Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

 Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
Published by Simon & Schuster ISBN 9781476789637
Hardcover, $25, 338 pages

The one blurb that publishers want on their novel is "Better than Gone Girl!", which is getting a little ubiquitous lately. I'm not a big suspense fan, and Gone Girl wasn't my favorite book, but I have read other books compared to it, like The Girl On The Train.

Jessica Knoll's suspenseful novel Luckiest Girl Alive even has 'girl' in the title. It begins with Ani FaNelli shopping for items to put on her bridal registry. She picks up a Wustof knife and wonders how it would feel if she slid into her fiance's stomach.

Something is off about Ani. She has a fabulous job at a woman's magazine (think Cosmo), and is engaged to a great catch, a man with a great job and who is socially connected. But there is something in Ani's past, something that happened when she was in high school.

Ani grew up on the wrong side of the tracks outside Philadelphia. Her mother wanted Ani to meet the right people and so sent her daughter to Bradley, a private high school for blue bloods. Ani didn't fit in at first, she sat at the misfits' table at lunch.

Until one day, she caught the eye of one of the popular guys at school. Soon she was eating lunch with the cool kids and even attending their parties where, of course, everyone was drinking.

Something bad happened at Bradley, and the reader is not told what. A documentary crew wants to interview Ani about the incident, but Ani's fiance doesn't want her to do the interview. What exactly happened?

The reader is given clues, but when we finally find out what happened, about halfway through the book, the story really takes off. I have to admit that up until that revelation, I was not really taken with the story. But once we get to the incident, Knoll's writing is so tight and tense, I felt like I didn't take a breath for the entire chapter.

I have to admit, I guessed wrong as to what really happened, and so the surprise was shocking, even though as we got closer to the reveal, there are clues given if you want to pick them up.

Knoll's characters are well developed, and anyone who went to high school (which is most of us) felt many of the things Ani did- isolated, fearful of not fitting in, and hoping to make friends. Knoll taps into those feelings so well.

Ani has problems, and in the early chapters when she talks about her sexual desires, I admit to thinking that maybe this book just isn't for me. But I'm glad I continued on, because I was rewarded with a nail-biting story. Ani has to look inside herself to discover who she really wants to be, and her journey to get there is fascinating.

I liked Luckiest Girl Alive better than Gone Girl and better than The Girl On The Train, because Jessica Knoll does a great job of creating suspense and empathy for a troubled character. And even after reading it awhile ago, just thinking about now it is giving me heart palpitations and a dry mouth.

Three Books By Funny People

I recently read three books by funny people: Comedian and actor Brad Garrett's (Robert from TV's Everybody Loves Raymond) When The Balls Drop, Adam Resnick's (a former writer for David Letterman's The Late Show) Will Not Attend, and comedienne and actress Ali Wentworth's Happily Ali After.

When the Balls Drop by Brad Garrett
Published by Gallery Books ISBN 9781476772905
Hardcover, $25, 288 pages

Brad Garrett's When The Balls Drop is a comic treatise on what it's like to be a 50-year-old man whose body is falling apart. It is clearly geared towards men of that age, and as a woman of that age, I am not the target audience. Garrett spends too much time complaining about his ex-wives and how much money he had to give them. For my taste, it was a little off-putting.

I most enjoyed his stories about growing up with funny with his interesting family, and opening up for Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas. Garrett has had a long stand-up comedy career, and those chapters were fascinating to me. I think he has a whole other book about this area of his life.

He spent nine seasons as Robert, the much put-upon older brother in Everybody Loves Raymond, but he doesn't share many stories from those days, other than Marie Roberts, who played his mother, could drink everyone under the table, and Peter Boyle, who played his father, had a gas problem. Again, I would have liked more of this. The book has many bursts of just laugh-out-loud stuff, just like his I can't-believe-he-really-said-that stand-up act.

Will Not Attend by Adam Resnick
Published by Blue Rider Press ISBN 9780147516213
Trade paperback, $16, 272 pages

The premise of Adam Resnick's Will Not Attend is that he is very anti-social and would much rather stay home than participate in any family dinner, much less go to Disney World with his nemesis, his wife's sister Diane, and her family.

