A Dangerous New Fae...

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny--one she could never have imagined...

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school...or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth--that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face...and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Title: The Iron King
Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: The Iron Fey, Book 1
Start & Finished: 6/11/10- 6/13/10
Published: February 1, 2010
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Pages: 363
Genre: YA-Fantasy
Official Book Site

Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night Dream has inspired so much since it was written in the late 1500’s, from other plays to novels, movies, and even music, the characters Oberon, Titania, and Puck have become forever cemented in the human mind. Young adult author Julie Kagawa has taken these characters (all of which are based on real myths, Titania is the only one Shakespeare named) and even made a few of her own using the faerie myths for her debut novel The Iron King.

When asked why she wrote this story Ms. Kagawa said, “Faeries, the old, ancient fey, not the glittery winged sprites, have always fascinated me. But I wanted to write a book that was different than other faery books. So I began thinking: what if there was a new type of fey that had evolved with progress over the years? What if they weren’t only immune to iron, their existence was slowly poisoning and corrupting the lands of the traditional fey? And I realized we already have “monsters” in machines: gremlins, bugs, viruses, ect. And from that thought, the iron fey were born.”* As you may have guessed, the iron fey are the bad guys in this book and they’re every environmentalist’s nightmare villian!

Ever since I first heard about The Iron King it has reminded me of Lesley Livingston’s Wondrous Strange series. While there are some of the same characters, like Oberon, Mab, and Puck, it was quite a bit different. Of course, it's main character Meghan Chase thinks she's just a nothing special, ordinary high school student but what would be the fun if that was true? Yet as predictable as that particular plot point is for a YA fantasy, it’s the faery characters and their world where this author shows her talents. My favorite character besides Puck was Grimalkin the Cait Sith which is a sidhe fae in the form of a cat. He somewhat reminded me of Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire Cat and according to him in one character interview he “found [Lewis Carroll] wandering around Faerie one day in a daze, about to be eaten by ogres, and led him back to the mortal realm. In return, he put me in a book. Crazy mortal.”

Frankly, The Iron King was a wonderful story that I throughouly enjoyed yet I did find the character’s descriptions a little weak (especially Puck who I never could get the look quite right in my head even if he was an amazing character) and I felt like the faery worlds were more “real” than the mortal world… still trying to decide whether that was intentional or not but I rather liked it! The only thing that really bothered me was how Puck was briefly re-introduced at one point in the quest and then almost immediately taken back out. I hope that he has a much bigger part in the next story. This book isn’t the first and it won’t be the last to use faeries, even some of these particular faeries in young adult fantasy and that’s perfectly okay with me. Book two of this trilogy, The Iron Daughter comes out in August of 2010.

“You really are Puck?” I said finally. The Puck? Like in the stories?
Robbie/ Puck gave a little bow. “The one and only.”

“Will it be very dangerous?”
“Oh, extremely,” Robbie said, walking up to Ethan’s bedroom door. “That’s what makes it fun. You can die in so many interesting ways-- skewered on a glass sword, dragged underwater and eaten by a kelpie, turned into a spider or a rosebush for all time--” He looked back at me. “Well, are you coming or not?”

The Iron Fey
1. The Iron King (2010)
1a. Winters Passage (novella) (2010)
2. The Iron Daughter (2010)
3. The Iron Queen (2011)

First Paragraph: Ten years ago, on my sixth birthday, my father disappeared.
No, he didn't leave. Leaving would imply suitcases and empty drawers, and late birthday cards with ten-dollar bills stuffed inside. Leaving would imply he was unhappy with Mom and me, or that he found a new love elsewhere. None of that was true. He also did not die, because we would've heard about it. There was no car crash, no body, no police mingling about the scene of a brutal murder. It all happened very quietly.

