I don’t know anything about Cheryl Day but her name got positive reviews when I brought it up online.  When I think about Southern food, I think comfort food, flavor and food that I normally want more of.  There are some Southern dishes that I could do without but most of them, don’t give me a sliver, I want a full piece!

I noticed upon opening this cookbook that not all the recipes have pictures which is not good BUT this cookbook is packed FULL of recipes.  I mean packed!  So packed, that it does one of the things that I don’t like in a cookbook: the recipes flow across pages.  I know that this is probably my own pet peeve but I don’t like it when a recipe flows over onto the next page and then, this behavior continues and continues …..page after page.  It’s not that the recipe flows onto the back page but that a recipe flows onto the page beside it. Anyway, back to this cookbook.

There is plenty of variety in this cookbook and the illustrations are beautiful.  Cheryl organized this book to include an introduction, Southern baking rules, baking tools and equipment, hot breads and crackers, coffee cakes, loafs and Bundt cakes, muffins and scones, slow breads (breads that need time to rise), gathering cakes, layer cakes and cupcakes, pies, cookies, brownies and bars, grits and grains, custards, puddings and cobblers, jams and preserves, and basics.   This is baking, there is nothing but special goodies in here.  This is one thick book to contain nothing but sweet goodness.  I’m pretty excited to take this all in as I’m not much of a sweet baker. 

I got to know Cheryl in the introduction and this book is amazing.  I never even thought about making crackers, who makes crackers?  There is a recipe for buttermilk crackers, benne crackers, sea salt crackers and crispy cheese crackers, I’ve never even thought about making crackers, for the Keebler Elves make them for me but after seeing this recipe, I think I could try it as they look really good and they keep in the freezer up to a month!  There’s even a recipe for Red, White, and Blue Muffins, now doesn’t that sound like something fun to make.  I’m not a fan of fruitcake but Boozy Fruitcake…..I think a few people might be willing to at least try that one.  What about Strawberries and Cream Cake? Oh, yum!  Now, there is Sweet Potato Pie but Peach Lattice Pie, Blueberry Icebox Pie, and Chocolate Chess Pie, I’m liking the sounds of them.  There are recipes for making jams, marmalade, apple butter, salted caramel sauce, brown butter, and a variety of other butters too.

With each recipe, there is a paragraph about the recipe, how many the recipe will serve, an ingredients list, and step-by-step instructions.  No nutritional information is given nor do you get how much the whole recipe yields.  There are some pictures of the recipes included in this book but like I said, not every recipe.  The ones that you do get, look fresh and authentic.  There are some pictures where the food looks very realistic.  Where everything isn’t all perfect, where there are crumbs lying next to the finished dish, where the nuts have fallen off the muffins, and the food hasn’t been polished to shine.  These pictures tell me that this book has recipes that I can attempt.  With so many recipes inside the pages of this book, I’m bound to find something I can create.  What a gem!

I received a copy of Stranger in Town by Cherly Bradshaw from her assistant on 10.5.16 and added it to my Goodreads TBR on 12.15.17. Don’t ask me why I waited so long to add it to my shelf or to read it, because I can’t tell you.

The sweet cover does not foreshadow the ugly story inside.

Amazon / Audiobook / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

Stranger in Town by Cheryl Bradshaw is the fourth book in the Sloane Monroe Mystery series. It falls between a cozy and the dark, hardcore suspense that I love so much. I did enjoy meeting Sloan and love that she is a PI instead of a cop. She’s a PI because, “I don’t like people.” She doesn’t play well with others.

Stranger in Town deals with a difficult subject, child trafficking. Though Cheryl Bradshaw doesn’t delve into specific details that occur all too often with those taken, it is not any less frightening.

Olivia knew something wasn’t right….but she was frozen in fear.

Imagine your child at your side, doing your normal grocery shopping. An innocent errand turns horrific when you notice she is no longer at your side, no longer in the store… I can’t imagine anything more terrifying.

Sloane has her own backstory, which is what drives her to commit everything she has to finding the young girls. There are now two missing, a four year old, Savannah, and a six year old, Olivia. What could someone possibly want with them? Did they want them for their own? Did they want them to sell them?

Sloane wants to make everything whole again. She is methodical, thinking things through before acting, but something is different this time. She’s different. She will do whatever needs doing to get justice. I can relate to her desire to run when she is cornered. It’s all about perspective. Sometimes stepping away opens your eyes to what is in front of you.

Uh oh. At 55% I smelled a rat!

When Sloane talked to Sierra, Savannah’s little friend, it was heartbreakingly sweet.

In Stranger in Town, Cheryl Bradshaw covers more of Sloane’s search for the missing girls than the subject of human trafficking. There was more than one instance when I thought a character was suspicious, but it wasn’t for the reason I expected. We do have a twist, and that will happen when the villain feels he was betrayed, or put at risk of being exposed.

I would love to read more of Cheryl’s work and meeting Sloane was well worth the time.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Stranger in Town by Cheryl Bradshaw.