Resnick's sister-in-law is one of those people who like to control everything, and Adam does not like to be told what to do and when to do it. Their epic blow-up in the middle of a Disney vacation where every slight was brought up was uncomfortable (though, I admit, kind of funny to see someone put in her place) to read, I can't imagine seeing it in person. After reading this, I was hoping that Diane was a purely made-up character because how he could have any relationship with her after this is unfathomable.

The language in the book is pretty rough at times, there is a lot of swearing here, so if you don't mind that, you may enjoy it. Again, I don't think I am the target audience for this book.


Happily Ali After by Ali Wentworth
Published by HarperCollins ISBN 9780062238498
Hardcover, $25.99, 240 pages

I read Ali Wentworth's first memoir Ali in Wonderland that hilariously dealt with her years trying to make it as an actress in Hollywood. Her very funny voice shone through each page. In her new book, Happily Ali After, Wentworth shares her adventures as a wife (to ABC newsman George Stephanopoulis) and mom to two young daughters.

I loved this Happily Ever After even more than Ali in Wonderland, probably because I can relate more to Ali the wife and mom than Ali the struggling actress. She tells great stories about trying to stay young-looking, her husband's poor driving, and her daughter's sex-education questions.

One of the stories that I most loved involved a trip the family had planned to Spain. Ali was in charge of making all the preparations, and when they got to the airport to take a late-night flight, they were told that the girls' passports had expired and they were going nowhere that night.

George was furious at Ali, and the girls went back and forth from one parent to the other asking if they were going to get a divorce. The car ride home was uncomfortable, and when they got home, Ali told George how so very sorry she was. As they lay in bed, he kissed her and told her he knew she she was sorry and that it was OK. Every couple has had that potentially huge fight, and could relate to this big oopsy that Ali committed.

Ali's story of a girl's weekend at a friend's California home with a psychic as entertainment was hilarious too. We all have our girlfriends, and her description of that party had me guffawing.

Reading Happily Ali After is like sitting in your funniest girlfriend's kitchen and listening to her crazy stories about her husband, her family, her job, her life. If I ever see her on the streets of NYC,  I will invite her over for a glass of wine just to hear her stories.

New in Paperback- Cutting Teeth by Julia Fierro

Cutting Teeth by Julia Fierro
Published by St. Martin's Griffin ISBN 9781250068408
Trade paperback, $15.99, 336 pages

When I began reading Julia Fierro's debut novel Cutting Teeth, I thought it was going to be a novel about a bunch of whiny, overprotective, rich, Brooklyn parents and their spoiled (yet gifted or challenged) children. I didn't see how I could relate.

Then as I read the book, I saw how Fierro brought these characters I probably would not befriend to vivid life in her novel. It begins with something I wish more multi-character novels would have - a chart explaining the who the characters are and how they relate to each other. This is so helpful when you begin a book, and if a book is as well-written as this is, you find you don't need it to keep track of the characters, you are invested enough in them to know who is who.

They came together as a playgroup for their four-year-olds. Nicole, who has OCD and is afraid that the world is coming to an end this Labor Day weekend, has invited the four other couples and their children to her parents' Long Island Sound vacation cottage. Nicole's husband is rapidly tiring of Nicole's OCD behavior and her fears, her constant monitoring parenting of message boards, and has trouble relating to their son Wyatt and his behavior issues.

Leigh comes from a wealthy family who has lost much of their fortune in the economic downturn. Her husband works for her family's business, so their livelihood is in jeopardy, which causes Leigh to do something that could cost her everything she holds dear. Her son Chase may be somewhere on the autism spectrum, and she has pinned all her mothering hopes on her baby daughter, who was conceived in vitro.

Rip is the stay-at-home daddy in the group. He is an earth father, making his family organic homemade foods and loves caring for his son Hank, who is shy and wants to dress like a princess. He wants another baby but his wife refuses to consider it. She has a difficult time relating to Hank and Rip.

Rip is attracted to Tiffany, who runs a music class for children and whose daughter Harper, the only girl in the group, is a Queen Bee. Harper orders the boys around and expects them to do as she tells them. Tiffany likes to stir up trouble in the group, and when we get her backstory we see why.