Author’s Twitter
Author’s Blog
Iron King Facebook

Interviews
Fantasy Magazine*
Faery Interview with Sharon Loves Books and Cats (all main characters)
Sharon Loves Books and Cats (with character Grimalkin)
Larissa’s Life
Book Bound
The Story Siren
Author’s Blog with Characters (in comments)
Page Turners
Frenetic Reader
With Book Cellar on Author Blog
With Page Flipper on Author
Dark Faerie Tales
Page Turners (with Puck)

PLEASE LET MY KNOW IF I MISSED YOURS

Source: Giveaway win from Mundie Moms blog



Picture Explanations
Ethan: He's kidnapped by the faeries and like Labyrinth before it, is the reason Meghan starts her quest.
Grimalkin: Meghan meet Grim when she's thrown into his tree
Ironhorse: One of the Iron King Machina's lieutenants.
The Iron Kingdom: Is a twisted, polluted place with acid rain.

Rider on the Storm

The Warden Association has been around pretty much forever. Some Wardens control fire, others control earth, water, or wind-- and the most powerful can control more than one element. Without Wardens, Mother Nature would wipe humanity off the face of the earth…

Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden. Usually, all it takes is a wave of her hand to tame the most violent weather. But now Joanne is trying to outrun another kind of storm: accusations of corruption and murder. So she’s resorting to the very human tactic of running for her life…

Her only hope is Lewis, the most powerful Warden. Unfortunately, he’s also on the run from the World Council. It seems he’s stolen not one but three bottles of Djinn-- making him the most wanted man on earth. And without Lewis, Joanne’s chances of surviving are as good as a snowball in-- well, a place she may be headed. So she and her classic Mustang are racing hard to find him because there’s some bad weather closing in fast…

Title: Ill Wind
Author: Rachel Caine
Series: Weather Warden, Book 1
Start & Finished: 6/17/10- 6/19/10
Published: December 1, 2003
Publisher: ROC Fantasy (Penguin Group)
Pages: 337
Genre: Urban Fantasy

Endorsed by Jim Butcher as a “fun read,” Ill Wind is the first book in Rachel Caine’s Weather Warden series about Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin. Originally written as a short story with the main character having leukemia, searching for her long lost brother for a transplant, and chased by bad weather wherever she went, and the author loved the “energy” of the story but publishers refused it because of the main character having cancer. Finally, Caine “reset the universe into a fantasy context [with] the cancer becoming a *Demon Mark*” and so the Weather Wardens series was born.

What surprised me was that even though we know from the very first page that Joanne is in trouble and is on the run, we don’t know what from or exactly why and that theme is repeated throughout the whole book. You’re left guessing while the author slowly feeds you what you need to know, when you need to know it (sometimes in flashback sequences). For example, we’re introduced to a neat character fairly early on named David who is a hitchhiker and yet there was just something about him that after the initial meeting had me wondering about him. He’s the second best character in the book-- and I’m hoping, the series-- after Joanne.

Joanne Baldwin is a cool chick. She loves her fast cars (hers is a “sweet midnight blue ‘71 Mustang“ named Delilah) and hot guys, combined with the fact she can also control wind and water, she‘s a badass but still girly at times. She’s a Weather Warden and a really powerful one at that. The Wardens protect us from the weather because it isn’t what we think. The weather is “a predator. In fact, the whole world around you is full of predators you can’t see, can’t sense, that are held in check only by their own whims and the power of about 1 percent of the human population.” They do this by their own powers as well as using the powers of their captured Djinn. Djinn are the proper name of what we know as genies and I’m not talking about from Aladdin. These are seriously dangerous, fantastic, and amazing creatures!

The Weather Warden series has quickly made its way onto my list of favorite urban fantasies. I even liked it better than the author’s young adult Morganville Vampire series and that’s saying something. Some of the talk of weather patterns did go over my head but it didn’t effect my enjoyment of Ill Wind one bit. The ending has me itching to pick up the next book as soon as I possibly can!

I find that as a Warden, it pays to drive something aerodynamic and fast that the wind will have a hard time shoving over a cliff. Just because I can control the weather-- with the proper focus-- doesn’t mean the weather likes it, or that it won’t decide to screw with me at the most incontinent times. In my business, we not only understand chaos theory, but we totally abide by it, as well. Chaos happens. Plan for speed.

People talk about nature as a mother, but to me she’s always been Medea, ready and willing to slaughter her children.

There was no way I wanted to bring my problems into that world. That world didn’t know the sunshine was provided for them, just like the rain, or that somebody had to protect them daily from the fury of the earth and the weather.
It was a nice world to visit, even if I couldn’t live there.

