cookbook for Anglophiles who have an interest in the history of British cuisine. I don't know anyone who makes their own mayonnaise in modern times, but the overall balance gives a nice taste of the history of food in Britain.