Susanne and Allie have twin boys, Levi and Dash, and Susanne is now hugely pregnant with another baby. Allie is an artist, a photographer, and Susanne has started a home business renting strollers and car seats to parents. Their relationship is strained at the moment.

Maybe the most interesting person in the novel is Tenzin, a Tibetan political refugee who fled her home country leaving behind her loving husband and three children. Tenzin is nannying for Leigh, and Tiffany is trying to bully Leigh into sharing Tenzin with her. Tenzin loves and understands the children and seeing these people through her eyes in a brief chapter is interesting. I wish we had more chapters narrated by her.

There are tensions, sexual and otherwise, among the parents and between various couples, and anyone who has vacationed with a big group may recognize these scenes being played out. The weekend culminates in one big uncomfortable scene where the underlying problems bubble to the surface and explode.

Cutting Teeth is a character study of contemporary parenting in an urban setting. The competitiveness of getting your child into the right preschool, maintaining a expensive lifestyle, trying to sustain a marital relationship in the midst of all this, making friends, and the helicopter parenting that has led to children being labeled and over scheduled is all examined in this terrific novel that fans of Tom Perrotta's Little Children will enjoy.

rating 4 of 5

Weekend Cooking- Two Winning Pinterest Recipes and One Dud

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

Last week I decided to try a new Pinterest recipe for Cheesecake Copycat Chicken Madeira. Many Cheesecake Factory recipes have way too many calories and a high fat content, but perusing this one, it seemed to be fairly easy to make and not loaded with calories.

The only thing that gave me pause was that it called for three cups of Madeira wine in the sauce. That seemed like a lot to me, and instead of following my instincts, I followed the directions.

The result? The wine overpowered the sauce, and the dish lacked flavor for me. The entire dish just didn't gel for me. I deleted that pin so that I wouldn't accidentally make it again.

Undaunted, I pushed forward and tried two new recipes one week later. This time it was Chicken Milanese with a Sage-Lemon-Butter Sauce from Food & Wine magazine, which I paired with a Creamy Parmesan Rice from the blog South Your Mouth.

Using a recipe from Food & Wine is pretty foolproof as they test their recipes themselves. I usually make Bobby Flay's Chicken Milanese recipe, but the Sage-Lemon-Butter Sauce sounded good to me, and boy was it ever. The sauce added a big jolt of flavor to the chicken and the rice dish. It was easy to make, and after adjusting the seasonings at the end, it was perfect.

The recipe received a five star rating on the Food & Wine website, and I highly recommend it. You do have to simmer the sauce for about 20 minutes, so this recipe does take almost 45 minutes to prepare. The link to Chicken Milanese with Sage-Lemon-Butter Sauce is here.

Chicken Milanese with Sage-Lemon-Butter Sauce
(photo from Food & Wine website- © Fredrika Stjärne)

To go with the Chicken Milanese, I found this Creamy Parmesan Rice recipe on Pinterest from South Your Mouth. The biggest difference is that you cook your rice in a mixture of water and milk, which  made for a much creamier rice dish that worked wonderfully with the chicken dish. I didn't use a quick cooking rice, and that really makes a difference. Simmering the rice while you are cooking the Sage-Lemon-Butter Sauce for 20 minutes means that everything is ready at the same time. The recipe for Creamy Parmesan Rice is here.

Have you made anything from Pinterest lately? let me know in comments.

Broadway's Something Rotten at Barnes & Noble

The cast of the fabulous Broadway show, Something Rotten, made an appearance at Barnes & Noble on the Upper East Side in NYC to promote the CD release of the cast recording of the show. They sang three fantastic songs from this amazing show, and then signed CDs.

The cast of Something Rotten

I saw the show last month and it is the one show I would recommend to everyone. The premise is that Nigel (John Cariani) and Nick (Brian d'Arcy James) Bottom are brothers who are playwrights in England at the same time as Shakespeare. Nick doesn't understand why everyone thinks Shakespeare is so great, and Nigel worships the man.

The Bottom brothers need a hit, and Nick goes to visit Nostradamus (the fabulous Tony-nominated Brad Oscar) to see if he can find out what kind of show he needs to write to have a hit show. This results in the show-stopping tune A Musical that contains snippets of songs from some of the most iconic Broadway musicals of all time (Annie, Rent, Sweet Charity, Chicago, Phantom of the Opera-you get the idea). The audience gave this number a middle-of-the-show standing ovation, something I've only seen once, for the Genie in Aladdin, played by Tony winner James Monroe Iglehart.