Weather Warden
1. Ill Wind (2003)
2. Heat Stroke (2004)
3. Chill Factor (2005)
4. Windfall (2005)
5. Firestorm (2006)
6. Thin Air (2007)
7. Gale Force (2008)
8. Cape Storm (2009)
9. Total Eclipse (2010)

First Paragraph: Well, thank God this is about over, I thought as I drove-- well, blew-- past the sign that marked the Westchester, Connecticut, city limits. Traffic sucked, not surprisingly; rush hour was still in full swing, and I had to moderate my impatience and ride the brake while I watched for my exit. Calm down. Things will be back to normal in a few more minutes.

Links
Wikipedia

Interview:
Vision~ A Resource for Writers
Crescent Blues
BookLoons

Related Reviews
Glass Houses, Dead Girl's Dance, Midnight Alley, Feast of Fools, Lord of Misrule, Carpe Corpus, & Fade Out

Source: Giveaway from the Random (but not really) blog

Picture Explanations
Road: Joanne’s constantly on the go in this one… for good reason!
Storm: The main character’s ability is to control the weather and the weather doesn’t like this at all!
Lightening: Joanne met Star when she saved her from a storm that was intent on killing her
Mustang: Delilah!

No Merci

Two-time Academy Award nominee John Travolta and three-time Golden Globe nominee Jonathan Rhys Meyers join forces in the high-octane action thriller, From Paris With Love.

Trigger-happy special agent Charlie Wax (Travolta) leads rookie James Reese (Rhys Meyers) on a high-speed shooting frenzy through the Parisian underworld during a high-stakes CIA mission to foil a terrorist attack planned on the city. Before Reese realizes he’s bitten off more than he can chew, the duo discovers that he’s a target of the same crime ring planning the attack. With only 48 hours to save the city, there is no turning back and only one deadly way out. Pack your bags and get ready for a serious adrenaline-rush of adventure!

Title: From Paris With Love
Release: February 5, 2010
Genre: Action
MPAA Rating: R
Writer: Luc Besson & Adi Hasak
Director: Pierre Morel
Music By: David Buckley
Produced By: Luc Besson & India Osborne
Distributed By: Lionsgate & EuropaCorp
Run Time: 92 minutes
Official Site

Somewhat of a “buddy” or taking it one step further, “mentor-student” action movie, From Paris With Love stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as James Reece, the wannabe agent and John Travolta as Charlie Wax the seasoned spy. It’s just a funny, somewhat dark, action packed movie where Travolta shows his crazy. He plays a character that is seriously nuts in this movie; sort of a comedic badass, but he’s also good at his job, which is namely killing terrorists.

High body count, drug use, explosions, car chases, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (he plays James Reece) walks around looking pretty… for a good portion of the movie with a vase full of cocaine. Well, he doesn’t just look pretty because he’s the balance to Travolta’s crazy character and I enjoyed his performance enough that I may look into other things with him. Kasia Smutniak plays Reece's girlfriend Caroline and while I found the thought of them as a couple believable, I still didn't think her character was very well developed.

I found this movie to be disjointed, somewhat predictable, and even at times flat but it was the chaotic mayhem that Travolta’s character wrought throughout the movie that I enjoyed. Some reviewers have called his acting “hammy” and “overblown” but that’s what I liked about it. You never know what he’s going to do next! I could see this as a TV show (as long as they don’t call it “Wax On, Wax Off”) sort of a Burn Notice meets Rush Hour. Truthfully I think it would have been better that way since the plot would have more time to develop slowly instead of cramming everything in one mad rush at once as this movie seems to do.

A lot of hard work did go into this film though. It was filmed exclusively in Paris (and yes, even at the Eiffel Tower), Travolta went bald for the first time for the role, most of the actors did a good majority of their own stunts, and the manequin shootout scene is beautifully choreographed yet looks natural. As long as you don’t go into this film with any expectations except to see John Travolta play a fun character and Jonathan Rhys Meyers looking smart and gorgeous then I’m sure you’ll enjoy From Paris With Love with reservations just as I did.

