SPAGHETTI and A MASTERPIECE Giveaway and Review

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I LOVED, I LOST, I MADE SPAGHETTI
Author Giulia Melucci

Giulia Melucci was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY where she still lives, but in a more fashionable neighborhood. She is the former VP of PR for Harper's Magazine, and previously worked at Spy Magazine, Atlantic Monthly Press, Viking, Dutton and Scribner. Visit her website at http://www.ilovedilostimadespaghetti.com.



I LOVED, I LOST, I MADE SPAGHETTI by Giulia Melucci

From failure to fusilli, this deliciously hilarious read tells the story of Giulia Melucci's fizzled romances and the mouth-watering recipes she used to seduce her men, smooth over the lumps, and console herself when the relationships flamed out. Check out my review of this yummy tale!

MY REVIEW

When Giulia Melucci was a youngster growing up in Brooklyn, this little Catholic girl probably couldn’t have seen the way things would turn out for her in her personal or public life. As a nice Catholic girl, she was most likely thinking of love and marriage and that little one in the baby carriage. As it turns out, Giulia Melucci turned out to be good at everything she did, and does, except for finding the right man. She was a huge success when working in the publishing business and of course, became a well known name in the culinary arts. Her sense of humor is what makes Giulia’s recent memoir/cookbook (did you ever think you’d see that together?) a huge hit and very rewarding read.

I LOVED, I LOST, I MADE SPAGHETTI showcases the writing skills of Melucci as she relates in this charming memoir about her love life with men and with cooking. The cooking part is great and I think the keeper part of the book in my opinion. There are recipes throughout the book and when Giula is going over her failures at relationships, she even discusses what kind of food she made for her dates and shares the “how to” recipes. All the recipes seem simple to make (and for myself, who can handle the microwave fine but…) not made up of all those fancy foods you can only find in New York or some expensive gourmet shoppe in your own town! But when you put all the parts together the way Melucci describes it, the result is pure heaven. These are recipes that you can make at home for your family or just as well serve at a party and impress your guests.

You will of course need to read this book after a good meal or else you will be up every few minutes for something to eat. As you read about Giula’s many boyfriends, from her first in 1990 who she calls “Kit” in the book who became an alcoholic, to Ethan who was next until he said they should just be friends to a more recent Scot, there is no happy ending for our Queen of the Kitchen. Scot, who was last, was the one who she coddled and worked with to help him get his book published until they parted ways. At that point, Giulia realized she could be content just cooking for herself and writing.

I imagine that the men/boys Giulia has dated are kicking themselves as they read her humorous memoir and remember the savory aroma of the food she prepared for them. They will see the titles of some of her recipes and realize they were probably named because of the relationship she had with the man she was dating at the time. This book will go down easy and give you a glimpse into the life of a chef and what’s cookin’ in both her life and her kitchen. It should satisfy your romantic comedy novel and great recipe cookbook all in one!

LAURA RIDER'S MASTERPIECE
AUTHOR JANE HAMILTON

Jane Hamilton is the author of The Book of Ruth, winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for first fiction, and A Map of the World, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and named one of the top ten books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, the Miami Herald, and People. Both The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World have been selections of Oprah's Book Club. Her following work, The Short History of a Prince, was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 1998, her novel Disobedience was published in 2000, and her last novel When Madeline Was Young was a Washington Post Best Book of 2006. She lives in and writes in an orchard farmhouse in Wisconsin.

LAURA RIDER'S MASTERPIECE by Jane Hamilton

MY REVIEW

Jane Hamilton brings us Laura Rider, a Midwesterner, and her husband Charlie, who together run a successful nursery with Laura really running things while Charlie is content to do the manual labor. They have been married 12 years and the sexual spark has gone out of the marriage, especially for Laura. They don’t sleep together anymore, mostly because of Laura, but the plan seems to be OK for both of them, or so it seems on the surface. This is such an odd situation considering Laura really wants to be a romance novelist. Where ever will she get information and do research if she is locking her husband out of their bedroom?

To Laura, the excitement and chance at writing her romance novel comes when a radio host, Jenna Faroli, comes to town with her show. Laura has always enjoyed Jenna’s shows and is thrilled that she is now living in their little town of Hartley. When Charlie and Laura do happen to meet Jenna one day, it dawns on Jenna that if she can build a relationship between Charlie and Jenna, she would have the material she needs for a great romance novel. Laura persuades Charlie to email Jenna and things heat up fast as their emails turn from simple to very intimate. As one might suspect, Jenna starts to fall in love with Charlie, or at least the Charlie who writes to her. This turns out to be just what Laura thinks she wants, as she will be able to study and write about how the relationship started and grew. She will write what a woman wants in a man and have proof of it, at least in her mind! Laura doesn’t stop to think about the consequences of what she is doing. When Jenna and Charlie’s relationship blossoms, it is not something this gardener can deal with. What Laura does and how Charlie and Jenna wind up is what makes this book tick.

Readers are brought into this book and you get very involved on many levels. This is more than the comedic review may sound. Laura is dealing with deep emotional baggage and the layers of each character are peeled away and readers can get down to what all is really going on in this novel beside what you read about on the surface. If you want a cute, funny little beach read filled with loveable characters, you may need to look further. However, if you want to read about a story that will involve you and have your loyalties and emotions constantly changing, then Laura Hamilton’s LAURA RIDER’S MASTERPIECE will give you the ride of your life!

Book Extras

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Thanks to Anna for
I LOVED, I LOST, I MADE SPAGHETTI and
Thanks to Miriam for
LAURA RIDER'S MASTERPIECE and
everyone at Hachette Book Group for these books to giveaway.

I have 5 copies of each so please let me know in your
comments which book you are interested in.
IF you are interested in both, just say so
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