Shakespeare in the show is portrayed by the brilliant Christian Borle, who won the Tony for his portrayal of Shakespeare as a combination of Prince/James Brown/Mick Jagger. He was born to play this role, similar to his other Tony-winning performance as Black Stache in Peter and the Star Catcher. (He's  a nice guy too. And Brian d'Arcy James has the most beautiful eyes and the kindest smile.)


Other standouts in the cast include Heidi Blickenstaff as Nick's wife Bea, Michael James Scott as Minstrel and Brooks Ashmanskas as Brother Jeremiah.

At Barnes and Noble, they opened with another great number, God, I Hate Shakespeare, which highlights the terrific talents of Brian d'Arcy James (Nick) and John Cariani (Nigel). These guys have a great brotherly chemistry.


Cariani and Kate Reinders sang the next song, the sweetly comedic I Love the Way.


Christian Borle finished the performances with the Queen-sounding Hard to Be the Bard, which is also a favorite from the show.


This is the perfect show- funny, great songs, and a fantastic cast- and it is a must-see even at full price.
The Something Rotten website is here.

Two Books That Transport You To A Different Place and Time

Reprinted from the Citizen:

At The Water's Edge by Sara Gruen
Published by Penguin Random House ISBN 9780385523233 
Hardcover, $28, 368 pages

In The Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
Published by Knopf ISBN 9781101875049
Hardcover, $27.95, 416 pages

One of the great things about books is that they can transport you to a completely different place and time, a place you can visit right from your chair. Sara Gruen’s novel, “At The Water’s Edge” and Judy Blume’s “In The Unlikely Event” are two of those books.

Gruen’s best known for her hugely popular book from a few years ago, “Water For Elephants” that was made into a movie with Reese Witherspoon. Set during the Depression, it was a love story set in a circus, and it is one of those books that you will find featured prominently in new and used bookstores.

“At The Water’s Edge” is also set in the past, mostly in Scotland in 1944. Maddie is married to Ellis, the son of a wealthy family from Philadelphia. Ellis, Maddie and their best friend Hank spend their days and nights and Ellis’ family money going to parties and getting drunk most nights.

Maddie’s mother had a questionable reputation, and Ellis’ mother has not made Maddie welcome in her family. Maddie and Ellis are spoiled, with maids and cooks to care for their every need.

Years ago, Ellis’ father was in Scotland to prove that the Loch Ness Monster was real, and he was accused of faking photographic evidence to do so. After Ellis has a fight with his father, he decides to go to Scotland to prove that what his father was unable to- that the Loch Ness Monster is real.

Of course Maddie and Hank tag along, even though Scotland is in the middle of WWII, with bombings from the Germans a frighteningly common occurrence and rationing of food in effect. They are so oblivious it never occurs to them that this is a bad idea.

They end up in a small Scottish town at an inn run by a gruff man who is not happy see these spoiled Americans show up on his doorstep expecting to waited on hand and foot, as if at a five star hotel. 

Over the course of their stay, Maddie becomes involved with the people who work at the inn, while Ellis and Hank spend their time drinking and trying to find the monster. Maddie begins to see how little character Ellis and Hank have, how cruel they can be to anyone they consider beneath their station, even her.

Watching Maddie evolve and grow over the course of the story, becoming a stronger, more caring woman gives “At The Water’s Edge” its heart, and she is an unforgettable character. I liked “At The Water’s Edge” even more than “Water For Elephants”, I found it to be a deeper, richer story and I highly recommend it. 

Judy Blume, known mostly for her classic children’s books, bases her new adult novel “In The Unlikely Event” on events that occurred in her hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1951-52 when she was a teenager. 

In the space of less than two months, three passenger planes crashed over the city of Elizabeth, killing many. Blume brilliantly takes this true story and we see how the crashes affect the people of the city.

She includes real characters and adds her own, and we see the story mainly through the eyes of teenage Miri, who lives with her single mother (she never knew her father) and her loving grandmother.

