This book was right up my alley. I have lived in NYC my whole life, and I know that there is so much history here, that we walk right past every day. I also think that after the tragedy of September 11th, we need to have an understanding, and appreciation of the different groups that make up the great city, plus make a place for spirituality in our lives.

This is the book all New Yorkers need to help them get over the horrible events of September 11th. Looking at our great city's more spiritual side is not only an interesting idea but it also allows New Yorker's and non New Yorkers alike to grasp a deeper meaning and an intimate knowledge of New York. This book perfectly illustrates the point that no matter what you do to this city and it's people, we'll get right back up because we have heart and soul!!! Bravo to Ms. Cook on a well-written and inspiring tome. This book also makes a perfect holiday or birthday gift. Do yourself and New York a favor and buy this book, it'll show you a side of NY that you forgot existed.

What an interesting book. As a native New Yorker, I look forward to using it on a walking tour of Manhattan. There are so many things to see in Manhattan, and it is not all in the museums, and large tourist attractions.

A Garrett, P.I. vehicle

Garrett is an ex marine turned detective living in the city of Tunfaire. He hates legwork, actually he hates any kind of work. His nearest friend is Morley Dotes, a half elf living in the dark side of the city. Garrett describes him as a bonebreaker and a lifetaker. Sweet Silver Blues is a bittersweet story of vampires, lost love, friendship and the war in the Cantard. If you even like fantasy you'll love this city.

Glenn Cook is probably the best overlooked author. His other fantasy novels of the Black Company are favorites of mine, as well as this wry witty detective. Garrett tries to be a hard boiled detective, but he is a romantic at heart and always leaps to aid a damsel in distress before looking. He is a human detective in the fantasy setting of Tunfaire. He is aided in his fight by his two friends, the slick woman's man Morley Dotes and the large mountain that moves like a man Saucerhead Tharpe and then there's always the Dead Man.

The first chapter details a bank robbery by a Black Nationalist group. During the robbery 3 people are killed, a bank teller, security guard and the Jewish wife of one of the Nationalist.

(20 years later)

We meet 20 something Rachel Mooreshelton , a young Angela Bassett look alike, and speech writer in Congressman's Ray Jackson's office. Rachel an idealist who believes that social ills can be solved by committed politicians is a staunch supporter of the well admired Congressman.

The Congressman's office is turned upside down when one of Rachel's colleagues the Chief of Staff of the office is murdered. The police want this wrapped up quickly and arrest a street person for the murder insisting it was a blotched robbery attempt. But Rachel and a co-worker are assigned the task of clearing out the dead man's office and find some very disturbing documents. From there things really get rolling. Rachel finds herself involved in uncovering long kept secrets people are willing to kill to keep secret. Rachel has a secret of her own a boyfriend who's a senatorial aide in the enemy camp.

As more deaths occur Rachel tries to put the pieces together to find out what's going on. She has strong motivations. Friends and acquaintances are turning up dead and she has become a suspect.

In her debut nover, Gretchen Cook-Anderson brings an exciting and fresh perspective to the ever-popular murder-mystery genre. The story begins with a bank robbery and murder that is committed by a young "black nationalist" in the early 1970's. Twenty-five years later, a whole new cast of intriguing characters enter the secne. They find themselves involved in a mystery after the murder of their colleague, an African-American Congressman's Chief of Staff. Ms. Cook-Anderson introduces us to a cast of interesting African-American Washingtonians that readers can truly identify with. This, in addition to a twisting plot, keep you hooked until the very end.

Gretchen Cook-Anderson's impressive debut novel keeps you on the edge of your seat, with a mesmerizing look inside, upside and behind Washington, DC politics. Her writing is intelligent, sensual and FULL of thrills that keep you guessing until the very last page.

Influenced no doubt by Anthony Bourdain's comments in 'Kitchen Confidential,' I've developed a little antipathy to celebrity chefs, with their catchphrases and signature lines of spices and kitchen equipment. At the same time, though, I keep finding myself drawn back to the cooking-themed TV network, where many of the chefs featured in this book find a home. For people who need to know whether Mario Batali is really from Italy or whether that hunky Bobby Flay is married, this is the book for you.

