Customer Reviews

Cooking for Mr. Right

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book to read sitting at the pool while on vacation in Calistoga California. To my delight (and embarrassment because of all the funny looks I got) I found my self laughing out load at the many humorous situations and self realization the main character Kate experienced. I couldn't put the book down. A couple of reviewers commented on the fact the character Sam is the only nice guy. It's all in perspective isn't it? We live in a diverse world. Susan Volland has captured reality. It wouldn't be very entertaining if all the characters were the same. What I found even more exciting was all the wonderfully described food preparations. From top notch four star cuisines to yummy home cooked "simple" foods. I could practically see, taste and smell all the fabulous foods described in this book. How perfect to read about fabulous food, while vacationing in Calistoga with all its fabulous wine and foods. "Cooking for Mr. Right" is a great book, which can be enjoyed by everyone!

I really enjoyed this book! It blended all the proper ingredients for a well written, very entertaining and humorous story with amazing insight into the confusing traps we all lay for ourselves in the process of finding out who we want to be when we truly "grow up." I found Kate to be a very believable and complex woman going thru some uncomfortably familiar mis-steps. Been there, done some of that!

The points made about the value of friends, family and food (together) have stayed with me. Right On, Susan Volland!

I made and Love Pixie Shtixs!!! Thanks -- Keep writing!!

A Grandma

There's nothing I love more than a book with a female character who is REAL! Who makes mistakes, has moments with her hand slapping her forehead, and who learns

learns the hard way AND IN THE END has grown by leaps and bounds into a deeper soul! This book takes us through moments of obsession, albeit bumbling at times (which is hysterical) with characters that stay with you long after you've stayed up all night to finish the book! Susan Volland has a sharp wit and a deep understanding of how life's path can be almost invisible at times and other times clearer than you wish it were. I cooked for two days after reading this and my family was thrilled! This is a great second book from a budding author who should keep us laughing at ourselves for a long time to come!

I admit, I'm biased...I so loved Ms. Volland's first book, "Love & Meatballs", that I opened "Cooking for Mr. Right" with great anticipation. I wasn't disappointed. The lead character, Kate, is quirky, determined, and lots of fun. The other characters are equally well-developed so that I felt like I really knew them personally. That's good writing!

While the book is humorous, witty and just a little wacky, Susan Volland's descriptions of food and the art of cooking add a beautiful note. I can tell she loves the culinary arts (she's a Cordon Bleu chef).

I can't wait for her next novel!

PS. Her recipe for Crunchy Duck Salad is fabulous!

In Seattle, twenty-six years old sous chef Kate Linden feels like drowning in her toilet when her former lover and still friend Gaston informs her he is marrying an elementary school teacher Courtney Davis he just met. Though previously Kate decides that Gaston was too regimented for her, suddenly she feels obsessed that she should be the bride so she cooks up a plan to get Gaston back in her life as her lover.

To achieve her objective, Kate leaves Sounds Bistro to work full time on a recipe for success starting with obtaining work at his office and enlisting his mother as an ally. As her memory of her time with Gaston comes back into focus, she recalls why they were wrong for one another. Still she remains steadfast and obstinate staying the course even as her efforts leave her target, their mothers, his fiancée, and cute Sam who wants her cooking for him, bushed.

Though well written, this chick lit tale is difficult to swallow because Kate is obsessively nasty and willing to do any dirty trick regardless of who she hurts; Gaston is so superficial he belongs in Congress;, and Courtney is a bubbly dope. Only Sam seems nice amongst this generation in which even secondary characters like Chef Dierbocker are cruel, stupid or both. In spite of questionable antics that readers might find amusing (as long as it is someone else), Kate concocts quite a banquet, but shocking herself she remains unhappy even when her intended gourmand seems to desire her home cooking.

Harriet Klausner

What do you do when you see someone that you love find love elsewhere? It hurts and causes us to act in ways we normally wouldn't. So Kate finds all kinds of different ways to get her old boyfriend to dump his fiancee and marry her. She goes through many hilarious, frustrating scenes, all to discover maybe what she was feeling wasn't real?

Her mom needs a new assistant and so she hires Sam to help out at the studio. Sam is a pain. Or is he?

Classic love story but told sooo utterly cute and the recipes will make your mouth water. I have read Ms Volland's first book, Love and Meatballs and loved it to pieces. This one is no less. Buy and enjoy! You will use the recipes over and over again!

This book is so great. I am totally obsessed with Gordon Ramsay and "Hell's Kitchen" right now, so the chef aspect really appealed to me. I picked this book up at a local book resaler and was very disappointed to find that this book is written in the first person. I hate that!! However, I am so glad I didn't let that stop me from reading this book. Not only was it interesting with good romantic content (which is important for a girl), but it had some hilarious moments. I laughed out loud quite a bit, which is very unusual for me when reading a book. I completely enjoyed it and am so glad I didn't follow my strict "no books in first person" rule.

For about 50 pages at the beginning of this novel, I thought I might hate the story. Some of the conclusions being drawn by our leading lady, Seattle sous-chef Kate Linden, had me cringing. But then a thought hit me and I realized the author was trying to make glaring mockeries out of some of the basic insecurities just about every 20-something woman faces, and I resolved to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Boy am I glad I did.

Kate's direct, yet often misguided, approach to just about everything in her life makes for some really hilarious encounters. But her experiences with the older generation - a widower (Mr. Wright - nice pun, Ms. Volland) she agrees to cook for several days a week and some residents at a local nursing home - lead her to understand what's really important in life and what is just for show.

Her relationship with her ex-fiancee and his mother set the scenes for some laugh-out-loud moments. But what's really sweet is the unsuspecting (albeit obvious) gentleman who's waiting in the wings.

This book will not win any awards. And, I really would love to challenge authors in this genre to throw a red herring into the mix of possible romantic partners every once in a while. But, Ms. Volland has a gift for taking stereotypical characters and making them seem much more three-dimensional within the context of a light read.

I was thoroughly entertained, and I'm confident in writing that I think you all will be too.

This is a well-written, fun-to-read escape. Volland's humorous insights into quirky human behavior will have you chuckling as you are reminded of people in your own life. Curl up with this one and a "Pixie Shtick"(recipe on page 231)and enjoy!

Finding out that her ex boyfriend and still friend, Gaston, is engaged to a perky little Barbie clone named Courtney sends Kate Linden into crisis mode. Until that moment, she had not wanted to marry, now she wants Gaston back, and will pull out every trick she can to achieve that goal, from recruiting his mother's help to quitting her job and going to work in his office. As she rebuilds her life, Kate finds Gaston holding less appeal, but she is not about to be defeated, even by herself. Not even Sam, the cute young man who works with her mother and wants more than friendship with her can sway her from her charted course of destruction. Kate herself is the only one that can see the light. We can only hope that she does it before it's too late.

** Borrowing heavily from My Best Friend's Wedding, but without the appeal, this book is full of shallow characters who don't capture your heart. Sam is the only genuinely good person in the lot, and what he sees in Kate is hard to perceive. **

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore, Freelance Reviewer.