Miri is going through all of the usual teenage angst, meeting her first love, hanging out with her best friends, when the first plane crashes. Miri sees it happen, as the plane nearly crashes into the school where she is at a holiday party.

The crash stuns the city, and when a second plane from Syracuse crashes near a school, crazy conspiracy theories begin to be discussed. Some teens have heard that aliens are crashing the planes, looking for children to abduct.

When a third plane crashes, just outside an orphanage, there are survivors and Miri’s young boyfriend is a hero who rushes to save people trapped in the plane. 

Blume does an amazing job creating her story around the real events. Through Miri and her friends and family we see how these events frighten people, making them uneasy. Given the unsettled nature of today’s world, with terrorism on the rise, “In The Unlikely Event” , although set in a simpler time, can feel contemporary.

But Blume’s theme here is a good one, as spoken by Miri’s mother to Miri when Miri expresses her fear of flying. She tells Miri “you don’t want your fears to limit your possibilities”. That is good advice indeed, and “In The Unlikely Event” is a book worth waiting for from Judy Blume.

“At The Water’s Edge”- A

“In The Unlikely Event”- B+

Weekend Cooking- Louies Modern in Sarasota, Florida

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

We visited friends in Sarasota, Florida a few weeks ago and we went to dinner at a wonderful restaurant in the lovely downtown area,  Louies Modern.

First we made a stop at Bookstore 1, which is a wonderful place to find a good read. The store is welcoming, and their organization and displays are carefully thought out and curated. I could have spent hours browsing there. The staff was very helpful and friendly too. If you ever find yourselves in downtown Sarasota, stop by Bookstore 1.

Bookstore 1 (Photo from website)

Then it was on to dinner at Louies Modern. You walk into a large welcoming bar area on the left, with a wall opposite the bar filled with tons of bottles of wine. They have an extensive wine and cocktail menu, something for everyone's taste.

Bar area of Louie Modern (photo from website)

The dining room is huge, which is very different form most Manhattan restaurants. It's a very open area, with high ceilings and the kitchen is open all along the far wall. If you like watching the action in the kitchen, get a table close to it.

The kitchen area is on the right (photo from website)

I liked the menu, it was inventive without being too precious. They had a special Savor Sarasota menu, with three courses for just $29, and I chose from that one. I started with the Louis 1289 Salad, which was organic greens and hearts of palm with strawberries, shaved heirloom carrots and goji berry vinaigrette. It was delicious and I never would have thought to combine carrots and strawberries. The dressing was refreshing and light.

For my entree, I chose the Rotisserie All Natural Chicken, glazed with agave honey, and served on top of a poblano romesco sauce. Again, not a combination I thought would work, but it was fantastic. I'm not a big romesco sauce fan either, but the sweetness of the glaze and the spice of the poblano romesco sauce complimented each other so well.

The hit of the meal was the side serving of carmelized mashed cauliflower. I have never had mashed cauliflower, but this was so incredibly tasty, I could have eaten an entire meal of it. I will definitely be on the prowl for a good cauliflower mash recipe that I can substitute for mashed potatoes when I cook.

My husband and I shared the Peruvian Chocolate Gateaux, served with an anglaise sauce, which was a fine end to the meal.

Our dining companion had the Burrata for an appetizer, which is served with a local tomato salad, pickled cippolini, and a foccacia stick, all served on a salt plate. This is one of Louie Modern's signature dishes, and it has such an creative plating.

Burrata served on a salt plate (photo from website)

Our trip to downtown Sarasota was a quick one, but I would love to return when I have more time to explore this lovely area.

Louie Modern's website is here.

The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop

The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop
Published by Harper Paperbacks, ISBN 9780062396099
Trade paperback, $15.99, 352 pages

Victoria Hislop's fascinating new novel, The Sunrise, is set in 1972 in the tourist city of Famagusta on the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean. Aphroditi and Savvas Papacostas are preparing for the opening of their new hotel, The Sunrise, the most extravagant hotel on the island.

They are the golden couple of Famagusta, and the Sunrise will be their crowning achievement. Things are going wonderfully and Savvas has his eyes on remodeling their other hotel, making it even greater than the Sunrise. He comes to rely heavily on Markos, trusting him to run the Sunrise nightclub, which Markos makes into the place to be seen.