Links
Imdb.com
Wikipedia
ReelzChannel

Trailer


Official Interview

This Flower Has Thorns

A Damsel’s Plight…

Orphaned and desperate, Imogen of Carrisford flees when a brutal lord invades and takes possession of her castle. There is only one man she can turn to for help.

A Knight’s Rescue…

He is FitzRoger of Cleeve, rumored to be a ruthless champion in battle and a tyrannical master. Imogen is stunned at the very sight of his powerful body, yet it is his cool green eyes that penetrate her very soul, making her tremble with both fear and desire. Sheltered all her life, she needs such a man to defend and protect her… yet she dares not trust him to put her desires before his own. But even as she vows independence, boldly standing beside him against treacherous enemies, her defenses crumble… falling helplessly to the gentle fury of her warrior’s love.

Title: Dark Champion
Author: Jo Beverley
Series: Dark Champion, Book 1
Start & Finished: 6/7/10- 6/8/10
Re-Published: January 7, 2003 (originally 1993)
Publisher: Signet
Pages: 366
Genre: Romance- Historical/ Medieval

Jo Beverley (real name Mary Josephine Dunn), was born and raised in England where all her historical romances are set. Ms. Beverley has covered many periods in her historical romances including the Georgian (1714-1810), Regency (1811-1820), and the medieval period (938-1485) which is where the first book of her series that has the character FitzRoger of Cleeves in it, Dark Champion is set. Dark Champion is a RITA award finalist and is the winner of the Golden Leaf award, Best historical.

Though it has been a long time since I read a historical romance, I tried this book because I have several Jo Beverley romances in my library and I never have read anything by her before. Set in England in the year 1101 during the reign of Henry I (who does make an appearance in the story), the author portrays the time period better than any other I have come across. For one thing she doesn’t try to get fancy and it’s written in plain English, for another the main characters are a Lord and Lady so things like poor health conditions rarely make it into the story so it’s not as dark and drab as I usually consider medieval romances to be.

There were times I forgot just how young the main character Imogen was (she’s 16 and is the youngest heroine Beverley has written) but then again, that was an acceptable marrying age during this time period. She does occasionally act her age but for the most part, she’s very mature. Living an extremely sheltered life, she “had never experienced violence… [now she has] nearly drowned in it.” At the very start of Dark Champion, the reader gets to see her adapting to her new situation and by the end; she’s very much a new person: “Was she not called the Flower of the West? Flowers were not weak. She would be stronger for having been crushed." She has a bit of Scarlett O’Hara (the movie version) in her at times in that she‘ll do anything to save her home. FitzRoger isn’t really a Rhett Butler type even though he starts off very cold, the reader doesn’t get many times with his POV but he was still a memorable character even if we don’t get to know him very well.

In an interview, the author claimed to "have a very soft spot for Imogen and FitzRoger from Dark Champion. Even though they started out seeming so different, in fact they were very similar and they will grow together nicely. I'm sure they're going to be no-nonsense about life and just all-around good people." There are three other books that connect to The Dark Champion. They are The Shattered Rose (FitzRoger makes a small appearance so it‘s not technically connected), Lord of Midnight whose main character is FitzRoger's best friend Sir Renald de Lisle, and Lord of My Heart which is a story of FitzRoger's uncle Aimery de Gaillard.

Dark Champion
1. Dark Champion (1993)
2. The Shattered Rose (1996)
3. Lord of Midnight (1998)
4. Lord of My Heart (1992)

First Paragraph: Imogen of Carrisford stood in the dark cold, shivering at the muted sounds of horror. Even here in her castle’s secret ways, she could not escape the distant clash of arms, the howls of battle rage, the frantic bellowed orders and the screams of terror.

Links
Wikipedia
Author's Personal Blog- Jo Talk
Author's Historical Blog- Mine Past

Interview
1996- Literary Times (at All About Romance)

Medieval Castles, Ruin, and Music:


Picture Explanations
Castle: An old medieval castle that could be Carrisford
Garden: Carrisford has a lovely one even after the invaders
Cave: Imogen and FitzRoger hide out in one of these after escaping an ambush

No One Can Resist a Natural Born Charmer

Chicago Stars quarterback Dean Robillard is the luckiest man in the world. But life in the glory lane has started to pale, and Dean has set off on a trip to figure out what's gone wrong. When he hits a lonely stretch of Colorado highway, he spies something that will shake up his gilded life in ways he can't imagine. A young woman . . . dressed in a beaver suit.

