Helpful Score: 4
So I couldn't wait to get my hands on another Mary Kay Andrews book and my wish list finally came through for me! Very quick read and enjoyable characters as her other books. But then came the mention of Tomato Soup Chocolate Cake and I thought okay that's different. And there it was in print at the end; the recipe for Tomato Soup Chocolate Cake. Don't you know it....in the a.m. there I am in my kichen pantry pulling out a can of tomato soup, coco powder, flour, sugar and oh boy am I excited...I actually have all the ingrediants in my pantry. I stirred and I mixed and popped it in the oven. Patiently I waited for it to cool on the rack on my counter while I whipped up some frosting. An hour later it's frosted and ten minutes later it's cut and put on small paper plates for my hubby and I. With mounted anticipation I bring the first bite to my lips while my hubby keeps repeating "tomato soup huh". I made it through about three bites wishing that I could relish in my new find, wishing that somehow the next bite will be better. The more I ate the more I tasted tomato soup and finally I stood up and said, "I cannot do this anymore!" Moral of my story....some things are better left to the imagination.
Helpful Score: 3
âEvery girl needs a little chick-lit brain candy once in a while,â my friend Erin wrote, passing to me her advance copy of âDeep Dish,â which came out Feb. 26. âAnd since it's all about cooking, I thought of you.â
I'm glad she did â" as I'm not the book snob my pal had me pegged for, I dove in and found that author Mary Kay Andrews has the recipe for another best seller in âDeep Dish.â Her last book, âHissy Fit,â spent some time on the New York Times Best Seller List.
âDeep Dishâ ($24.95, HarperCollins) tells the story of Gina, a shadow-swearing, pork-rind sneaking, somewhat-naïve host of a public television cooking show. She's a young up-and-comer in the food world, having edited a major newspaper's food section before moving to TV. But when her producer-boyfriend gets her show canned she faces losing her career, her lovelife and worse, her freedom, if she has to sell her condo and move home with Mama and Daddy and her hard-partying sister Lisa.
When Gina gets an audition for a spot on the national cooking network, the potholders come off. But in the midst of a fight for her professional life, Gina's looks take a hit thanks to her usually skillful esthetician D'John, pronounced, I assume, like the mustard. Will she wind up with the hot job and the hotter man, her competition: a tasty outdoorsman named Tate?
âDeep Dishâ isn't a cookie-cutter romance novel, nor is it over-processed. It's as real as the cream in the gravy.
Andrews took pains to make it so. She visited Paula Deen's set to see firsthand how a cooking show is made.
She is also well-schooled in human behavior and that comes through in her vivid descriptions: Her characters don't simply answer their cell phones, they roll onto one hip and fish the phones from their pockets before flipping them open. They don't merely sweat when they're nervous; perspiration beads in the small of their backs. Peppering the dialogue is a little âlanguageâ that Southern belles would scold but the text isn't overly salty.
Andrews knows cooking â" what's more she knows from sharing kitchen space with her husband how sparks can fly when two hard-headed cooks get in each other's way. âDeep Dishâ isn't the first time she has drawn a plot from personal experience. Nor is it the first time food has played a role her novels.
In âDeep Dishâ, food is in the spotlight.
And that's where Andrews is a tease. She whetted my appetite for more than the three recipes included at the back of the book. Her descriptions of shrimp remoulade, Granny Smith apple and mint slaw and lemon pound cake had hungrily flipping to the back of the book to find them not there. Instead Andrews serves up grilled peaches and Brunswick stew, barely mentioned in the story, and a chocolate tomato soup cake.
Nonetheless, âDeep Dishâ is a delicious diversion. But if you can't stomach the thought of people finding out about your indulgence, just tell them you only read it for the recipes.
I'm glad she did â" as I'm not the book snob my pal had me pegged for, I dove in and found that author Mary Kay Andrews has the recipe for another best seller in âDeep Dish.â Her last book, âHissy Fit,â spent some time on the New York Times Best Seller List.
âDeep Dishâ ($24.95, HarperCollins) tells the story of Gina, a shadow-swearing, pork-rind sneaking, somewhat-naïve host of a public television cooking show. She's a young up-and-comer in the food world, having edited a major newspaper's food section before moving to TV. But when her producer-boyfriend gets her show canned she faces losing her career, her lovelife and worse, her freedom, if she has to sell her condo and move home with Mama and Daddy and her hard-partying sister Lisa.
When Gina gets an audition for a spot on the national cooking network, the potholders come off. But in the midst of a fight for her professional life, Gina's looks take a hit thanks to her usually skillful esthetician D'John, pronounced, I assume, like the mustard. Will she wind up with the hot job and the hotter man, her competition: a tasty outdoorsman named Tate?
âDeep Dishâ isn't a cookie-cutter romance novel, nor is it over-processed. It's as real as the cream in the gravy.
Andrews took pains to make it so. She visited Paula Deen's set to see firsthand how a cooking show is made.
She is also well-schooled in human behavior and that comes through in her vivid descriptions: Her characters don't simply answer their cell phones, they roll onto one hip and fish the phones from their pockets before flipping them open. They don't merely sweat when they're nervous; perspiration beads in the small of their backs. Peppering the dialogue is a little âlanguageâ that Southern belles would scold but the text isn't overly salty.
Andrews knows cooking â" what's more she knows from sharing kitchen space with her husband how sparks can fly when two hard-headed cooks get in each other's way. âDeep Dishâ isn't the first time she has drawn a plot from personal experience. Nor is it the first time food has played a role her novels.
In âDeep Dishâ, food is in the spotlight.
And that's where Andrews is a tease. She whetted my appetite for more than the three recipes included at the back of the book. Her descriptions of shrimp remoulade, Granny Smith apple and mint slaw and lemon pound cake had hungrily flipping to the back of the book to find them not there. Instead Andrews serves up grilled peaches and Brunswick stew, barely mentioned in the story, and a chocolate tomato soup cake.
Nonetheless, âDeep Dishâ is a delicious diversion. But if you can't stomach the thought of people finding out about your indulgence, just tell them you only read it for the recipes.
Helpful Score: 2
I could not get interested in this book. The premise was cute but I grew tired of the whining main character. All I wanted to do was yell at her to grow up!! I'm setting this book aside for now and moving on to reading something else--not sure if I will pick it back up again.
Helpful Score: 2
I love Mary Kay Andrews! The characters in this book have a great chemistry. And the south is portrayed accurately (not always the case in books about the south and southerners). Another winner!
Helpful Score: 2
I usually love Mary Kay Andrews' books, especially the Savannah series. I really didn't enjoy this one. I never got a real connection to the characters and the language about drove me crazy. Read it if you are lacking anything else but don't put it on the top of your list.
Helpful Score: 1
The next book by Mary Kay Andrews. This time it involves local cooking shows in Atlanta area competing against each other to win a national cooking show. The usual off the wall stuff happening and predictable ending but that is why I am reading her books.
Helpful Score: 1
What a great book. One whichs let you step into the pages and be friends with the people.
You hate to end this book and you feel like you will not see these delightful people again. Then I discovered you can more in these books and I have enjoyed each one
You hate to end this book and you feel like you will not see these delightful people again. Then I discovered you can more in these books and I have enjoyed each one
Helpful Score: 1
Mary Kay Andrews has done it again!!!! I just picked up The Fixer Upper to take to the beach! If you haven't tried this author, give her a try..... YOU WON'T BE SORRY!!!!!
Helpful Score: 1
This book is a fun read! Filled with laugh out loud mishaps and yummy recipes, don't miss it!
Helpful Score: 1
Regina is a 29 year old cooking show host who has worked her butt off to get where she is in life. She's having a lovely affair with her production manager and life is simply perfect. Blech. Fortunately (for me who is bored to tears at this point) it comes tumbling down when he decides to hop in bed with the wife of the show's main sponsor & they can the show. Not too bright of a guy. Now Gina, at the ripe old age of 29, has lost her guy and her show and fears she'll lose her home which she shares with her younger deadbeat, sassy (and terribly annoying & immature) sis.
Coincidentally a cooking network is interesting in picking up her show but there's a hitch (wouldn't you know it?), they are looking to fill a time slot but have another show they're also pursuing. For some odd reason, the other show "Vittles" hosted by a hunky outdoors-man named Tate who catches his food & cooks it too shows up in town and begins shooting in Gina's studio and using her makeup/hair guy. This didn't make sense but I could have dozed off and missed something. Anyway, now she's bumping shoulders with this guy, who she thinks is hot moments after a horrid breakup with the other snake and you can guess what kind of hijinks will ensue from here -- especially when the network decides to pit them against each other in a new reality show with the winner getting the time slot.