Aphroditi does not like Markos, treating him more as a servant than a valued employee, which rankles Markos. When Savvas becomes totally consumed with the new construction, Markos and Aphroditi are thrown together hosting the evening cocktail party at the Sunrise and feelings between them change.

There is change on Cyprus too. Clashes between the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots come to a head when in 1974, a Greek coup d'etat results in Turkey invading Cyprus, and Famagusta becomes a war zone.

As refugees  (including the Papacostas) flee Famagusta,  Markos's Greek Georgious family and the Ozkans family, (Turkish  Cypriots) end up in hiding together in Famagusta. The fathers of both families are wary of each other, but eventually see that they must help each other in order to survive.

The Sunrise is a timely novel that, while set in the 1970's, could be about many places across the world today. Innocent people are caught up in the terrors of war that they never wanted to participate in. Old regional grudges and greed conspire to destroy a culture, and the ideals of young men are corrupted to achieve political goals.

Hislop does a wonderful job creating character and a story that feels authentic. The life that the Georgious' and Ozkans build together in hiding, how they work together to protect their families while trying to escape detection is captivating to the reader.

The sudden, horrific violence of war is on full display here, and there is one instance late in the story that changes many things for many people, revealing the true character of one person.

I was totally riveted by The Sunrise, reading it in two sittings. There are many times when I found myself holding my breath, and others when I read through tears. I give The Sunrise my highest recommendation, and fans of Chris Bohjalian's The Sandcastle Girls will want to read this one.

Victoria Hislop's website is here.

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Victoria Hislop's tour. The rest of the stops are here:

Victoria’s Tour Stops

Wednesday, July 8th: Booksie’s Blog

Thursday, July 9th: Novel Escapes

Friday, July 10th: Thoughts on This ‘n That

Monday, July 13th: Book Loving Hippo

Tuesday, July 14th: bookchickdi

Wednesday, July 15th: A Chick Who Reads

Thursday, July 16th: Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Monday, July 20th: Bibliotica

Tuesday, July 21st: Lit and Life

Wednesday, July 22nd: she treads softly

Friday, July 24th: Raven Haired Girl

Friday, July 31st: Many Hats

Weekend Cooking- The Grown Ups by Robin Antalek

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

The Grown Ups by Robin Antalek
Published by William Morrow Paperbacks ISBN 9780062302472
Trade paperback, $14.99, 357 pages

The cover of Robin Antalek's  The Grown Ups is a photo of what looks like an abandoned picnic table. It drew me in right away, wondering what happened at that table. Did the people who ate there enjoy themselves or was there an argument and is that why no one is sitting there?

The Grown Ups open in 1997 at Suzie Epstein's 15th birthday party. Suzie brings her neighbor Sam into her basement and shows him photos of neighborhood women that her father, who just moved out out, had hidden. Sam just wanted to kiss Suzie, but Suzie wanted Sam to know that his mother's photo was there, and that it implied that her father and his mother were sleeping together.

Soon after, Sam's mother left too, and that left Sam alone with his father and older brother Michael to fend for themselves. Suzie's mom falls into a funk and it is left to Suzie to run the household and care for her little brothers.

Suzie's mom moves the family away to reunite with her husband in Brookline, far away from Sam. Sam is distraught and he begins to date Bella, Suzie's best friend. Bella loves Sam, Sam pines for Suzie, and Suzie is determined to go to medical school. She will not let herself become totally dependent on a man like her mother.

Suzie meets someone and falls in love, and Bella and Sam date, though Sam can't really commit to Bella the way she deserves. He becomes distant and loses his way in life.

Until he finds that he has a talent for cooking. He works for a caterer in Manhattan where

"The prep kitchens were in a warehouse building near the West Side Highway, and the food was what you would expect at a wedding for a hundred or so of your not-so-close friends. There were always a multitude of chicken dishes on the menu, as well as salmon puffs and shrimp rolls, and roasted red potatoes. These dishes traveled well on the Long Island Expressway en route to their location."

I never would have imagined that the warehouses on the West Side Highway housed catering kitchens. I will think of that the next time I am at an event for hundreds of people.

