Reseña: The Promise Kitchen

+Digital copy gently providead by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review+

The Promise Kitchen 

by 

Peggy Lampman

382 pages

Expected publication: September 27th 2016 by Lake Union Publishing (first published June 25th 2015)

Original Title: Simmer and Smoke

ISBN:1503938840 (ISBN13: 9781503938847)

Literary Awards:IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards for Best First Book Fiction - Silver (2016)

SINOPSIS: 

Shelby Preston, a young single mother, is at a crossroads. She feels suffocated by her hardscrabble life in rural Georgia and dreams of becoming a professional chef. Lord knows her family could use a pot of something good. In Atlanta, Mallory Lakes is reeling from a bad breakup. The newspaper food columnist is also bracing for major changes at work that could put her job at risk. Determined to find the perfect recipe for how to reinvent herself, she gets involved in the growing farm-to-table movement. But an emotional setback threatens to derail everything she’s worked for. Shelby and Mallory couldn’t be more different. But through their shared passion for food, they form an unlikely friendship—a bond that just might be their salvation.

This heartwarming and lyrical tale reminds us that family isn’t necessarily whom you’re related to—it’s whom you invite to your table.

This is a new release of a previously published edition titled Simmer and Smoke; it contains twenty delightful recipes.

2.8 overcooked stars

As a child, at my aunt's, bored during the siesta, I use to read some old "Vanidades" -a fashion magazine-, where a catch-phrase get my attention: "Less is More"; meaning, before you leave your house dressed up look at you in the mirror and remove something. Well, this novel didn't follow that advise; instead, is like putting too many ingredients inside a pot. Prejudice, racism, classism, all themes that could be treated maybe with more finesse because are always in everyday background. Relationships, job problems, ethics... too many things are introduced in the mix.

Shelby is a young woman with the ambition of become a chef. Her voice is powerful. I feel mad with her when she treat bad her mother /SPOILER---->when she feel that have more right than her mother to fulfill her dreams. Excuse me, your mother has taken care of you and your daughter and is still young, and anyway the age is not and issue here<----SPOILER[when she feel that have more right than her mother to fulfill her dreams. Excuse me, your mother has taken care of you and your daughter and is still young, and anyway the age is not and issue here (hide spoiler)]; and understand her fierce love for her daughter. Is easy to understand her.

Is more difficult to feel simpathy for Mallory, the privileged one; except when she is really down.

The downside: too much irrelative descriptions.

Interesting the theme of the blogger been changed by the readers, feeling pressured to satisfy the readers. (I think all the authors understand this)

The food that get my attention: the fish in nutty crust; and the squash flowers.

The ending is not realistic, not at all.