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Monday, July 13, 2015

Book Review and Preview: Kitchens Of The Great Midwest by J Ryan Stradal

This is a book review and sneak preview of Kitchens Of The Great Midwest by J Ryan Stradal that is due to be published by Hachette Australia on 28 July 2015

Ryan was born in Minnesota and now lives in Los Angeles. Ryan has written shorter writings before but this is his very first novel. He likes books, wine, sports, root beer and peas!


This is a brilliant and original story told through various characters about the life of Eva Thorvald who becomes a world famous chef.

The story starts with Eva as a baby, her mother abandons her, and her father dies suddenly. Eva is cared for by family and lives simply, but all the time her love and talent for food and taste develops and grows.

Each chapter is told by a character in Eva's life over the course of about 30 years - from a friend in school to her boyfriend's brother to a country baker. You really get into that person's life and then the next chapter starts and the story is told by someone else. Everyone shared their perception of Eva from a distance and some loved her while others envied her.

I have come to realise that I love books about food! The wine connoisseurs lifestyle, kitchen and restaurant workers tit bits, and recipes scattered throughout the book added another dimension to this read and I really enjoyed those parts.

Overall I adored this book, it was modern and upbeat, brilliantly written and funny. Such a unique topic too and I think this book will be very popular with food lovers.

I recommend this book to lovers of adult fiction and foodies!

I give this book 5 stars out of  5

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:
1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch paint dry than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd pass up the last tim tam for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read


Kitchens Of The Great Midwest can be purchased direct from the author here or Hachette Australia


Sharing my book review on Good Reads here and Netgalley

You can visit the author's website here

Disclosure:  NetGalley partner with bloggers such as me to help promote authors and their books and I was given this ebook published by Hachette Australia to review. As always, all opinions are my own.


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[Image via Hachette]

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