I enjoyed the descriptions of Sam's food, like "the quinoa salad with roasted vegetables, black bean burgers on whole grain rolls, a green salad, and new potatoes with lemon laid out on the table in the backyard underneath the grape arbor."

Or this one: "For dinner Sam grilled the corn and steaks, pulverized the parsley, lemon, garlic and oil into a pesto he drizzled over thin slices of meat and roasted potato, and served everything on the deck."

The Grown Ups  is a wonderful coming-of-age story, although the scenes set in 1997 seemed to me to contain details more in line with being a teenager in the 1970s, with all the moms smoking and milk delivered to homes and left in boxes on the porch.

Sam, Suzie and Bella each tell their story in alternating chapters, and they feel to me like people I would know from the neighborhood. They try to be good people, dealing with family problems, unrequited love, and all the scary things life can throw at you. Sam's dad Hunt in particular was a favorite of mine, supporting his kids and just being an all-round good guy.

Antalek writes a story filled with very detailed scenes that you can visualize in your mind. After reading The Grown Ups, I picked up Antalek's previous novel The Summer We Fell Apart because she tells a story with so much heart.

The Grown Ups reminded me of Meg Wolitzer's The Interestings, another story about a group of friends struggling with friendship, love and life.

My review of The Interestings is here. 

On Broadway- On The 20th Century

Everyone was excited to hear that Kristin Chenoweth was playing the role of movie star Lily Garland in the Broadway revival of On The 20th Century, a role that was tailor-made for her, and she definitely delivers on that promise. Lily Garland is a star and so is Kristin Chenoweth.

But the surprise for me was how great Peter Gallagher is in the role of Oscar, Lily's former mentor, a producer who desperately needs Lily to star in his next stage production or he will lose everything. Gallagher is a wonderful actor and he goes all-out in this role. He sings fabulously and his comedic chops are honed to perfection.

The cast of On The 20th Century is an ensemble that blends seamlessly together, from the four porters who vigorously open the show with a energetic tap dance that mimics the sound of a train to Tony-nominated Andy Karl, who steals the show with his physical comedy and hunky looks as the beefcake but intelligence-challenged Bruce Granit (my favorite performance) to Mark Linn-Baker and Michael McGrath, Oscar's right-hand men who are trying to make Oscar's plan work to Mary Louise Wilson as Leticia Peabody Primrose, the pious possible savior of Oscar's dream.

Everything in this production works here, from the staging to the costumes to the singing, dancing and acting, it all comes together to create an evening of fun and entertainment for the entire audience. It is an energetic show, with lots of moving parts and set changes and it all depends on everyone to play their part to make it work. Chenoweth and Karl have a great chemistry, and both earned their Tony nominations that in another year they would have won easily.

On The 20th Century is a limited run production, it ends July 19th, and if you can, go see it before it closes. It is a classic American show and this is a joyous production with a fantastic cast. Discount tickets are available.

 On The 20th Century's website is here.

New in Paperback- The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear

The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
Published by Harper Perennial ISBN 9780062220516
Trade paperback, $15.99, 352 pages

Jacqueline Winspear is best known for her series of Maisie Dobbs novels, about a female private investigator in London during WWI. I love all of the books, and I look forward to catching up every year with Maisie and the gang.

This year, Winspear has written a stand alone book, also set in WWI England. The Care and Management of Lies introduces us to Thea and Kezia, two young women who met at Camden School for girls and became best friends.

They both became teachers, and Kezia fell in love with Thea's younger brother Tom and married him. Kezia left teaching to become a farmer's wife, which was a big change from her life as a pastor's daughter.

Kezia didn't know anything about being a farmer's wife, but she impressed Tom with her hard work and diligence in learning her farm duties and how to cook for the farm workers and her husband. She studied Tom's mother's recipe books, and gradually gained enough confidence to experiment with herbs and new sauces.

Thea lived in London where she taught at a private school. She became politically active in the suffragette movement, and when it looked like England was going to get involved in the war in Europe, Thea became involved in the peace movement.

She handed out fliers and attended rallies. But pacifism was not a popular approach in a country that was becoming more patriotic about supporting the war cause. When Kezia visited Thea, she began to fear her sister-in-law's new strident views. Thea saw her friend as becoming too complacent.

