The Love Goddess' Cooking School [Paperback]

Melissa Senate (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 26, 2010

Camilla's Cucinotta: Italian Cooking Classes. Fresh take-home pastas & sauces daily.  Benvenuti! (Welcome!)

Holly Maguire's grandmother Camilla was the Love Goddess of Blue Crab Island, Maine--a Milanese fortune-teller who could predict the right man for you, and whose Italian cooking was rumored to save marriages. Holly has been waiting years for her unlikely fortune: her true love will like sa cordula, an unappetizing old-world delicacy. But Holly can't make a decent marinara sauce, let alone sa cordula. Maybe that's why the man she hopes to marry breaks her heart. So when Holly inherits Camilla's Cucinotta, she's determined to forget about fortunes and love and become an Italian cooking teacher worthy of her grandmother's legacy. But Holly's four students are seeking much more than how to make Camilla's chicken alla Milanese. Simon, a single father, hopes to cook his way back into his daughter's heart. Juliet, Holly's childhood friend, hides a painful secret. Tamara, a serial dater, can't find the love she longs for. And twelve-year-old Mia thinks learning to cook will stop her dad, Liam, from marrying his phony lasagna-queen girlfriend. As the class gathers each week, adding Camilla's essential ingredients of wishes and memories in every pot and pan, unexpected friendships and romances are formed--and tested. Especially when Holly falls hard for Liam . . . and learns a thing or two about finding her own recipe for happiness.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Senate handles the hefty topics of loss and remembrances with lightness and respect and in so doing, redefines comfort food."

--Publishers Weekly

"Tender, charming, and seasoned with a pinch of old-world magic, The Love Goddess's Cooking School is a warmly rendered story off loss and starting over." --Beth Hoffman, New York Times bestselling author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

"The real magic here is Melissa Senate's writing, which laps rhythmically against your heart like gentle waves along the coast." --Claire Cook, bestselling author of Must Love Dogs and Seven Year Switch

About the Author

Melissa Senate is the author of ten novels, including the bestselling See Jane Date, which was made into an ABC Family TV movie.  She's published short pieces in Everything I've Always Wanted to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume, It's a Wonderful Lie, Flirting with Pride and Prejudice, and American Girls About Town.  A former editor of romance and young adult fiction, she now writes full time on the coast of Maine.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Gallery Books; Original edition (October 26, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439107238
• ISBN-13: 978-1439107232
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #77 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Single Women

More About the Author

I'm the author of 10 novels, including my debut, SEE JANE DATE, which was made into a TV movie, and my latest, THE LOVE GODDESS' COOKING SCHOOL. My other novels are: The Solomon Sisters Wise Up; Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?; The Breakup Club; Theodora Twist (for teens); Love You To Death; Questions To Ask Before Marrying; The Secret of Joy; and The Mosts (YA).

Short stories can be found in American Girls About Town and Flirting With Pride and Prejudice: Fresh Perspectives On The Original Chick Lit Masterpiece. Essays in: It's A Wonderful Lie: 26 Truths About Life In Your Twenties and Everything I Needed To Know About Being A Girl I Learned from Judy Blume.

I'm a former book editor (romance and teen fiction) from New York City and now live on the beautiful coast of Maine, where I write full-time. Please come visit my website at MelissaSenate.com for more information.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful... October 24, 2010

By Beth Hoffman

Format:Paperback

Melissa Senate's latest is a delightful story of a brokenhearted young woman's longing to find her place in the world. Though Holly Maquire has suffered several crushing losses, she's determined to change her life. Believing she can learn the secrets of her grandmother's recipes and therefore preserve her legacy of magical Italian cooking, Holly sets off on a new venture that she's ill prepared to handle. But with dogged determination and a few new friends, Holly grows and learns and ultimately surprises herself.

Sprinkled with a bit of old-world superstition, The Love Goddess' Cooking School is a charming novel that explores the mess we all can create in our lives and in our kitchens.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good enough to eat December 27, 2010

By Megan Snider VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

A word of caution for those picking up Melissa Senate's new novel, THE LOVE GODDESS' COOKING SCHOOL: don't read on an empty stomach. I've issued this caution before, I know, but trust me this one time, friends. Since beginning this warm and engaging novel, I've been dreaming of tiramisu, spaghetti with Bolognese sauce, lasagna and ricotta cheese. As someone who feels she must have been Italian in another life (pasta, I love pasta!), the odd stains scarring the pages of my copy may or may not be drool. The prose was just . . . scrumptious. And Senate describes Holly's creations so well, you'll want to throw this one down and make dinner every time you finish a chapter.

What I love about this work, Senate's latest in a long line of great books, is her ability to create likable, friendly and interesting characters who captivate you right from the start. Like the men entranced by the exotic, lovely Camilla Constantina, an Italian immigrant who arrived in America with her young husband and was widowed in the U.S., I was immediately drawn into Holly's world and felt like I was reading the story of a dear friend. Have I read the running-away-to-find-yourself plots before? Yes, of course. But in Senate's hands, a familiar story takes on new nuances.

Holly is a bumbling, uncomfortable woman when first we meet her -- aching from loss and grief, both in the form of her relationship with John and her grandmother's unexpected passing; lost as to what to do with her life. Having spent most of her adult years following men from city to city, she has no career or aspirations. She has no calling. And Camilla, when she was living, could tell her little about her future . . . aside from the premonition about sa cordula. She needs guidance. And through her grandmother's magical recipes, she finds solace and direction.

I've read and loved many of Melissa Senate's novels, including THE SOLOMON SISTERS WISE UP, and this was a departure from her usual fare. Still about women, love and family, yes, but there were no sisters here to speak of -- and sisters appear often in Senate's works! I'm happy to report this is my favorite Senate read of all, and a book I'll still be thinking about in the months to come. Holly is an inspiration.

Now, where's that tiramisu?

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Review from So Many Books, So Little Time October 23, 2010

By A. Mason

Format:Paperback

I've been reading so much YA lately (which I love) that I've forgotten how much I love a really good chick-lit book. Thanks to Melissa Senate for reminding me.

The basic plot was the same as in most chick-lit books. Girl gets heartbroken but gets over the guy, grows stronger, and finds a new love. But I loved the characters in this one. Especially Liam and Mia.

Liam seems like such a great guy. He's a great dad (which is so hot), is a gentleman, and romantic! It doesn't seem like there are guys like that out there any more. And Mia was such a fun twelve year old. Sometimes tweens can seem annoying but Mia seemed more mature for her age. A great kid!

And I loved all the cooking in the book. I am not a good cook. But I wish I was! I liked the recipes at the end and I copied one down that didn't seem to hard so I could attempt to cook it later. I look forward to seeing what Melissa Senate writes next!