Blue Bailey is on a mission. As for the beaver suit she's wearing . . . Is it her fault that life keeps throwing her curve balls? Witness the expensive black sports car pulling up next to her on the highway and the Greek god stepping out of it.

They're soon heading for his summer home, where their already complicated lives and inconvenient attraction to each other will become entangled with a charismatic but aging rock star; a beautiful, fifty-two-year-old woman trying to make peace with her rock and roll past; an eleven-year-old who desperately needs a family; and a bitter old woman who hates them all.

Title: Natural Born Charmer
Author: Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Start & Finished: 6/2/10- 6/3/10
Published: February 6, 2007
Publisher: Avon
Pages: 385
Genre: Romance- Contemporary

Inducted into the Romance Writers of American (RWA) Hall of Fame in 2001 and who is a recipient of the RWA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, author Susan Elizabeth Phillips is well known for her fantastic romance stories. Her most well known ones are the books that feature the Chicago Stars or Bonner Brothers. Ms. Phillips said that during the tour for Natural Born Charmer she realized that her Chicago Star series ended in 2001 with This Heart of Mine but all of her "characters exist in the same creative universe." This is why Match Me if You Can and this story aren't really considered part of the series yet they have characters from the previous stories in them so technically Natural Born Charmer is a stand-alone book.

If a book has a sassy heroine and at least one crotchety, cranky elderly person who's really a bit of a marshmallow under all those prickly quills then it's almost a sure bet that I will love it. As you can probably guess, Natural Born Charmer has both of these things and a multi-millionaire athlete who's a lot more than just another pretty face to boot. That athlete is Dean Robillard who first appeared in chapter two of Match Me if You Can, the book that Susan Elizabeth Phillips wrote prior to this one with his “diamond studs glittering in his earlobes” (he’s lost these in this book though).

This is a hilarious book but it has more depth than the normal fluffy chick-lit since it explores estranged and strained relationships with families and what that does to all of the characters. Both Blue (and what a neat name that is!) and Dean had crappy childhoods that left them with emotional scars. “You’re awfully bitter about your parents. I’m beginning to think your childhood was as twisted as mine.” He brushed his toe against the hollow below her ankle bone. “The difference being that I’ve recovered, and you’re still a fruitcake.”

Blue is a bit prickly but she’s truly a unique and original character, especially the way she perceives herself (or at least that’s what she tells Dean): “I have so much character that adding beauty to the mix would be greedy.” That’s what is so great about a Susan Elizabeth Phillips romance, you know you’re going to get great characters along with a good plot but I believe she outdid herself with her secondary characters here (I loved Jack Patriot, Nita, and April). The American Library Association voted Natural Born Charmer as the Outstanding Romance of 2007 and it wasn’t the first, nor probably the last of this author’s books to win an award.

“Just drive and look gorgeous,” she said. “No need to tax your brain by talking.”
She had more nerve than any woman he’d ever met.

Books with Other Chicago Stars / Bonner Brothers
It Had to Be You (1994)
Heaven Texas (1995)
Nobody's Baby But Mine (1997)
Dream a Little Dream (1998)
This Heart of Mine (2001)
Match Me If You Can (2005)
Natural Born Charmer (2007)

First Paragraph: It wasn't every day a guy saw a headless beaver marching down the side of the road, not even in Dean Robillard's larger-than-life world. "Son of a..." Dean slammed on the brakes of his brand-new Aston Martin Vanquish and pulled over in front of her.

Links:
Author’s Wikipedia
Author’s Facebook



Source: From personal collection

Picture Explanations
Football: Dean is the quarterback for the Chicago Stars
Gypsy Caravan: Dean's housekeeper talked him into buying this and Blue loves it. She sleeps there after it arrives
Paint: Painting is how Blue earns her bread and butter
Vanquish: Dean's baby!

