I really enjoyed this book and was surprised to learn that there were actually so many (35) Chinese cuisines! The author's food descriptions were very vivid and enticing. I also loved learning that the cuisine is not only about taste and look but also about the texture and way food feels in your mouth! I am very anxious to try some of her authentic recipes. My only reservation is that some non-foodies may find the long food descriptions a little tedious. I loved the way she deciphered her in-laws' questionable history. The descriptions of the street vendors, food markets and the various living situations were all very vivid and interesting. On top of all of that I loved her illustrations that appeared on each page. She has a great writer's voice and seems extremely likable. Good read!

You most likely know about the scandal involving King Edward and Wallis Simpson but probably do not know anything about the woman before Wallis. This book follows the story of Thelma, Lady Furness and her affair with the then Prince. Thelma was the sister of Gloria Vanderbilt (senior); the designer Gloria Vanderbilt's aunt. The affair was quite intense and lasted for several years. It was amazing to me to read about the exploits, affairs (that everyone turned a blind eye to) and lack of parenting done by the upper class and aristocracy. Affairs were an accepted thing that no one questioned (except if you were an heir to the throne) and children were basically handed off to the nanny to raise. I wonder if Thelma had not stayed in the US so long to lend support to her sister during her trial, if history may have been a little different. My only complaint about the book is that I wish the author would have spent a little more time going into what happened between the King, Wallis and Thelma when she returned to England. I did love the book and would recommend it to anyone who loves historical fiction and the royals!

If you like a creepy thriller that you can't put down, this is the book for you. The story is alternatively told between two characters, Carly in 2017 and her Aunt Viv in 1982, who has been missing since then. Haunted by the disappearance of her Aunt Viv, Carly travels to Fell, New York to find the truth about what happened. Carly ends up working as the night clerk at the Sun Down Hotel, the same job her aunt had thirty-five years earlier. The same eerie things happen to both of them while working there, involving murders and the supernatural. After finding out what each discovers along the way, the whole thing comes together in a very calamitous ending.

Harry Tabor seemingly has it all. At 70 years old he has a loving and successful wife, three successful children and two beautiful grandchildren. On top of all of this, he is about to be honored as the Man of the Decade, with his family gathering together for the big celebration. As he reflects upon his life on the eve of the ceremony, the last few lines of the first chapter say it all......"I have been a very lucky man. And that is true, absolutely true. But luck is a rescindable gift". He is about to find out the truth of those words after an interview with a reporter slowly jars his memory and he realizes that his life is not exactly what he thought it to be.

Cherise Wolas is very good at getting the reader involved in each of the characters' lives and reveals that each one of them has secrets, not only Harry. She uses a lot of Jewish references and since I'm not Jewish, I may have been a little lost at times but I do feel I did learn something about the Jewish religion. Both Harry and Roma (his wife) know the difficulty their ancestors faced. Their ancestor's strength and their religion are huge guiding forces for both of them. So not only is the book about coming to terms with one's past, keeping secrets and how one portrays himself to others, but also about the strength and importance of family ties. The only downfall was that I found it hard to believe that such a big occurrence in someone's life could be completely repressed.

Overall I enjoyed this book and I think it would be an excellent Book Club book providing a lot of discussion points.

The jacket of this book says "Budapest: gorgeous city of secrets, with ties to a shadowy, bloody past." What a great premise for a novel but what a disappointment to read. A husband and wife decide to sell everything in America and move to Budapest, along with their infant son, to start a new life. The story basically revolves around Annie, the wife, and how she becomes entangled with a man who is seeking revenge on his son in law. Exactly who the son in law is becomes the big mystery of the book, but sadly, not that hard to figure out before the end. None of the characters are thoroughly developed and Annie is a whiny, self-absorbed person who you tire of very quickly. I found the book to be redundant and the few times that I felt like it was finally taking off, it only fell flat again. I have never been to Budapest, but after reading this book I don't think I ever will because Keener's descriptions of the city and people are very dark, dismal and dirty. On top of all of this, the ending is very predictable. I'm sorry to say that I would not recommend this book.

This is a beautifully written book and one of the best I've read in a long time. I was hooked from the first page. It takes you on a journey with its main character, Beatrice Trovato, from the operating room in NYC, to modern day Siena, to medieval Siena, all in search of a secret that her scholarly brother was about to unmask before his untimely death. I felt like I was at her side all along the way, smelling the things she smelled, tasting the food, feeling the bitter cold and sensing the warm bath filled with rosemary and verbena. The characters in each time period that she comes across made it hard to decide which time I'd rather stay in. The villains she encounters made me so nervous at times that I was afraid for her. It was interesting to view medieval times through the eyes of a modern day woman and the things she had to do to fit in. Since it is an historical novel, you learn things about the Black Plague, artists of the time period, and the famous buildings of Siena among other things. It's a book that will make you sad when it's finished.