Despite the suggestion on the title page that this book gives us 'the dish on the stars of your favorite cooking shows,' there's nothing really gossipy or titillating here (maybe I'm misinterpreting what 'dish' means). Instead, most of the chefs receive a brief biography-cum-conversation that explores their background, how they got into cooking and then onto TV, and their philosophy of food and food preparation. All personality-driven, there are no recipes or food-preparation tips in this book.

Whether you're a serious fan of a particular TV chef (they have some, apparently), or just someone who stumbled across a cooking show and wondered who this person mixing salad with their bare hands was, you'll probably find the things you're looking for here.

I know a lady who is addicted to the weather channel. She's crazy. If you have to be addicted to a channel, it ought to be the Food Network. If you're on a diet (isn't everyone) and can't eat the things you want to, tune in. It's just like going to a nice restaurant, but it's free and nonfat. You can see the food on the screen and imagine what it looks like, but it's just not possible to eat it. I remember those old cartoons from a long time ago. The cat would be real hungry or something and he would start to eat pages out of a cookbook as if he could convince himself it was the real thing. This book has over 25 chapters about different chefs, but even if you just care about Emeril or whatever, it's worth it because each chef gets plenty of attention. It's fun to know what these people would want for their last meal on earth or what is always in their refrigerators.

I'm a big fan of cooking shows and was quite happy to find this book by chance at my local bookstore. It is great fun -- easy to read and very thorough. Covers all the major Food Network chefs and a few I had never heard of. Good sense of history as well.

I really enjoyed this book. I found it disturbing and involving and sometimes shocking, but most of all I found it very readable. The narrator's voice pulls you into her world from the first page, and although there are times you may not like her very much you feel for her at every moment. You can't help but hear the autobiographical note in this story, JoAnne Soper Cook brings all the characters to life, the harsh fundamentalist father, the ineffective mother, the narrow minded population of a small NF town. And especially the character of Jesus who is trapped in Moriah's head and tells us of his childhood, his unwitting elevation to Messiah, and his death. I would recommend this book as a fascinating look inside the mind of a madwoman, a warning about the dangers of fanatical religion, but most of all as a really entertaining read. If this is Miss Soper-Cook's first novel I look forward to more from her.

(. . .)P>JoAnne Soper-Cook - resident of St. John's and twice-published author (Waking The Messiah; The Wide World Dreaming) - ventures into new territory with her third novel: "A Cold-Blooded Scoundrel" This is her first e-
book, and this Victorian mystery is as innovative a yarn as the medium in which it is published.

Scotland Yard Inspector Philip Devlin's past comes back to haunt him when a series of gruesome murders
unsettles Victorian London, and most especially the Yard. Why does the killer single out Devlin for his game of cat and mouse? Is his killing spree something personal?

Interwoven into the suspense of this story is a generous dose of humour, provided by the warm-hearted Devlin
himself, as well as his motley group of assistants, amongst them a charmingly inept, infatuated constable, a
pair of elegant graverobbers and a couple of free-thinking sapphites, all of whom have a colourful history and
personality of their own (. . .)

I bought this book after following the later stages of its journey to publication on an Internet newsgroup. Else, I would never have known of its existence. It was published by Breakwater Books, a small publisher in Newfoundland. I was privileged to live part of my life on that foggy island off the East Coast of Canada, which was a second reason for my initial interest.

Waking the Messiah is the strange tale of a woman named Moriah, confined in an asylum for the murder of her father, an abusive religious fanatic. It is a weird tale that takes us into the chaotic, time-warped world of the insane. Her world only becomes weirder when we gradually discover that Jesus Christ is returning to earth inside the mind of this mad woman. Really returning, and gradually displacing the miscellaneous personalities that Moriah has generated to protect herself. From whom? From the voices, the same voices that nagged her into pushing a screwdriver into her father's back. Parallel to this appalling transformation is that of her psychiatrist Stiller, who himself evolves into the matching Judas for this new incarnation of the Christ.

