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If you love books, you've come to the right place. Here's where you'll find great books and more that our tomato reviewers have read and think other tomatoes will love too. Happy reading.
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The Three Tomatoes Book Club and More
Recent Reviews
Editor’s Note: Our book reviews can not be bought. We only review books that we and other tomatoes have read and think you’ll enjoy. And while this section may occasionally be sponsored by a publisher or author, it does not guarantee that the book will be reviewed here, unless it stands on its own merits.
Can't Stand the Heat:
Sophisticated, romantic, mouth watering
and sizzling hot
Reviewer: The Three Tomatoes
What could be better than mouth watering food and sizzling sex? Which is exactly what you get when you mix a beautiful sharp tongued food critic and a hot super star chef, in Louisa Edwards debut novel Can’t Stand the Heat.
In this boy meets girl and they hate each other, which turns to passion and then “betrayal” and more, sharp-tongued food critic Miranda Wake gets the chance to spend a month in Adam Temple’s kitchen to write an exposé . Surely Miranda can find a way to cut the hotshot chef down to size once she learns what really goes on at his trendy Manhattan restaurant. But she never expected Adam to find out her most embarrassing secret: she has no idea how to cook.
Adam’s not about to have his reputation burned by a critic who doesn’t even know the difference between poaching and paring. He’ll just have to give the tempting redhead a few private lessons of his own—teaching her what it means to cook with passion…and doing more with his hands than simply preparing sumptuous food.
In between the sizzle scenes, Miranda’s kid brother’s secret is revealed, and you’ll actually learn how to make mayonnaise and a get a few other great kitchen hints too. And we loved Manhattan as the backdrop, of course.
We’re already casting the movie, which sounds like a perfect Jennifer Aniston romantic movie if ever there was one.
Can't Stand the Heat. St. Martin's 2009. Available at books stores everywhere.
Reviewed by: The Three Tomatoes
After the Ball, A Woman’s Tale of
Reclaiming Happily Ever After,
by Barb Greenberg
Reviewer: Tracy Morrow
Every part of this book is absolutely delightful. I received it during an especially busy time and it sat beckoning to me on my desk. Just looking at the beauty of the cover artwork left me longing to open the pages to see what other delights would be offered. I haven’t seen artwork on a novel like this for many years and I found myself admiring it, and still admiring it, time and again. It’s simply not a book that you buy and lose into a dusty bookshelf.
This book is the type of book that you will want to get multiple copies of to give to your older daughters, sisters, and friends. It’s about how our childhood fairytales ended at “Happily Ever After”. The story will assure you that “Happily Ever After” is not exactly what you thought it would be! It offers hope, strength, and encouragement to all women going through any of life’s twists and turns and reminds us that we can be our own Fairy Godmothers.
A comfy blanket and a cup of tea are the perfect accompaniment for this lovely book. It’s the comfort food for your spirit that you may not have had since you were lovingly tucked into bed with your favorite bedtime story as a child. But this time the story is for the grown up princess to read over and over again. The descriptive writing will soon take you away from your own reality and into the world of princesses and fantasy. I could almost smell the flowers and feel the sunshine! The story line is laid out as a symphony and Barb Greenberg now has a new fan as I can’t wait to find other books written by her.
After the Ball, A Woman’s Tale of Reclaiming Happily Ever After is sure to become a Classic. Every woman needs to hear the message that’s clearly demonstrated in this absolutely darling story. The gorgeous artwork throughout the book adds to the elegance of this little book making it an all around treasure.
After the Ball by Barb Greenberg. Publisher: Rose Path Press
Reviewer: Tracy Morrow is the President and Founder of HappyHer.com. As a well seasoned Intimacy Specialist, she is currently preparing for the 101 Day Sex Challenge that she has volunteered to coach.
The Condition by Jennifer Haigh
Reviewer: Susan Francy
Ostensibly, the “condition” referred to in Jennifer Haigh’s novel of the same name is “Turners syndrome”, a genetic disorder that results in growth permanently arrested at pre-puberty and which Gwen, the youngest of three siblings in this family novel is diagnosed with when she is 12. But really, the condition is one we all suffer from – the human one – and this wonderful novel explores the humanity of the people it chronicles with compassion, generosity and depth.
The Condition follows the McKotches, a proper New England family, for 25 years beginning the summer of 1976 when Gwen’s father realizes something is terribly wrong with his daughter. His wife refuses to see it and for this and other reasons, the marriage falls apart. Fast-forward 20 years. Gwen and her two brothers are grown, the parents leading separate and increasingly unsatisfying lives. Contact among all of them is fraught and sporadic. Gwen works in a basement office of a small museum as an assistant curator. She is remote, self protective and nearly friendless. Big brother Billy is a gay cardiologist who is “out” to his friends but not to his family. Scott, an under achieving teacher, is married with two children and can’t relate to his life.
We follow these five wounded people over the next five years as events propel each towards resolution of internal conflicts and close together again as a family.
In an interview, Ms. Haigh confesses that her first draft of a novel is torture and the fourth pure pleasure. In each draft she refines the language. Her attention to detail shows – this novel is pitch perfect, beautifully written and it has happy endings for all that are believable (well, mostly) and satisfying.
The Condition by Jennifer Haigh. Publisher Harper Collins. Available at bookstores everywhere.
Reviewer: Susan Francy is a photographer and an avid reader. you know she's a tomato because as a child she loved the "Bookmobile," the local traveling library that stopped regularly in her Levittown neighborhood. View her portfolio at: http://www.susanfrancyphotographs.com
