Customer Reviews

Cooking For Love: A Novel with Recipes

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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.

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

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.

So far the book is great. I love the recipes and wish I could find more books that include recipes. I love to cook and read so this book covers both.

*Many Spoilers*

It should be known that I love sassy books with recipes and fiesty heroines, and this book looked like a tasty pastry beckoning on a shelf to me, at first glance. However, I was greatly disappointed to find that in this particular book, the heroine Miriam is accompanying her best friend Kate on a trip to find love, and a potential bed-hopping fest, with a married man while his wife's away (seriously, are you even allowed to be that dumb over twenty-four?)

Not to be completely discouraged, I began reading the book anyway, hoping the description in the plot about "living without consequences" wasn't as literal as I thought. And happily, it's not; the heroine Miriam is a lot more grounded than her menopausing insecure friend, Kate, and spends a great deal of time reminding Kate that her old flame is married and most likely won't leave his wife. Kate listens, somewhat ineffectively, and finds to my relief that there are some complications in bouncing around with a married man. This easily may have redeemed the book in my eyes..until happily married Miriam throws common sense away and has an affair herself!! It is revealed that her husband, Alan, cheated on her years ago and was forgiven. Now, with a hot guy of the idiotic name "Vijay" giving her the eye, why shouldn't Miriam be entitled to a little fling of her own? At least this is the philosophy of Kate, Miriam's idiot friend. And for some reason, Miriam listens to her and willingly cheats on her husband with "Vijay". She gets what she deserves, I'm happy to say: Vijay moves on to other women the minute he's finished with her, and Miriam's ashamed of herself. Her sexual episode ends with both her and Kate reflecting over how lucky she is to have Alan and how blessed her marriage is. But, not without her bragging about having several orgasms with Vijay and getting a high-five from happy-pants Kate.

Now really, folks: I'm as appreciative of the whole "middle-aged women can have fun like twenty-somethings" moral as anyone else, but how many times do we need to see horny old cows give high-fives to each other over their philandering? I don't find that attractive at ANY age, much less middle age. In this book a perfectly happily married woman cheats on her husband, resolves never to tell him, and doesn't really experience regret over it; in fact, she heads straight home and has a hot rekindling with him, so we're supposed to think it's all okay. Then there's the slutty Kate, who went cross-country to have an affair and then, as soon as she gets the opportunity to have her old flame without his wife, decides to leave him because things get too serious between them. She cries prettily and says she'll always love him, but it just seems too much for her now, and not what she needs anymore. If you ask me, she was a go-easy sot who just wanted to bail when things actually started resembling real life instead of soap operas.

I have to ask, is it really fun to see women acting like this? And honestly ladies, would you find this equally funny if it were men instead of women? If middle-aged men in this story were cheating and high-fiving each other over their conquests instead of women, I'm sure it'd be torn apart by feminists, wives, girlfriends and God knows what else. I'm aware that this book is a comedy, but there are some things I just can't laugh at; I know of families who were torn apart by careless adultery, and there's nothing funny to me about silly middle-aged women with sex drives bigger than their morals. With all its clever dialogue and delicious foods, this novel just isn't for me.

If you want truly delightful books with recipes and spunk, I recommend "Eat Cake", "Belle in the Big Apple", and "Insatiable". If you want books with fun older couples, I highly recommend the "Julie and Romeo" series. And lastly, Sharon Borstin is a fantastic author. If you'd like a sampling of her writing, I recommend her recipe memoir, "Let us Eat Cake". It looks warm, sweet and genuine, and I highly look forward to reading it.

From the first sentence I could tell this book was filled with life, originality and a love for cooking. As cookbook author Miriam Levy tries to decide between a low-fat and regular cheesecake the story of her life unfolds in all its vibrant detail. If you start to get hungry while reading this book, the recipes have all been included at the end of the chapters. When she travels to Malaysia with Kate McGrath we even learn how to make macaroons.

Cooking for Love has the flavor of a reality TV show and moments of warmth that seem so genuine, you will keep turning the pages to find out what happens next. There are innumerable twists and turns that make the story very unpredictable.

Sharon Boorstin's energetic writing style is infused with witty remarks and secret thoughts. As Miriam Levy is falling into her change of life stage, she seeks solace in the adventures of her best friend. As she escapes from an avalanche of family situations, she runs straight into the arms of danger itself.

If you love the Bridget Jones series or adore books with recipes and delicious descriptions of sexy recipes, then this book will find a way into your heart. I found myself laughing and generally more amused by this novel than I have been in a long time.

The choices the characters make seem to enhance the fantasy elements and while Kate's adventures are not explained in detail, Miriam Levy has some passionate dreams and sensual longings. At times it is so real, I forgot I was reading a novel.

Looking forward to reading: "Let Us Eat Cake." This authors writing style really appeals to me because it is infused with energy and decadent descriptions.

~The Rebecca Review
author of Angelique A romance with recipes...