A reviewer is supposed to refer to a tale of this type as "disturbing", and I suppose it is, in an entertaining sort of way. All I know is that I kept it in my backpack; twice a day, as I settled in for the half-hour rail commute between work and home, I would pull it out and devour another few pages. It was fascinating in the manner of a really bad traffic accident, or the terminal saga of JFK, Jr. Those who have read Donald Westlake's "The Ax", another adventure into the alien mind of the insane, will know exactly what I mean.

JoAnne Soper-Cook, "Waking the Messiah", Breakwater Books, St. John's, NF, Canada, 1999, $16.95 US.

Whether you are a serious investor, or prefer holding onto your money, everyone can benefit from reading this book. Wade Cook gives you information on everything from playing the stock market, to buying life insurance, to reducing taxes. He covers nearly all aspects of personal finance. Although you will not be able to make use of everything mentioned (all 101), you can certainly apply some, if not most, to your financial well-being.

Wealth 101 is a great place to begin your financial education by giving you an overview of dozens (literally 101) different investment strategies, tax loopholes and other investment knowledge, so that you can "determine your direction" in your own personal financial journey. This book, coupled with Robert Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad, Poor Dad", "Cashflow Quadrant" and "Rich Dad's Guide to Investing", will be a sound foundation for your business, investment and economic future! I recommend reading all of the above, then devouring Wade Cook's other books covering the stategies you decide to pursue as a result. The "Rich Dad Advisor Series" is also an excellent place for detailed knowledge on these same (and some different) subjects.

This excellent book by Wade Cook offers 101 financial strategies that really work. You will learn how to create wealth, increase cash flow, reduce taxes and protect yourself from lawsuits and more. I also recomend Brilliant Deductions.

I recently acquired an original version of "Wolf in Chef's Clothing" and had to pick myself up off the floor, where I happened to be rolling around in laughter. It's a great concept, and what fun to use!

First published in 1950, Robert H. Loeb, Jr.'s Wolf In Chef's Clothing is a unique "picturebook" approach for educating men on how to prepare basic recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snacks, and barbecues. From omelets to Shrimps Cobra, from canapes to Martini's, the step-by-step picture-based instructions are fool proof and will instruct even the most basic male novice to the mysteries of food and drink preparation. Whether a married man seeking to give his spouse a break in the kitchen, or a bachelor seeking to impress friends and family, Wolf In Chef's Clothing is sure to enhance any meal time or special celebration event.

Yes, this book is a throw-back to the height of the original "lounge culture" era (all the way back in [gasp!] 1950!), but it still holds it's own today. The main premise of the book is very simple...

You're a suave man-about-town, you know the difference between a Manhattan and a Martini, and will be entertaining friends, guests, or (especially) that "special someone" you want to be intimate with. Sparkling conversation and chilled beer will only go so far. They have to be fed, and delivered pizza isn't going to cut it! If all you know about the refrigerator is that it keeps beer cold and it's where you stick the leftover Chinese take-out, this book comes to the rescue.

The recipes are so simplified, as a female co-worker friend of mine likes to say, "even a man can do it!" But there are no quarter-teaspoon or third-ounce measurements here. Everything is either full cup, half cup, full tablespoon or half tablespoon. All the ingredients are drawn in easy to understand pictures, and the instructions are in comic strip format. If you can count, you can cook a meal. Guys, this cook book is for us!

If all you've ever made in the kitchen was macaroni and cheese or the occasional sandwich, you're in for a shock as to what you can do! There are ultra-simplified recipes for such dishes as Eggs Demi-Benedict, Sea Food Dorothea, Mignon et Bearnaise, Shrimps Cobra, Lamb Steak Figaro, Welsh Rarebit (spelled here as "Rabbit"), Spaghetti da Vinci, even Duck Vincent.

