The Love Goddess' Cooking School by Melissa Senate

*** courtesy of Simon & Schuster

Synopsis

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.

My Review Comments:

After Holly’s Grandmother’s unexpected passing on top of the loss of the love of her life she decides to take a new direction for her future. She takes on her Grandmother’s most treasured possessions which is her recipes. She moves back home and continues in her Grandmother’s footsteps and teaches cooking classes to the locals. In the process of teaching her cooking classes there are some wonderful cast of characters that you will be introduced too. They all have their own share of problems but, they have one common thread that binds them all together and that is when they are cooking. The Italian recipes that they produce every week are scrumptious, from tiramisu, spaghetti with Bolognese sauce, to lasagna with ricotta cheese. It will make you want to get back in the kitchen and recreate some of these wonderful dishes. Throughout the story you find Holly getting the guidance that she needs through the magic of her grandmother’s journal & recipes so that she is able to find solace and direction in her life. But, best of all she is also able to trust to love again. This was a great read and would make a fantastic romantic comedy on the big screen.