Sugar and Spice and All Those Lies Book Review

In Sugar and Spice and All Those Lies, can the lessons she learned from her mother about cooking and life help Gina survive and thrive in this other world of privilege, pleasure and unexpected danger?

About Sugar and Spice and All Those Lies

Cooking a wonderful meal is an act of love. An act of grace. A gift that affirms and gives life—not only does it nurture those who partake of a meal; it also feeds the soul of the person who creates it. These are lessons Gina learns from her mother.

Gina is a young woman born to poor parents; a nobody (her words) who wants to taste life outside the world she was born into and her passion for cooking is all she has to help her do so. She gets lucky when she’s chosen to cook at a Michelin-starred restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area where she finds a world of a privileged class with money to spare for dinners that cost hundreds of dollars. A world of new friends and new challenges—one that exposes her to fascinating people who’re also gripped by dark motives.

Amidst her culinary adventures, she becomes good friends with pastry chef Marcia, and falls in love, in different ways, with, two very different men: Leon, a rich regular client who has been dating Cristi, her friend from childhood, and Brent, a brooding homicide detective. This other world, it turns out, is also one of unexpected danger that eventually threatens her life.

Can the lessons she learned from her mother about cooking and life help Gina survive and thrive in this other world of privilege, pleasure and unexpected danger?

My Thoughts

Romance, lies, jealousy, revenge and amazing cooking – Sugar and Spice and All Those Lies has a little bit of everything!

I think we can all agree that for so many of us cooking is an expression of love – we put our time, effort and creativity into cooking healthy meals that our family will love and devour. Cooking is at the heart of this brilliant, well written story that stars Gina as our main character. Gina grew up poor and this has influenced her in many ways. She wants to see how the other world lives but never gives up or forgets her past. She makes incredible and exotic dishes at a very famous restaurant for the rich (and more than likely famous!).

It is here where she meets an incredibly interesting (and extremely rich) man who is coincidentally on a date with one of her friends from her primary school years. While she feels attraction to this man (and we know he is definitely attracted to her!), she feels an obligation to her friend to not date him. Especially as her friend constantly blames Gina for her boyfriends leaving her.

On the advice of a colleague, she decides to give this man a chance and enters a world of privilege, romance, lies, murder and jealousy. At times, Gina’s own life is put on the line!

This is an excellent book with an amazing plot line. I loved every moment and never saw the ending coming! I loved how strong yet compassionate Gina was. While she was hurting herself (both physically at time and emotionally), she was always there for others even if they did not treat her the best. She denied herself happiness several times throughout the book and you just wanted nothing but for her to find a bit of light and joy.

This is a definite must read novel that you will not be able to put down!

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Evy Journey, writer, wannabe artist, and flâneuse (feminine of flâneur), wishes she lives in Paris where people have perfected the art of aimless roaming. Armed with a Ph.D., she used to research and help develop mental health programs.

She’s a writer because beautiful prose seduces her and existential angst continues to plague her despite such preoccupations having gone out of fashion. She takes occasional refuge by invoking the spirit of Jane Austen to spin tales of love, loss, and finding one’s way—stories into which she weaves mystery or intrigue.

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Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.