There are suggestions for breakfast, and even instructions on how to use a "vaculator" to make coffee (just in case you have one kicking around the bungalow, or find one at the thrift store).

If breakfast or the main course isn't enough, there's recipes for picnic lunches, cocktail canapes, salads and salad dressings, even four whole chapters dealing with drinks (Before, During and After-Dinner Drinks, and there's even a chapter entitled "Drinks That Have Nothing To Do With Meals").

On the Politically Incorrect side, there are suggested recipies for four different "types" of ladies; the athletic type ("who prefers a game a tennis to a shot of 3-star Henness[ey]"), the indoor type ("soft round and fluffy, who thinks Alexander the Great the best cocktail ever made"), the intellectual type ("more an I.Q. than a Q.T."), and the 3-B type ("brains, bonds and beauty").

The author of this tome was Robert H. Loeb, Jr., food and drink editor for Esquire magazine in the 1950's. The illustrations were by Jim Newhall, an ad agency director from Chicago. The men knew what they were doing. The fact that this book has been brought back in print after 50 years, and without a word or picture changed, holds testament to that! Some of the illustrations are a but dated (the fashions & quasi-McCarthyesque references to Russia), but that just adds to the book's charm. It was even given a glowing review in the January 2001 edition of Playboy magazine!

After you've tackled this book, you'll be ready for other cookbooks. Yes, guys, there are other ways of getting food on the table than take-out, delivery or TV dinners from the microwave.

Be you lounge culture hipster, frustrated batchelor, or just someone who's sick of eating out a styrofoam clamshell, this book is a worthy purchase! Read it, use it, treasure it! You will not be disappointed.

This book is a great resource for including students with special needs into a regular education environment. The book offers great suggestions from activities to how to set up your classroom. This book also addresses the needs of parents of children with special needs. This is a must have resource for educators.

Everytime this book is updated, I buy it. Anyone who works with children birth to five or is involved in the field of early intervention will find this book practical and relevant . It is a perfect combination of theory and practice written in an easy to read style and format. Want to know about classroom strategies for a child with vision impairments..?It's in there. What about working with para-educators? You'll find it. Need to know about adapting materials for infants in the home? You'll find that too. This book is a must for the experienced and the inexperienced teacher, home visitor, early interventionist, teaching assistant, etc. I use it as a textbook with my graduate education classes and as a personal resource when working with children and families. The resources included in the book are excellent and useful for anyone wanting to learn more about working with young children with special needs.

What began as a family document addressed to relatives, "A Time to Know," by William Cook, evolved into an autobiography that relates to the common man during the second half of the 20th century.

"I don't think the main audience has changed. The people who read it suggested that it reflected an understanding of a period of years that others had experienced and had not expressed," said Cook.

The memoir begins with the life of a boy, who is described as "being born into the midst of the Depression." Cook wrote, "I was oblivious to the meaning of my life, knowing only that it happened because I was there."

With time, however, Cook's existence seems solid to both his reader and himself throughout the book.

"The book does convey an understanding of growing up in America, so to speak, over a long period of time, and how you started off, understanding and believing goes through a transformation of considerable dimension," said Cook. "[One gets to] the point where one questions just about everything."

His thoughts and writing style are impressive throughout the novel. The writing, which is extremely detailed, gives the reader a vivid description of each thought and period during his life.

The way Cook described his grandmother is an example of such detail.

"She stood, I'd guess, little more than five feet tall, with short gray hair ... with an apron, always with an apron that looped over her head and hung to her knees.

"[Her] simple formulas for living were not presented as philosophy, but as givens. Life was work, obedience and fear of the devil."

"A Time to Know," is unlike other autobiographies, mainly because it does not tell one's story in any chronological order. Instead it focuses on one man's awareness to changes in his perspective as events in history help to form his opinion.

"It's [the book] an intellectual legacy. It seems to me that that's what is important in this world," he said.

