Cooking For Love: A Novel with Recipes [Paperback]

Sharon Boorstin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2004

A Pulpwood Queens Book Club Selection

"COOKING FOR LOVE is not only a great read but a delicious one, with a luscious layer of naughtiness that leaves the reader craving more."
--Kathy Patrick, Founder of The Pulpwood Queens Book Club

Who says women over 40 are too old for fun, romance and sex?

In COOKING FOR LOVE, Beverly Hills cookbook author Miriam Levy dreams about food. Her best friend Kate McGrath dreams about "The One" who got away. When, after 25 years, Kate finds him on Google, and he asks her to visit him half-way around the world, she begs Miriam to go with her. It leads to an adventure that teaches both women love, life, friendship--and food. Inspired by a true story, this warm, funny novel--Chick Lit for "mature" women--includes 20 delicious recipes.

If you loved Like Water for Chocolate or The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, COOKING FOR LOVE is must reading. "In COOKING FOR LOVE, Sharon Boorstin whips up a delicious confection of fiction and food that you'll want to devour, all the way through to the last yummy page."
--Iris Rainer Dart, Author of Beaches and Some Kind of Miracle "COOKING FOR LOVE has cooked up a delicious story with all the trimmings of humor and womanspeak. Thankfully you can't gain weight from inhaling a fun read."
--Suzy Gershman, Author of Born to Shop and C'est La Vie

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

A PULPWOOD QUEENS BOOK CLUB SELECTION

From the Inside Flap

If you loved LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE or THE DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA YA SISTERHOOD, COOKING FOR LOVE is "must" reading.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (August 8, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595323928
• ISBN-13: 978-0595323920
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,966,356 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a sassy and fun novel!, August 3, 2005

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cookin' for Love: A Novel with Recipes (Paperback)

Miriam Levy is of a certain age and admits it. She also contributes to her family, which is living lower than we all would expect in Beverly Hills, by authoring celebrities' cookbooks. Miriam is currently collaborating with Kimberly on A Starlet's Secrets of Sexy Cooking and is longing to pen her own cookbook.

Miriam is mom to college-bound twins Jake and Emma and to Lisa, a news reporter who is pregnant, unmarried, and wants her mother to be the full-time babysitter so she can concentrate on her career; wife to Alan, a former struggling screenwriter; and daughter to the mother who might be moving in with her.

Miriam's best friend Kate is a wealthy florist who continues, after many years, to lust after the only man she believes she ever loved. After checking out Erik on the Internet and contacting him, Kate learns Erik is the ambassador to Malaysia, married, and still lusts after her. Kate decides to travel to see Erik, to test her long-lost love and the desires of her loins. She drags Miriam along, giving her the escape from family responsibilities that seem to be closing in on her well-defined life.

Will Kate find true love? Will Miriam find herself and learn to establish personal boundaries? Will the reader survive all the scrumptious recipes at the end of each chapter?

I chuckled throughout the book and will read another of Boorstin's novels. My only criticism is that so many books these days treat "cheating on a mate" and bed hopping as normal and acceptable. But that is just a personal observation.

Cookin' for Love's author, Sharon Boorstin, writes a sassy and fun novel with many interesting twists and turns that can be enjoyed by all.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars YOU'RE GONNA' LOVE MIRIAM EPSTEIN LEVY !, June 18, 2005

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cookin' for Love: A Novel with Recipes (Paperback)

You're gonna' love Miriam Epstein Levy! Who can resist a woman who freely admits her age and knows that almost 50 isn't the end of the world, the Terminal Z of life or the finish of romance? Knowing all of this is one thing, but Miriam proves it in Sharon Boorstin's funny, provocative "Cooking For Love."

Miriam more than makes ends meet by helping celebs pen cookbooks. Her latest being a collaboration with Kimberly on "A Starlets Secrets of Sexy Cooking." Miriam also is Mom to two teenagers, Jake and Emma. Jake, of the spiked hair that gleams like a "freshly waxed floor, size 12 Doc Martens, and jeans worn so low that his boxers peek out, feels especially deprived since he's the only one in his Beverly Hills crowd that drives a Volvo. Emma isn't any more conservative - she boasts a lime green streak through her hair and stud earrings carpeting the rims of her ear.

Kate McGrath, Miriam's best friend, is not so much interested in food or mothering as she is in running her Santa Barbara flower shop and yearning for the only man she ever truly loved - Erik, a handsome Swiss charmer she met shortly after college.

Thanks to the Internet, Google, and the intervention of Jake, Erik becomes more than just Kate's fantasy, and the two begin a correspondence. When he invites Kate to come and visit him in Malaysia, she talks Miriam into going with her. That's where the fun and surprises really begin as these two embark on a journey of the heart.

Sharon Boorstin, also the author of a memoir/cookbook, "Let Us Eat Cake," includes 20 definitely delicious recipes in this tale of two women who could teach Auntie Mame a thing or two about life being a banquet.

Bon appetit!

- Gail Cooke

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read!, December 14, 2004

By 

John Feldman "Hummingbird Films" (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cooking For Love: A Novel with Recipes (Paperback)

This is a page turner! Don't be fooled, this book isn't just for women, nor is it a cook book. In fact, it's perfect for men who want to get a taste of what goes on inside the mind of a middle aged woman who is looking for love, sex and romance -- but not necessarily in that order. It's a funny story about a kidnapping that takes just the right amount of unexpected turns.