This book either annoyed or bored me. So many of the characters are vaguely irritating. The heroine is a hypocrite who cooks light, organic food but either starves herself or stuffs herself with chemically laden pork rinds (or something just as gross). This was disturbing to me. Also though she's nearly 30, she acts very immaturely for her age, especially when she calls Tate "butt-head" on several occasions. None of this junk was cute or endearing. Couldn't the author have come up with an insult worthy of a 29 year old woman? My 13 year old comes up with better jabs than butt-head. And don't even get me started on her stylist who burns her hair off and, instead of being lucky he's still in a job, insults her about her looks on numerous occasions. I suppose if the book were more interesting these little things wouldn't have bothered me so much. As it was, the only bright spot was the cute, rambunctious setter pup named Moonpie who had more personality than anyone else in the book and that was probably because he couldn't speak.
Coincidentally a cooking network is interesting in picking up her show but there's a hitch (wouldn't you know it?), they are looking to fill a time slot but have another show they're also pursuing. For some odd reason, the other show "Vittles" hosted by a hunky outdoors-man named Tate who catches his food & cooks it too shows up in town and begins shooting in Gina's studio and using her makeup/hair guy. This didn't make sense but I could have dozed off and missed something. Anyway, now she's bumping shoulders with this guy, who she thinks is hot moments after a horrid breakup with the other snake and you can guess what kind of hijinks will ensue from here -- especially when the network decides to pit them against each other in a new reality show with the winner getting the time slot.
This book either annoyed or bored me. So many of the characters are vaguely irritating. The heroine is a hypocrite who cooks light, organic food but either starves herself or stuffs herself with chemically laden pork rinds (or something just as gross). This was disturbing to me. Also though she's nearly 30, she acts very immaturely for her age, especially when she calls Tate "butt-head" on several occasions. None of this junk was cute or endearing. Couldn't the author have come up with an insult worthy of a 29 year old woman? My 13 year old comes up with better jabs than butt-head. And don't even get me started on her stylist who burns her hair off and, instead of being lucky he's still in a job, insults her about her looks on numerous occasions. I suppose if the book were more interesting these little things wouldn't have bothered me so much. As it was, the only bright spot was the cute, rambunctious setter pup named Moonpie who had more personality than anyone else in the book and that was probably because he couldn't speak.
This book is good but not as great as her earlier stories.
This book is funny It's a must read.
Mary Kay Andrews is hilarious. I have read three of her books and have enjoyed them all. The characters are entertaining, and there's always a strong woman as the main character. The plot always moves along quickly. There's suspense, humor, and always a little romance, but nothing sordid, so you don't have to worry about your kids picking the book up from the coffee table. Great light reading for the summer!
I Loved this book..I actually love all of Mary Kay Andrews Books, if you want a book to read while lying by the pool this is it!
This book is one you love and hate the male lead, but you just feel like there is something about him. Then the female lead character is a strong woman who has to live with men who this is not stong enough to do things. When she can do it on her own and in the end maybe fall in love.
Ok. Nice light romance.
The book was really good and witty but the romance aspect of it didn't occur until the end of the book. There wasn't much lead up to the attraction of the main characters. It was like they bickered back and forth but the dialogue never really suggested any attraction till towards the end of the book. Other than that I really enjoyed the read.
It was cute. Not as good as her other books.
Loved this book!!!
Enjoyed the book as I have with all of Mary Kay Andrews books. Her humor & southern mannerisms are great.
Andrews is in fine form here as she takes on cooking shows, reality TV, and another sassy Southern heroine who has dumped her skeevy boyfriend and is ready to take on the world.
Took to some time to build the characters but once they were developed it was a fun book to read.
Loved this book and author Mary Kay Andrews.
Mary Kay Andrews stories are ones where you don't want to put the book down. Highly recommended.
It has been awhile since I read this one. It was okay, could have been a bit shorter maybe. Easy reading.
Mary Kay Andrews has become one of my favorite authors in the last few years-her books are fun to read, don't insult my intelligence, (yes, I do have some intelligence) and I love the strong and funny female characters. The recipes at the end are also fun to read and try. I find I turn to Ms. Andrews when I need some entertaining and don't want to be preached to , lectured to, or have to get out a dictionary to figure out what the author is trying to say.
Deep Dish is a fun read, as have been all of her books-I recommend it to any one who just wants to chill out and enjoy themselves.
Deep Dish is a fun read, as have been all of her books-I recommend it to any one who just wants to chill out and enjoy themselves.
