The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee: Book Review

On Amazon: $10.99

Linda Francis Lee

I first read Linda Francis Lee about four years ago I guess, when I had first discovered the wonder and awe that is Chick-Lit. I honestly can't remember if it was The Ex-Debutante or The Devil in the Junior League that I read first. But, it was one of those two books that was my first foray into Linda Francis Lee's wonderful mind.

What I fell in love with when reading Linda Francis Lee's books was how she was so eloquently able to bring the south alive in a tasteful and respectful way. Although, in The Ex-Debutante and The Devil in the Junior League she takes us to a part of the south, I'm personally not familiar with, the HIGH SOCIETY of the south... She still was able to bring her characters down to earth and make them approachable to any woman. I just fell in love with her books.

However, I wasn't quite able to get into Emily & Einstein. I don't know what it was, but I felt a disconnect with the book. However, there are many times I've struggled to read a book only to pick it up later and then be able to fully immerse myself inside the pages... So, perhaps one day I'll give it another go....

Being from the south, it's hard to find good books that portray southerner's in a flattering light. That's why I will forever be fans of Linda Francis Lee and Mary Kay Andrew's books. These two women know how to bring the best out of us southern ladies!

The Glass Kitchen

I'm so thankful for my mother who purchased this book for me, after I had tried contacting whomever I could to try to get a review copy and found myself without much luck. This was a book, I knew I needed to read though, and so THANK YOU mom for this gift!!! Of course, I also have to give it to her so she can now read it.... It's nice when your mom is your biggest fan :) Without my mom this review would not have been possible!

OK OK So onto the book.....

This is one of those reviews where it's going to be hard for me to use my filter. I so desperately want to just sit here with my glass of iced tea and go on and on about everything inside the pages of The Glass Kitchen.

In The Glass Kitchen we meet Portia Cutcart whom has just relocated to New York, following her recent divorce. Portia and her sister's were each left an apartment by their aunt. Portia's sister's have each sold their apartments, luckily Portia had been hesitant to do so...

Portia grew up helping her grandmother in The Glass Kitchen, a little cafe her grandmother ran. Portia fell in love with cooking and baking and loved how she saw it heal people. Portia wasn't very old when she and her grandmother soon discovered she had inherited the family "gift"... I suppose you could call it in a sense a HEAVY dose of discernment.... Like her mother and her mother before her, Portia bakes things without knowing why... She just gets these urges to bake and later on, someone will happen along the way who needed just what she had been baking or cooking.

In Portia's life, food was a way to heal folks... Quite literally. Her grandmother had given the reigns over to her long ago, but instead of teaching Portia how to use her gift, she just taught her to cook. Yet, years ago something happened that caused Portia to turn her back on her gift and never want to cook again.

Now in New York, where her sistser's live, Portia finds that she's finding it impossible to turn her back on her gift. Add to her sisters, a handsome single father whom has purchased the apartments her sister's had sold, and his two children Portia finds that she's once again healing folks with her food.

Secrets. There are secrets everywhere, and as we all know secrets can destroy lives. Gabriel's little family are all in so much pain and Portia needs to find a way to bring this broken family together. Her sister's as well are each going through their own situations.. Can Portia with the gift she's turned her back on, make it all work... It seems everything is on her shoulders...

My Thoughts:

There are so many more layers to this story and I'm not even doing this book justice right now. This was a beautiful novel filled with so many delicious layers. There were so many loveable characters in this book. You have Portia and her sisters... You have Gabriel, and his two daughter's who have lost their mom and are all struggling with the pain of that loss... Gabriel's brother who comes in like and out of their lives like a breeze sweeping through... There are so many secrets in the pages of this book...

I love when a book can surprise me and this book literally had me huddled in my bed awaiting each surprise that awaited on the next page. One of the main character's in the book was Gabriel's daughter, Ariel, who feels like it's up to her to make things right for her family. When she meets Portia, something tells her that this is a woman who can make all right for her and her sister and father... Yet, along the way Ariel, who has such an inquisitive mind, will discover some things about her past, her mom that truly almost break her spirit.

Gosh, I just can't convey to you how beautiful this story is. I literally was thirsty for more and couldn't put it down. I love when a book is so able to grab me and draw me into the character's lives that I feel as if I'm inside the pages a fly on the wall watching it all transpire.

This was definitely a FIVE star book. Linda Francis Lee really told a beautiful story and I loved everything about this book. As a southerner, we really are all about the food. And we think food is the answer to everything, yet I loved the way she was able to turn it into a "gift".

You don't have to be from the south to appreciate this book. Yes, it has some southern notes to it, but it's a story that can break through mainstream for sure! If you've never picked up a Linda Francis Lee novel, and you love chick lit or women's contemporary fiction, then you will love this book!