Title: When in Doubt, Add Butter
Author: Beth Harbison
Rating: 2/5
Book: 41/50 (82% completed)
Pages: 352 pgs
Total Pages: 15,272 pages
Version: Book
Next up: 11/22/63 by Stephen King
Not Harbison’s best at all. I found it dry and boring in a few spots. There was really no plot and the characters were unrelatable. An easy read for sure but had I not been half way through the book when I wanted to give up on it, I probably would have put it down and moved to something else.
One thing that <b>highly</b> annoyed me was the continued insults on obesity and the overweight character in the book. When reading the book, I felt like Harbison has a personal view that the reason that people are overweight/obese is through their own fault and that overweight/obese people shouldn’t leave their homes.
About the Book
As far as Gemma is concerned, her days of dating are over. In fact, it’s her job to cater other peoples’ dates, and that’s just fine by her. At thirty-seven, she has her own business, working as a private chef, and her life feels full and secure. She’s got six steady clients that keep her hands full.
There’s Lex, the fussy but fabulous department store owner who loves Oysters Rockefeller and 1950s comfort food; Willa, who needs to lose weight under doctor’s orders but still believes butter makes everything better; a colorful family who may or may not be part of the Russian mob; an überwealthy Georgetown family; the picture-perfect Van Houghtens, whose matriarch is “allergic to everything”; and finally, a man she calls “Mr. Tuesday,” whom she has never met but who she is strangely drawn to.
For Gemma, cooking is predictable. Recipes are certain. Use good ingredients, follow the directions, and you are assured success. Life, on the other hand, is full of variables. So when Gemma’s takes an unexpected turn on a road she always thought was straight and narrow, she must face her past and move on in ways she never would have imagined. Because sometimes in life, all you need is a little hope, a lot of courage, and—oh yes—butter.
The World According to Me, Myself and I! 