3 Stars

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by Cheryl Day and Griffith Day

I have to admit that design-wise, I found the beginning pages of this book a little too busy. Something in the description had drawn me to the book and I soon found myself looking at beautiful full color plates and a nicely laid out Table of Contents, which promised many wonderful things to come.

I think what really attracted me to the book was that it brought to mind a lady who worked part time at a place I used to work, who always brought in trays of cakes or tarts on a Monday. The quality of these baked goods was superb and I got the impression that she might have been a retired baker, just doing an easy, part time job to keep active. With this in mind, I had to smile while reading the introduction where the authors express how food can bring fond memories and associations. Apart from the pleasant memory, I've always wished that I could bake like that.

I soon began to learn the secrets of great baking. In the chapter called The Craft of Scratch Baking, the book explained such simple things as why it's important to have ingredients at the right temperature. Who among us hasn't ignored the recipe instructions to have eggs at room temperature and just thrown them in straight from the fridge? I now know why it's important. I also now know how to get them to the right temperature quickly. The Physics of baking is actually rather fascinating!

The book then covers details about weighing and measuring that most of us should have learned in home economics class, but may not have given enough attention, and then it's on to the recipes!

The recipes are based on American methods, so dry ingredients are measured by volume. European bakers need to be aware that an American cup is equivalent to 8 fluid ounces, but measuring teaspoons and tablespoons are the same.

Basic buttermilk biscuits, variations and healthier wheat biscuits are followed by interesting variations on old themes like Eggnog French Toast. Many old favorites are included and even some crafty stuff to do, even a decoration made with marshmallows added to keep things interesting!

Then we are treated to cakes, even a spice cake with butterscotch icing. Things get very interesting indeed for us cake lovers. We move on to pies and tarts. I've wanted forever to find a good recipe for Banoffee pie! It's here. The Butterscotch Pie is another I will definitely have to try! The secrets to both shortcut and extra special pie crusts are definitely worthwhile.

We go on with breads, crackers, party cakes, savory pies and cobblers, pizza, and of course cookies and brownies. Ideas for a supper club are given as well as instructions on how to boil an egg to make it look perfect for deviled eggs. Jams, syrups, marmalades and pickles also make an appearance and there's even a variation on Honey.

There weren't as many variations on recipes as I might have expected to see in a bakery, but overall a good book to master some of the secrets to really good baking and perhaps discover your own variations once you've got the techniques down.

I need to read a minimum of 17 books per month to reach my goal of 200 books. *Sigh* Okay then let's do this! Twenty books placed on the list to ensure I hit 17. I won't know if any book works for a prompt for the BR Read Harder challenge until I read it, so none are being assigned to that challenge in the beginning of the month.

1. Courting Trouble by Deeanne Gist

          - 2020 Reading Assignment Challenge (Professor Author Luv)

2. Anchor in the Storm (Waves of Freedom #2) by Sarah Sundin

         - 2020 Reading Assignment Challenge (Professor Genre)

         - Finish That Series Already 

3. The Astronauts Wives Club by Lily Koppel

         - IRL book club pick

         - 2020 Library Love Challenge

4. Why We March: Signs of Protest and Hope/Voices from the Women's March

          - 2020 Library Love Challenge

5. The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race by Jesmyn Ward

          - 2020 Library Love Challenge

6. This Will Be My Undoing by Morgan Jerkins

         - From the 24 Festive Tasks game, this is what the dreidel chose for me to read as my first book of 2020

        - COYER

7. An Extraordinary Union (The Loyal League #1) by Alyssa Cole

         - Finish That Series

8. Breathless (Old West #2) by Beverly Jenkins

          - Finish That Series

9. The Darkness Knows (Vi and Charles Mystery #1) by Cheryl Honigford

         - COYER

10. Appetites and Vices (The Truitts #1) by Felicia Grossman

            - COYER

11. Her Perfect Partner (Matched to Perfection #1) by Priscilla Oliveras

          - COYER

12. Copycat Killing (Magical Cats Mystery #3) by Sofie Kelly

          - COYER

13. The Scandalous Suffragette by Elizabeth Redgold

           - COYER

14. Tycoon (The Knickerbocker Club #0.5) by Joanna Shupe

          - COYER

          - Finish That Series Already

15. Year One (The Chronicles of the One #1) by Nora Roberts

         - COYER

16. Smooth Talking Cowboy (Gold Valley #1) by Maisey Yates

          - COYER

17. Opposites Attract (Nerds of Paradise #1) by Merry Farmer

18. The Preacher's Promise (Home to Milford College #1) by Piper Huguley

          - COYER

19. That Healing Touch (Cutter's Creek #1) by Kit Morgan

        - COYER

20. Once Upon a Wedding: A Fiction from the Heart Second Chances Anthology by Various Authors

     - To dip in between books

I enjoyed this romance with a little bit of mystery in it. I won this set of books, Exclusive Jewels-Vol 2, and I voluntarily chose to review this story. I've given it a 4.5*rating. This is not for the under 18 readers. Apparently several women were looking for husbands except a widow who was pursued anyway. This story had a little intrigue and a variety of characters that certainly stirred this pot. I'm just surprised that type of ending didn't come sooner.