Immediately while reading the book, the reader notices the comparisons that Cook uses in reference to "The Education of Henry Adams," a novel that Cook has described in the forward as "a work that is a pillar of the canon of American literature."

He said that he used reference to the document in his book to show that "it does not reflect the common, ordinary American.

"I used Adams as a reference point to contrast in part with what the common person experiences vs. the privileged."

The motivation behind "A Time to Know" began with the results of a hobby that Cook's father began.

"He spent the first years of his retirement doing the family genealogy. He was a very thorough character," reflected Cook. "He was not content to just have a name; he needed to have a document. By the time he finished, he had a complete family history going back until 1636.

"He had documentation to establish the connection all the way along the line."

It was the little information, that his father gathered that motivated Cook to compile his own intellectual excursions into 172 pages.

"He never had very much information about anybody-except a name or birth date or anything of that sort. But, what these people thought, why they did what they did-no one knew and that certainly had no impact on my life.

"And when you go back that many years from 1636 to 1900 and 90-something, you're saying, 'That's a long time not to know anything about your lineage,'" said Cook. "It's relatively unimportant to put down a birth date and birthplace; it's more important to know why you did things."

With that motivation, the book, which began during Cook's early 40s consisted of notes and sentences jotted down in the midst of holding a full-time position along with helping to raise four children.

What helped Cook finally finish the novel, he said, was when he participated in a Critical Thinking Institute "that had a process for forcing those who attended to confront a primary objective and bring it to completion."

In its completion, the book is divided into chapters revealing Cook's thoughts on various emotions, topics and definitions that he said have all had an impact on his life.

One may feel the urge to stop reading due to it not seeming of interest to their lives, when in reality it does. Cook, describes himself as a common human being, which everyone finds interest in relating with on certain issues.

After completing "A Time to Know," the reader is left wondering where Cook is in his life.

"I'm still in the process," said Cook. "One thing I think I have come to some closure about that what you are at one point of your life, will evolve to something else. If you give some thought to it, there is no way that cannot be because, one, you don't know what the next moment will bring.

"It's the image of the dark forest we all enter, it's not that the forest is dark-it's that we don't know the next moment we are coming to."

For many, finding a reason to read a novel by a common man, instead of a celebrity figure or such, may pose as a challenge for selling this book. However, Cook said he feels otherwise. "I think everybody seems to have an interest in how the mind develops. Very few works focus on that; they focus more on the events that took place or something of that sort.

"It's a voice of a common man. My life is not unique or unusual in any particular way. I didn't come from parents who had some kind of nobility or lineage in wealth or anything else. I am a common, ordinary individual."

In his A Time to Know, William A Cook treats us to a new genre of autobiography - an evolution of the writer's consciousness. Yes, the episodes of his life are interesting, but they become significant by virtue of how Cook has reflected upon them and how his reflections have shaped his consciousness. Because the work is not merely a chronology of life episodes, Cook subtly moves the reader to consider the shifts in her/his world view brought about by the ordinary events of life: childhood, education, careers, marriage, children, divorce, etc. As Cook points out in his introduction, "If fiction necessitates a disinterested observation to achieve credibility, then how much more must a writer, who hopes to unravel the events that gave substance to how he thinks, remain detached?"

For anyone who is over fifty years old (and the number is growing at an astonishing rate), the book will resurrect memories that have often been consciously shelved but still shape world views. For example, Cook wrestles with the issues of the '60's: the Vietnam War, the student protest movement, the presidential elections of Eisenhower and Kennedy, and the drug scene. In these issues, many Americans who hold considerable influence here and abroad have shaped there consciousness about higher education, power of government, and the notion of patriotism.

Throughout his life narrative, Cook tells how he has shifted from the traditional expectations of life that one often receives from parents, teachers, and pastors to a personal discovery that many of these expectations no longer hold for him. Because the world changes dramatically from generation to generation, the adventure of life lies in how deftly one can adapt to the new realities.

