GRUMPY FAKE BOYFRIEND by Jackie Lau | Book Review

**ARC provided by the author for review** Jackie Lau’s new novella, GRUMPY FAKE BOYFRIEND (Kwan Sisters #1), has good bones. It stands out for its Toronto setting and a Chinese-Canadian heroine who has a diverse friend group. All things we don’t see enough of in the romance world. Naomi, the heroine, is looking…

May 22, 20180Comments

Book Reviews

How to Walk Away by Katherine Center | 4-Star Review

ARC won from BookishFirst After a traumatic incident, Maggie Jacobsen finds herself with a whole different set of expectations about her life. And when life throws you major curve balls, who better to help you through it than your well-meaning, but slightly dysfunctional family? How to Walk Away is like catching up with a friend you…

May 15, 20180Comments

Dessert Recipes

ROYAL WEDDING RICE CRISPY TREATS

Lemon Elderflower, Of Course The clock is ticking! If you're planning to make lemon elderflower everything for the royal wedding, it's time to hustle on down to your local World Market or Total Wine stores. I did a little research and Belvoir's Elderflower Cordial is the best of the bunch that's readily available. It's the…

May 15, 20180Comments

Main Course Recipes

Grilled Asparagus and Halloumi Sandwiches

Asparagus is in: Grill 'em if you Got 'em For lunch earlier this week, I started where I often start around this time of year. I pulled some asparagus out of the crisper drawer and started to prep them. Conventional wisdom about snapping them where they naturally snap is out, so I cut off the…

May 10, 20180Comments

Photo One-offs

‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Author Kevin Kwan Signs at University Bookstore

Author Kevin Kwan stopped at University Bookstore in Mill Creek on Sunday. Part of a three-city mini tour in the Pacific Northwest, Kwan promoted the paperback release of book #3 in the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, Rich People Problems. Kwan read from the book and answered a wide range of questions about the books, the…

May 7, 20180Comments

Recipes

5 Delicious Dishes for Your Cinco de Mayo Menu + Dessert!

A taco bar is usually a go-to for Cinco de Mayo, but with some questions lingering around romaine lettuce from Yuma, Arizona, crunchy gringo tacos piled with lettuce and cheddar cheese probably aren't the way to go this year. We've got five other delicious Cinco de Mayo recipes to enjoy on the day commemorating Mexico's…

May 3, 20180Comments

Baking Dessert Recipes

The Easy Way to Make Lemon Elderflower Cake for the Royal Wedding

We're just a few weeks from the Royal Wedding. You've undoubtedly heard that Prince Harry and Meghan's wedding cake will be a lemon elderflower cake baked by Violet Bakery's Claire Ptak. It's not a flavor profile that most of us in the States are all that familiar with, but it's a well loved harbinger of…

May 1, 20180Comments

Recipes Salads

Asparagus Pasta Salad with Cheese Tortellini

Asparagus is the true harbinger of spring in the Pacific Northwest. While everyone thinks apples when you mention Washington state, it's actually the #1 producer of domestic asparagus with 23 million pounds harvested in 2017. The minute the local asparagus hits we're drizzling it with olive oil, salt and pepper and grilling or roasting it.…

April 26, 20180Comments

Book Reviews

MY OXFORD YEAR by Julia Whelan | 4-star review

Review copy provided by the publisher Julia Whelan's debut, My Oxford Year, captures that rom-com magic; I loved it. I can’t resist a good American living abroad story. Julia Whelan’s MY OXFORD YEAR is just that. It’s a charming tale in the tradition of some of the best American + Brit rom-coms. And before you even…

April 24, 20180Comments

Book Reviews

LOVE AND OTHER WORDS by Christina Lauren | 5-star Review

Christina Lauren’s first foray into women’s fiction is as swoonworthy as any of their romances Review copy provided by Gallery Books When I sat down to write this review of Christina Lauren’s Love and Other Words, all I could think of was the scene in The Notebook when Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams get…

April 10, 20180Comments

Michelle

GRUMPY FAKE BOYFRIEND by Jackie Lau | Book Review

How to Walk Away by Katherine Center | 4-Star Review

ROYAL WEDDING RICE CRISPY TREATS

Grilled Asparagus and Halloumi Sandwiches

‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Author Kevin Kwan Signs at University Bookstore

5 Delicious Dishes for Your Cinco de Mayo Menu + Dessert!

The Easy Way to Make Lemon Elderflower Cake for the Royal Wedding

Asparagus Pasta Salad with Cheese Tortellini

MY OXFORD YEAR by Julia Whelan | 4-star review

LOVE AND OTHER WORDS by Christina Lauren | 5-star Review

It Looks Like You in the Dark by Mathilda Zeller | Review

Now Available: Wicker, the Short Story That Inspired the Film

Review: The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren