Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

mindy starns clark

Feast your mind on these 5 tasty books

By the time you read this, I will have spent a couple of days preparing food and cooking food and eating food. You, too? Marriage to my husband turned me into a foodie. I’m not sorry, except when my grocery budget takes a hit or my kitchen ends up in disaster mode because of my experiments with new recipes.

My other favorite thing to do is read, and if I can do both at the same time, I do. (While waiting for water to boil or a soup to simmer, I’ll often stand near the stove with a book or Kindle in hand to pass the time.) And lately, I’ve read some really great stories that focus on food or cooking or baking, so I can enjoy a novel and be inspired to cook at the same time!

So, if you’re at the point of the weekend where you can kick back and stop cooking or baking (and you love to read!), check out these five tasty books that will leave your mouth watering while providing an inspiring story.

1. Under the Cajun Moon by Mindy Starns Clark. This isn’t a new book, but I only read it last year. It’s a mystery set in Lousiana around a family restaurant. I went through a phase where I read several of Clark’s mysteries and I remember liking this one the best because of its ties to the food business.

when i fall in love2. When I Fall in Love by Susan May Warren. This is the third in a series about a family, but it takes place mostly in Hawaii when the main character, Grace, is sent by her family on a surprise cooking retreat. Grace is then paired with a hockey player for a cooking competition and well, let’s just say the food isn’t the only thing that cooks in the kitchen. Reminded me a lot of some of the Food Network shows I love.

3. Five Days in Skye by Carla Laureano. Setting sold this one because the Isle of Skye, Scotland, is magnificent, but this story features a hospitality consultant aiming for a promotion and a celebrity chef with dreams of restoring the family hotel. Another mouth-watering read.

4. All’s Fair in Love and Cupcakes by Betsy St. Amant. Another one with a cooking competition element, only this one love and cupcakesfeatures cupcakes. Summary: Best friends who want to be more can’t admit it to each other and don’t want the other person to have to give up their dreams for a chance at happiness. A sweet story and one that you’ll wish came with a cupcake!

5. A Table by the Window by Hillary Manton Lodge. Not necessarily my favorite among the foodie books I’ve listed, but still, it’s centered around a family in the food business–running a restaurant and writing about food. This one comes with recipes which might inspire readers to get off the couch and get cooking!

I feel like there might be others I’ve read recently but those are the first five that come to mind!

Do you have any book recommendations for readers who also love to cook (and eat!)?

5 on Friday: Amish fiction redeeming the genre

The first Amish fiction I ever read was written by Beverly Lewis. I consumed every book I could find in the months after we moved to Amish country in Pennsylvania. Then the novelty wore off and I found myself bored by the premise.

In the past year, though, I’ve found some authors of Amish fiction who write some really good stories in unique settings and viewpoints. So, if you’re a fan of Amish fiction, here are five more authors and/or books to check out. If you’re not a fan, or you’re bored with what you’ve been reading, you might find something here to pique your interest.

1. Promise to Return by Elizabeth Byler Younts. promise to return

I don’t generally seek out Amish fiction but this one hooked me because of its unique time period: World War II. (Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for my review.) “Amish” and “military” aren’t two words I’d think to put together, and author Elizabeth Byler Younts offers a sweet and heartbreaking look at how one Amish couple endured the war. She also writes with family knowledge and background of the Amish people lending an authority to her writing that I wouldn’t question. At times, though, I forgot the book was set in the 1940s because the Amish customs and lifestyle seem not to have changed much since then. It was only in the interactions with the non-Amish characters in the book that I remembered the time period. I enjoyed this debut novel and look forward to the next one in the series.

2. Leslie Gould’s The Courtships of Lancaster County series, which are based on Shakespere’s plays and set among the Amish. I’ve read the first two, Courting Cate, Gould’s take on The Taming of the Shrew and Adoring Addie, which is inspired by Romeo and Juliet. I’m a fan of retellings because I think they’re clever and take just as much (if not more) work than a completely original story. Both of these books are entertaining, and as a fan of Shakespeare, I can’t resist.

3. The Outcast by Jolina Petersheim. Another retelling of a classic, this time The Scarlet Letter. Technicially not Amish fiction, I count it in the same category because the setting is among Old Order Mennonites. For better or worse, the average reader of this genre (I am one of them) won’t see a lot of difference in setting. Unique points-of-view in the story and plenty of mystery as to who is the father of the out-of-wedlock baby. Again, points for creativity.

4. Mindy Starns Clark is a fabulous all-around writer, and while I’ve yet to read any of her co-authored Amish fiction, I’ve read some of her mysteries, two of which are set in Lancaster County. Secrets of Harmony Grove and Shadows of Lancaster County are thrilling and suspenseful. They give me just enough reason to try another set of Amish fiction books. Plus, I know she’s done her research. Clark is a semi-local to Amish country. She knows her stuff.

TheHiddenLife-cvr5. Shelley Adina writes two kinds of fiction: steampunk (which I’m dying to try now) and Amish. The latter she writes under the name Adina Senft. She also has family history with the Plain community. I recently read The Hidden Life, the second book in her Amish Quilt series, and I have to be honest, this one was my favorite of any I’ve mentioned here. (Oh, how I hate to play favorites with books. That’s like picking a favorite child!) The characters had such depth and a realness about them that I felt like I could stop by and visit. And I laughed. Like out loud. These characters were fun and had personality, something that is often lacking among Amish characters I’ve read. Yes, they live a different lifestyle than us, but they’re people after all. I appreciated the lightness of their conversations, as well as the seriousness of the situations they faced. I also found the pace of the dialogue and writing mimicked the natural speech patterns of Lancaster County. It felt like what I hear almost daily around here. I would read more Amish fiction if it was all written like this.

What about you: Do you tend toward the bonnet books? Why or why not?