Book Review: Bon Appetit, by Sandra Byrd

Bon Appetit: A Novel by Sandra Byrd


Bon Appetit reads like a memoir but is a light and entertaining work of fiction about an aspiring chef from Seattle who travels to France to work in bread and pastry bakeries in the village of Presque le Chateau.

Throw in some recipes, descriptions of trips to Paris and Versailles, a budding love affair that could turn into a love triangle, and you have a Bon Appetit of a book!

I copied the recipes for French Onion Soup and Simple Apple Galettes and promised myself to try them. There is also a tempting recipe for Chocolate Truffles which sounds very easy to whip up!

Bon Appetit is the second in a series of three novels with chef Lexi Stuart. The first, Let Them Eat Cake, is set in Seattle, and the third, also in Seattle, will continue the saga of Lexi's development as a bread and pastry chef and probably settle the question, "Which one of her suitors will she choose?"

This is also the first "religious" novel I've ever read. The main character prays when she is in a dilemma and relies on quotations from the Bible to carry her through the ups and down of her culinary experience. Interestingly, this didn't bother me as the novel was not overly spiritual, nor preachy.

Fault Line by Barry Eisler, book review

Fault Line is a fast paced thriller with an intriguing plot and lots of action. Three people connected to a brand new computer security software, Obsidian, including the softward developer Richard Hilzoy, die suddenly, one after the other.

It begins to seem like a nasty conspiracy to Alex Treven, Hilzoy's lawyer, who gets so nervous he calls his estranged older brother Ben for help. Obsidian is being patented and is not yet on the market, but someone wants to make sure the software is never introduced to the public.

Ben works for a branch of the government in special operations, and is more capable of handling "bad guys" than the bookish Alex. Though they haven't been in touch for years, Ben flies in to San Francisco to help his brother, protecting him and his associate Sarah from the ruthless group out to destroy the Obsidian software and all the people who know about it.

The question is, why is this particular software so threatening, and to whom?

The personal relationship between the three main characters, Alex, Ben, and Sarah, adds to the interest in the book. Why is Alex and his brother Ben so antagonistic to each other and what has kept them estranged until now? Who has been the "better brother" in the family over the years? And who gets the girl in the end?

"The truth was, bad memories never died. No, at best they were quiescent, just waiting for the right circumstances to pop up like an evil jack-in-the-box and say, Miss me? Don't worry, I'm still here! And I'm not going anywhere, either. Never, ever."

This book will appeal to those who love lots of quick action, suspense, and a good plot. Eisler has also written a John Rain thriller series, one of which, Rain Fall, has been made into a movie just released in Japan.

Book provided by the publisher, for my objective review.

Teaser Tuesday: A Map of Paradise

From A Map of Paradise: A Novel of Nineteenth Century Hawaii by Linda Ching Sledge, 1997. Molly, the young daughter of immigrants, learns about Hawaii.

"A true child of the islands, Molly could name in Hawaiian the separate winds that blew through Nuuanu Valley by the time she was seven. Nalani had taught her to breathe with the earth, to feel the ola that coursed through land and sky and sea, to see akuas hidden in the mists, to trace the footsteps of tiny creatures called menehunes in the ancient ditches and canals that crisscrossed the hidden reaches of the valley and thus to make herself one with the spirit-infused land." (ch. 12)

Choose two sentences at random from a book of your choice: Teaser Tuesday meme courtesy of MizB at Should Be Reading

The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho, a review

The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho, published April 7, 2009 by Harper hardcover.

This is the first book by Paulo Coelho that I've read and I believe his first mystery novel.

I was immediately struck by the irony in the book, which blends a mystery/thriller plot with extensive social commentary.

The main character, a wealthy Russian businessman, Igor, attends the Cannes Film Festival in France to try to win back his ex-wife, who will be there with her husband, a famous fashion designer. Igor sends Ewa cryptic and menacing messages by email saying he will begin "destroying worlds" to win her back.

At the same time, Igor critically observes the crowd at Cannes - the Superclass as he refers to them, who set superficial standards for dress, behavior, and aspirations.

"Look at the Superclass around us. They think they are so important, so socially aware, because they are willing to pay a fortune for some useless item at a charity auction or to attend a supper organized to raise funds to help the homeless in Rwanda or to save the pandas in China. Pandas and the homeless are all one to them."

Igor becomes a social critic, a political critic, a critic of manners, and more, all the while showing that his socially conscious reasoning clashes with his personal life. How he tries to impress his ex-wife is devilish, to say the least, with the Angel of Death always hovering over his shoulder.

Coelho hints that Igor's "dual" character is like modern society, in that it can be rational and objective on the one hand, and wildly illogical on the other. Another irony in this psychological thriller is that Igor, driven by evil, has an unintended but positive effect on the life of a young model he meets briefly in Cannes.

In The Winner Stands Alone, Coelho writes a chilling thriller and also tackles the problems of the day with a critical eye - frank observations with just a tinge of cynicism.

Book provided by the publisher, for my objective review.

One Lovely Blog Award

I love the name of this award, One Lovely Blog Award. Many thanks to Suzanne of Chick With Books for passing it on.
this award was also given to me in 2009 by Booklogged A Reader's Journal

"One Lovely Blog Award goes to new blogs and blogging friends.

The rules are: Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who granted the award and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered."

The award goes to
Yarn~Knit~Read~Lit
In Spring it is the Dawn
Carol's Notebook
Living Life and Reading Books
A Striped Armchair
PussReboots
Stacy's Bookblog
Life in the Thumb

Asian American Literary Awards

Here are some books that have recently won awards from the Asian American Writers Workshop.
2008 Winners
Mohsin Hamid The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Harcourt, 2007
Vijay Prashad The Darker Nations, New Press, 2007
Sun Yung Shin Skirt Full of Black, Coffee House Press, 2007
Ed Lin * This Is a Bust, Kaya Press, 2007

2007 Winners
Linh Dinh Borderless Bodies, Factory School, 2006
Amitav Ghosh Incendiary Circumstances: A Chronicle of the Turmoil of Our Times, Houghton Mifflin, 2006
Samrat Upadhyay The Royal Ghosts, Houghton Mifflin, 2006
Gene Yuen Yang* American Born Chinese, First Second Books, 2006

The 2009 Asian American Literary Awards will be announced later this year. Earlier awards are listed at
AAWW Awards

Mysteries in Foreign Lands

Need information on mystery novels set in other countries such as Europe, Asia, and Latin America? See Mysteries in Foreign Lands

Check out contemporary Japanese writer Murakami or a 1998 thriller by Wang Shuo of China.


See U.S. Regional Mysteries for books set in the various parts of the U.S.


Miami, It's Murder, with Cuban-American journalist-sleuth Britt Montero, by Edna Buchanan.

Uncatalogued by Julie Kaeworth is a booklover's mystery set in Dartmouth College.