Karin

Lifestyle blogger Grace Stanton has it all – a lucrative business, Gracenotes, a beautiful house in a gated community and a handsome husband...who just happens to be having an affair with her assistant. Life gets exciting when Grace finds out about the affair and drives her no good husbands sports car into the pool.

After going to spend the night with her mother, Grace finds out the next morning that her husband has locked her out of the house, seized the finances and has taken control of Gracenotes. His bad behavior is aided by a woman-hating judge who sends her to a divorce recovery group.

Grace quickly builds friendships with the other members of the group, and she begins a romance with the only male attendee.

While Grace starts a new lifestyle blog, TrueGrace, she starts to rebuild a rundown house – all this while also investigating the curious behavior of her counselor and notorious Judge Stackpole. This is a witty, smart and funny novel that is a perfect summer beach read.

Author Khaled Hosseini has proven again with his newest novel, And The Mountains Echoed, that he is a gifted storyteller. This unforgettable novel follows a cast of characters that are tied together by the same family, through war, betrayal, geography and life choices that effect multiple generations.

The narrative starts with a father telling his two children a fairy tale that portends the tragic fate of these two siblings for years ahead. The story is built through various points of view, with each section serving as a sort of short story that intersects characters.

In February, I was lucky to meet author Kristopher Jansma. He was so nice and down to earth as he talked about his first novel, The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards. He spoke with a passion about writing and how writing this novel changed his life.

This is a novel that is a must-read for anyone who loves the written word. With grace, wit, and delightful complexities, the story centers on a writer who longs to write the next best-selling novel that will become a classic. We meet this writer at a young age as he makes up stories about the travelers in terminal B, while waiting for his flight attendant mother to come home. As he gets older, he forms two very serious bonds; one with another young writer and the other with a woman who is more herself while she is on stage than when she is with others. This is a coming of age story that lasts decades and is infused with love, fame and the pursuit of that one novel that will change the world of literature forever.

The Ashford Affair is a splendid saga that spans decades and multiple continents to offer the reader a story full of passion, secrets, betrayal, and family ties. When Clemmie Evans attends her grandmother's ninety-ninth birthday, she overhears part of a long-buried family secret. She then decides if she uncovers the secret, she will understand the fabric of family feuds. From high society World War One Britain, to the dusty red hills of Kenya, and penthouses in Manhattan, Clemmie unearths the hidden secrets of the past and the present.

The roaring Twenties was made even more magical by the original flapper Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald. Author Therese Ann Fowler has written a brilliant biographical novel on this glamorous, reckless woman who was fighting her own creativity while also trying to support her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, as he tried to achieve his goals. This couple had a destructive love, a love that was obsessive and heartbreaking. The novel explores Zelda's life, first as a southern debutante, then as a wife and mother. Zelda was a woman who shined, but she was also a woman who lost herself amid the drinking, parties, and constant parade of people in her life.

If you enjoyed The Paris Wife, Loving Frank or The Aviator's Wife, you will be mesmerized by this novel.

Yum, Yum, Yum, Easy, Easy, Easy. 

I have started to use the cookbook One Pot, One Bowl, by Kim McCosker, the last couple of weeks, and have not had a bad recipe yet.  The format is super easy: one pot (Dutch oven, skillet, baking pan, or slow cooker) and four ingredients – it doesn’t get much easier than that. The ingredients can easily be found at the local market and most are likely already stocked in your pantry, freezer and refrigerator.

Some of my favorites so far have been, Basil Pesto Quiche, Little Cheese Pies, Chicken Tikka Masala, French Onion Soup, Chicken Enchilada Cake, and an amazing Key Lime Pie.

Who is Lily Azerov? That is the main theme in this gripping novel set in post-WWII Montreal that has the reader piecing together the past life of Lily, while the daughter she abandoned, Ruth, searches for clues and answers.  The Imposter Bride is a story of secrets, love, family, personal reflection and stolen identities.