Soon it became clear that Tom would have to volunteer to join the army, and so he left Kezia and few of his workers to run the farm. Tom ran afoul of a sergeant whose strategy was to pick on one soldier and make everyone in the unit turn against the soldier as a way to build troop loyalty. Tom became that soldier, and things became very difficult for him.

His saving grace were the letters Kezia wrote him, describing in great detail the meals that she made for Tom. She made it seem as if Tom were right there, and soon the entire unit begged Tom to read the letters aloud.

Kezia didn't tell Tom all that was happening at the farm; she didn't want Tom to worry. And Tom's letters to Kezia didn't mention the horrifying conditions in France- the rats (which are described in terribly vivid and awful detail), the bad food, the fighting and losing so many men.

If you enjoy reading about food, this book is for you. Reading about Kezia's cooking is a fascinating look at the evolution of a cook at that time; the foods they ate, and the inventive recipes that Kezia created are so vivid, you can almost taste them.

I wasn't sure that I would like this book without Maisie, and while it took me awhile to become involved, I fell in love with these characters. Kezia is such a strong woman, I admired her ability to grow and take on new responsibilities. Tom is an honorable man, and when he gets into a jam, the scene where it is resolved is as tense as any great thriller novel. I was biting my nails.

Thea grew as well, taking what could have been a bad situation and owning it, making the lives of those around her better. All of these characters face great upheaval in their lives, and they deal with that with grit and grace, I wonder if modern day characters would fare as well.

Fans of the Maisie Dobbs series will enjoy these new characters in a familiar setting, and it's depiction of strong women is inspirational. Winspear has done it again.

rating 4 of 5
Jacqueline Winspear's website is here.

On Broadway- It Shoulda Been You

June has just ended, the traditional month for weddings, and a traditional wedding is the subject of the very funny Broadway show, It Shoulda Been You, starring two giants of the stage, Tyne Daly and Harriet Harris as dueling soon-to-be mothers-in-law, and wonderfully directed by David Hyde Pierce in his directorial debut.

Chip Zien, Tyne Daly, Harriet Harris, Michael X. Martin
(copyright Joan Marcus

Daly hilariously plays Judy Steinberg, the pushy, detailed oriented Jewish mother of the beautiful bride Rebecca, played by Sierra Boggess. Harris is the WASP-y mother of the groom (David Burtka) who doesn't want her son to marry.  The scenes between these two vets sparkle and bristle as they passively-aggressively advocate for their side to prevail.

Lisa Hudson is Jenny, the not-as-pretty, slightly overweight sister who has been charged by Judy to organize and keep everything on track. Jenny does her best to keep everyone happy, while at the same time wondering what life has in store for her. And her mother says terrible things to her, it is a tribute to Daly's acting that you don't totally hate her for the awful things she says to Lisa.

Marty Kaufman, played by Josh Grisetti, shows up on the scene, the longtime former boyfriend of the bride who comes to talk Rebecca out of marrying Brian. The title of the show comes from the song, It Shoulda Been You, that the Steinberg family sings to the Marty, who would be the perfect Jewish husband for Rebecca.

It Shoulda Been You is a new American farce, complete with slamming doors, people running through the sets, hiding behind couches and discovering secrets, and I smiled throughout the entire show. There is a big surprise (or two or three) 3/4 of the way through the show that many people think they have guessed, but they still may find themselves as surprised as I did.

The score is terrific, and Lisa Hudson's 11 o'clock number, Jenny's Blues, brings the house down as she did when she performed it on the Tony Awards last month. She is just terrific, and I look forward to more big things from her.

Grisetti is great too as Marty, and Chip Zien is the perfect Jewish father-of-the-bride. We need to see more of him on Broadway, he and Tyne Daly make a great couple. The entire cast looks like they are having a fabulous time, and that joy radiates out into the audience.

I also have to mention Montego Glover and Nick Spangler, the maid of honor and best man who sing a crazy duet at the wedding, a highlight of the show.

It Shoulda Been You is two hours of fun and song that will make you smile and leave you in a joyful mood long after you leave the theater. I'm sad that it will close on August 9th, and if you are in NYC before then, go see it. There are discounted tickets available.

It Shoulda Been You has a website is here.