She’s Betting Everything On One Hot Dish

Olivia Regan is determined to make her new pastry business a success. So what that all of her marketing plans have backfired and no one, including her own family, thinks that she can succeed. What she needs is a surefire attention-getter. And snaring Daniel Worth-- the sexiest, most eligible bachleor in Boston-- by bidding on him at a highly visible auction is the way to go. Using Daniel’s celebrity to promote her business will be a piece of cake-- if she can resist his considerable charms…

Daniel Worth inherited his considerable wealth, good looks, and playboy ways from his father and grandfather. He’s never had to buckle down and work at anything in his life, and he doesn’t imagine charming Olivia will be any different. But something about Olivia’s never-say-die attitude stirs Daniel’s own dreams. The girl may attract disaster like his family does money, but she’s brave, smart, and downright adorable. She’s also the only person he’s never been able to buy. And soon, Daniel’s got a new idea: walking away from his fortune to become his own man and prove to Olivia that he’s the best investment she’ll ever make…

Title: The Bachelor Preferred Pastry
Author: Shirley Jump
Series: Recipes With Romance, Book 4
Start & Finished: 6/1/10
Published: February 1, 2006
Publisher: Kensington- Zebra Books
Pages: 371
Genre: Romance- Contemporary

She’s a firecracker, he’s a multi-millionaire playboy and yet, in spite of that (or maybe partly because of it) Olivia and Daniel find themselves inextricably drawn to one another in Shirley Jump’s fourth Romance with Recipes (which are exactly the way they sound with a recipe before every chapter) series The Bachelor Preferred Pastry. This book was a finalist for several romance writer awards.

Written in the same style as Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Jenny Crusie, Ms. Jump has created a main male character who is yummy, a main female character whom most women would love to be for at least a day, and the stories themselves are sweet yet funny! It’s not all fluff either since the snark and banter between Olivia and Daniel is half of what makes the story intriguing. The other half of what makes The Bachelor Preferred Pastry so much fun is the secondary characters, from the imposing, grumpy grandfather to the lovable butler (I kept seeing Lewiston as Michael Caine) and Olivia’s flaky sister (she’s a great believer in all kinds of things, from astrology to aliens- which she mentions a LOT) too.

Shirley Jump’s story does have a bit of a Cinderella-feel to it but I was more reminded of the movie Sabrina (no, not the witch, the movie with Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart) but only superficially since I certainly can’t see Sabrina (Hepburn) throwing a cake at Linus (Bogart)! Though the central plots have a lot in common even if Daniel is nothing like Linus (a bit more like the other brother) when it comes to the family business though. “Olivia nearly laughed at the thought of the millionaire understanding what the poor girl in the apron was enduring. That was like Prince Charming empathizing with Cinderella’s kitchen drudgery. Maybe that had been the attraction on that ballroom floor. Both of them were suckers for the fairy tale.”

There are a couple of great twists from both characters during The Bachelor Preferred Pastry, one I saw coming and one I didn’t but the one I didn’t… it’s a doozy! This was a sweet story that does fall more into the fluff category than not but I did enjoy it immensely. For once I didn’t read the series before I started this book but since only a few blink-and-you’ll-miss-them characters from the previous books that have recipes in them appear (mostly as cameo roles), I didn’t feel the need to read those first. That’s not to say that I won’t pick them up in the future though!

“You lead, I follow. I am, after all, bought and payed for.”
“And since I paid damned good money for you, I expect to get every last dime’s worth.”
“Oh you will, Miss Reagan,” he said, bringing up the rear as they exited the room, “you most certainly will.”

Recipes with Romance
1. The Bride Wore Chocolate (2004)
2. The Devil Served Tortellini (2005)
3. The Angel Craved Lobster (2005)
4. The Bachelor Preferred Pastry (2006)
5. Pretty Bad (2007)

First Paragraph: “Sold!” The auctioneer’s gavel came down with a final slam, and Boston’s 28th most eligible bachelor walked off the stage of the Worth Hotel ballroom-- and straight into the open arms of his new female owner.

Links:
Excerpt
Author Blog Eating My Words
Facebook Page (she has pictures of her lovely office up!)

Interview:
Wow! Women on Writing

NOTE: Recipes are included before every chapter

Souce: From my collection, bought new in 2006

Picture Explanations
Bakery: This is sort of what I pictured the bakery Pastries with Panache to look like
Cheesecake: Seems to be the stores speciality…