An entertaining tale of a gay writer and would-be chef in Toronto.
A romantic sequel continues the story of an African-American foodie’s misadventures in love.
Though they are no longer together, Pierre Jackson still harbors a strong attraction to his former fiance, the closeted CNN news anchor De’Andre “Dre” Harris. That’s why Pierre accepts his invitation to come to a party at Dre’s wealthy parents’ house. But later, Pierre finds out that Dre is currently dating a woman. Pierre’s work life in Toronto isn’t much better. He’s struggling to earn a living writing freelance reviews of local restaurants while sharing an apartment with his friend Zola Washington. Zola escaped an abusive relationship in Atlanta and is frustrated with the lack of soul food in Toronto. She has decided to try to open her own restaurant to fill the niche and wants Pierre, who moved to Toronto from Detroit, to be her business partner. Pierre is unsure. It sounds like a desperate step for both of them, as even Zola seems to admit: “Seriously, Pierre, you aren’t getting any younger, and neither am I. We both must do something different with our lives.” Pierre ultimately decides to help Zola out, though it means courting patronage from Dre and his parents, including agreeing to cater the anchor’s upcoming wedding to his new fiancee, Kendra Devonport. An unexpected trip to the Bahamas to attend his grandfather’s funeral—with the Caribbean-curious Zola in tow—gives Pierre the opportunity to get back to his roots and maybe find a path through the madness of his life. Bailey’s (Confused Spice, 2016) prose is warm and engaging, particularly his figurative language: “He wielded his words like a dull kitchen knife. His wife stared at him blankly but ate it up like a warm sweet potato pie. My mother smacked her lips and flicked off his hollow words like pesky ants.” Pierre, sensible but sensitive, is a relatable protagonist attempting to navigate the rapids of his 30s, caught between his pragmatism and his desire to dream big. The book more or less stands alone from the author’s previous Pierre novel—Bailey includes everything readers need to know—and it satisfies both as foodie escapism and as a messy story of love and friendship.
An entertaining tale of a gay writer and would-be chef in Toronto.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-9959193-2-7
Page Count: 271
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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