One Foot in the Gravy

 by Delia Rosen

Let’s face it, who doesn’t like to hunker down with a good book and a snack and if the book is a mystery all the better! Rosen has a hit with this one. Gwen, “Nashville” Katz has inherited her Uncle’s deli and has decided that maybe her life needs a little more spice, mustard goes with anything? Oh well, so much for my humor.  Along with the deli, she inherits the staff, and they are nothing like she is used to!

The murder occurs at the very first party, an audience participation murder mystery, that Gwen is catering, and her staff is not pleased with any of it. In her case the murder is real and Gwen is an amateur detective. Gwen is a forensic accountant by training so solving mysteries comes easily to her. Her social position, as a deli owner allows her access to all of the suspects because, well frankly, who doesn’t like a good meal? And who doesn’t like to dish about someone else?  While the story is good, it suffers from a little too much stereotyping, the wealthy southern ladies, ladies who lunch, Jewish deli owners, southern lawyers, and cops as love interests are but a few examples. However people open up and talk to her, which moves the story along nicely. Rosen uses the stereotypes as foils and some of the funniest parts of the book involve these characters.

Rosen relies on the reader “getting” the Brooklyn Deli humor and Yiddish phrases, which she peppers the book with. There is a fine line between humor and caricature and sometimes I found myself annoyed by her humor. In her humor however is buried a terrible secret, one that explains the murderer and the reason for the crime

Rosen includes recipes at the end of the book which sound wonderful and add a little something to the book. Overall the book is a fun fast read that I will be passing along to my friends when they are hungry or in need of a mystery !

Shea Vaughn’s Breakthrough :The 5 living Principals to defeat Stress, look Great and Find Total Well Being

Shea Vaughn 

This is an interesting book and one that I really enjoyed. Shea has an incredible story to share and does it on a way that is inspiring and uplifting. Shea uses her story and those of people who have been helped by her living principles. Her basic them is a blend of Eastern and Western philosophies and approaches to all aspects of our lives. Her main focus is on the Mind-Body Connection that touches every aspect of our lives.

There is nothing really new in this book except for the way that the author puts together a total package for health and well being. It is her passion for what she does that shines through each chapter and makes you realize that there are things that you are not accomplishing that you could and should be accomplishing. Her greatest contribution is that first you need to love yourself and come to grips with what you are presently and what you want to be in the future. Shea will show you how to get there.

Anyone who has tried dieting, self help books, motivational tapes etc. will love this book. Shea never once preaches to or talks down at you. That in itself is a wonderful gift.  Women need more positive approaches to every aspect of their journey and Shea gives us positivity.

Read the book and then share it with a girlfriend who is on the same journey that you are on. You’ll both benefit from the experience.

To Nourish and Consume

Ryan O’Reilly

Did you ever what the story line of Sex and the City might be like if the story had been told from a make point of view? It would definitely be different, but would it be better?  I don’t really know, I do know that this story is better because it is told by the lead male character, Brian Falk.  When I first started the book, I kept going back to the beginning to be sure that it was being told by a man and not a woman. I kept thinking that I was reading a coming of age story form a female point of view.  This didn’t matter once I got into the story. The story held my interest,  it didn’t matter which voice it was being told in.

Brian Falk returns to his adolescent home to try to discover what shaped and made him that man that he turned out to be. Brian fled his home town after his high school graduation and spends the next ten years agonizing over what might have been. He is part of a trio of friends that shaped him more than he shaped them. He falls in love with both of his friends bit in different ways. He is warned by the grandfather of one of them, that he will never be right for his granddaughter. Brian is very human at this point; he hears what he thinks is being said, not what is really being said. He is also very much a teenager. He reacts by running away, not by staying and questioning or fighting. His two friends, Jackie and Dabney, grow up and apparently forget about him. They marry each other, make a life and make a mess of it. Jackie is cold and manipulative; Dabney has anger issues and is explosive. Brian also makes a mess of his life.  Brian’s mess is that he can’t get over either of them, and can’t form meaningful relationships because of them. He carries the past with him and always wonders what if. He is successful in other parts of his life, and hopes that by returning to the scene of the crime, so to speak, he can make peace with his life and move on. No more spoilers here, you need to read the story to find out what happens. Is he successful or is he pulled back into his old life?

Reilly has created a wonderful character in Brian Falk, sensitive, perceptive and caring. On the surface, he is the kind of man that every woman is looking for. Brian is also quite capable of being a “bad boy”, also what some women look for in a man. The underlying story revolves around Brian’s questioning of all the “what if’s” in his life. What if he and Jackie could have had a romantic future? What if he could have been a better friend to Dabney ? What if he had stayed and taken over the family business? The what if’s go on and on and held shape the story.  I’m not sure how many writers can pull off developing a character this way without destroying the character; I know that Ryan O’Reilly pulled it off.  In the end, all of the characters realize  that they shape their own future and Brian realizes that he has come to a good place in his life.

I also learned that a story of self discovery and growth can be told equally well by a male voice.

This is a book that I will recommend without reservation. I give it 5 stars !