The Cake Therapist
Claire “Neely” O’Neil is a pastry chef of extraordinary talent. Every great chef can taste shimmering, elusive flavors that most of us miss, but Neely can “taste” feelings—cinnamon makes you remember; plum is pleased with itself; orange is a wake-up call. When flavor and feeling give Neely a glimpse of someone’s inner self, she can customize her creations to help that person celebrate love, overcome fear, even mourn a devastating loss.
Maybe that’s why she feels the need to go home to Millcreek Valley at a time when her life seems about to fall apart. The bakery she opens in her hometown is perfect, intimate, just what she’s always dreamed of—and yet, as she meets her new customers, Neely has a sense of secrets, some dark, some perhaps with tempting possibilities. A recurring flavor of alarming intensity signals to her perfect palate a long-ago story that must be told.
Neely has always been able to help everyone else. Getting to the end of this story may be just what she needs to help herself.
MY REVIEW: Noted cookbook author Judith Fertig blends together all the right ingredients for her delicious contemporary fiction debut, "The Cake Therapist". When her marriage fails, Claire "Neely" O'Neil leaves New York behind and heads home to Millcreek Valley, Ohio. A gifted baker and pastry chef, Neely also has another "gift": the ability to "taste" the feelings in flavors. Using her intuition combined with her skill in the kitchen, Neely is able to sense the right "food fix" for the people she encounters. There's one taste she can't get out of her own mouth, however, and that is the awareness of secrets and the portent of more to come. She has always been there to help others, but will the unknown elements swirling around be her own help, or will they mean harm? One chapter begins with "Dark Chocolate. Rich Coffee". Perfect! Just the right accompaniment for this fabulous, fun serving of foodie fiction.
Book Copy Gratis Amazon Vine
The Memory of Lemon
The author of The Cake Therapist returns with another sweet and emotional tale featuring Neely, the baker with a knack for finding exactly the right flavor for any occasion...
A crisp tang of citrus that is at once poignant and familiar, sharpening the senses and opening the mind to possibilities once known and long forgotten...
Claire “Neely” Davis is no ordinary pastry chef. Her flavor combinations aren’t just a product of a well-honed palate: she can “taste” people’s emotions, sensing the ingredients that will touch her customers’ souls. Her gift has never failed her—until she meets a free-spirited bride-to-be and her overbearing society mother. The two are unable to agree on a single wedding detail, and their bickering leaves Neely’s intuition frustratingly silent—right when she needs it most.
Between trying to navigate a divorce, explore a new relationship, and handle the reappearance of her long-absent father, Neely is struggling to make sense of her own conflicting emotions, much less those of her hard-to-please bride. But as she embarks on a flavorful quest to craft the perfect wedding celebration, she’ll uncover a family history that sheds light on both the missing ingredients and her own problems—and illustrates how the sweet and sour in life often combine to make the most delicious memories...
Judith Fertig
Novelist and cookbook author Judith Fertig grew up in the Midwest, went to cooking school in London and Paris, and now lives in the Kansas City area. Described by Saveur Magazine as a "heartland cookbook icon," Fertig debuts a new novel that engage the mind, the heart, and all five senses—and celebrates cookbooks that reflect her love of bread, baking, barbecue, and the fabulous foods of the Heartland.
Novels you can read like cookbooks. Cookbooks you can read like novels. That’s what you get when an English major studies at École de Cuisine La Varenne (formerly in Paris) and The Cordon Bleu in London plus The Iowa Writers Workshop. Fertig often weaves storytelling into her books.
Bake Happy (Running Press, 2015) offers dessert recipes full of color, flavor, and fun that can do what Neely does for her fictional clients—help you feel creative, luxurious, empowered, connected, satisfied, and, well, happy, in 100 different ways. (For a little sample, check out Fertig’s Bake Happy board on Pinterest.)
Coming home. In Heartland: The Cookbook (Andrews McMeel, 2011) and Prairie Home Cooking (Harvard Common Press, 2000), which was nominated for James Beard and IACP cookbook awards, Fertig celebrates the place she calls home in recipes and stories.
Constant cravings. Fertig’s delightful I Love Cinnamon Rolls! (Andrews McMeel, 2012), 500 Cupcakes (Sellers Publishing, 2011), and award-winning The Back in the Swing Cookbook (Andrews McMeel 2012) make you want to lick the page.
Where there’s fire, there’s smoke. It’s not every author who spends part of her working life in a real rhinestone tiara—as one of Kansas City’s BBQ Queens. With co-author Karen Adler, Fertig has written eight barbecue books, including their Patio Pizzeria (Running Press, 2013) The Gardener and the Grill (Running Press, 2012), in bookstores around the country as well as Williams-Sonoma, Anthropologie, Lowe’s, and Costco. She has a Ph.B. (Doctor of Barbecue Philosophy) from the prestigious, if fictitious, Greasehouse University.
Read all about it. Fertig’s food and lifestyle writing has appeared in Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Vegetarian Times, Natural Awakenings, Better Homes & Gardens, Saveur, Country Living, Cooking Pleasures, Family Fun, Coastal Living, Southern Living, La Vie Claire, Spaces Magazine, and Cooking Light. Her work has appeared internationally in Country Homes and Interiors (London), The New York Times, and The London Sunday Times.
Fertig has appeared on the Food Network and many TV and radio stations. She gives talks across the country, blogs, tweets, and posts on Facebook. She is a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier, The Kansas City Barbeque Society, The Kansas City Novel Group, and IACP.
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