Cook's chapter titles reveal his scheme to show how the events of his life have caused him to form his perceptions. He writes: "The event, once a part of my experience, festered awhile and eventually produced a reaction that, in time, molded my thought." Rather than referring to the traditional chronological periods, he selects the major concepts: self, faith, choice, reason, activism, cynicism, America, creativity, justice, power, education, marriage, love, symbols, philosophy, and death. Thus in his life as in our lives, each event becomes a catalyst for shaping life values.

Perhaps the most moving aspect of Cook's work is his intentionality. Cook's Dedication "to my children ... without you there would have been no purpose to my being AND to my grandchildren ...that they may know after I'm gone" unabashedly sets forth the purpose of his (and probably all writers') intention: understanding and immortality. Cook's autobiography offers readers an exemplary guide in how to covert their life stories into gifts for their children and grandchildren. All of us yearn to be understood by our families as to who we really are - not the version of a divorced partner, a happy face around the holiday table, or a frustrated rant over a messy bedroom.

I hope to follow Cook's example as I wish my parents and grandparents had left me such a meaningful portrait. The fact that Cook did not win a major battle in World War II, pitch a no-hitter in the World Series, or was the first person to fly to outer space is the point of his work. All of us lead important lives if we will only realize how the events have shaped a consciousness not only for ourselves but for many of our generation. In his work, we find ourselves.

It is all respects, Cook's thoughtful and compelling style and technique make this book a tour de force. I recommend it without the slightest reservation.

A Time to Know is a powerful life journey that incorporates issues of politics, economics, and religion. William Cook starts out with a brief summary of his family history and brings it back to himself and his childhood. His blue collar back ground was particularly touching, especially when he discusses the symbols designed to separate humans across social class lines (i.e. size of houses, railroad tracks that devide us, and the way we dress and dream).

I particulary enjoyed his chapters on Activism and the one on America. The 60s were a time of great hope, a time where students and intellectuals challenged the current power structure. Unfortunately, the activism that was a part of the 1960s was squashed by the consumerism that dominated the 1980s.

In William Cook's chapter on America, he addresses the very issue of capitalism and consumerism and how it has changed America. He starts out by discussing the concept of the melting pot. "America never was and never will be a melting pot; it has been and, at best, will be a rag-tag quilt stitched together by a modicum of economic promise made possible by myth and plastic." He than discusses the enslavement of the American spirit and mind by what he titles "plasticism." We are all in debted to a world of consumerism which no longer allows us to persue a world or belief system outside of capitalim. we have been convinced that we can buy happiness, serenity, and security. The American dream is now about dependency on consumption and the promise that products will fulfill us. the American dream is no longer about intellectual development, justice, or democracy. Dr. Cook goes on to explain "It's also the reality of capitalism, an economic system dependent on exploitation, selfishness, scarcity of product, hoarding, and lies, all called by another name, maximizing resources, competition, good business sense, market share, entrepreneurial wealth, and advertising."

As an academician myslef, I was intregued by his interpretation of how this market economy has inpacted our students ability to think. And how students are awarded symbols of knowledge, but these diplomas do not illustrate what they know or how much they grew as a human being. The Diploma is only another symbol that separates us and allows us to view people as inferior or superior based on academic credentials.

I could go on forever reviewing this book. Each and every chapter is powerful and makes the reader reflect on their own paradigms, expectations, and achievements. Engaging this author has been one of the most affirming and rewarding experiences for me. This book has made me think and reflect about my own life. There are not many books that can take you on such a journey.

Let's get this straight. This is a fairy tale for adults. It's about love and food... or is that food and love? It's also about sex. Magic. Religion. Fame. Loyalty. That seems like a difficult order to fill, but that's true of many of the traditional fairy tales. They're sweeping epics. The Little Cinder Girl is, in a way, a story about discrimination and poverty. Briar Rose deals with envy and friendship. Bluebeard examines the relationship between truth and happiness. It can be argued that, at the core, a fairy tale is a lesson about life. It's wrapped up in glamours, true, but one needs only to read the Tales of the Brothers Grimm to realize that fairy tales are meant not only to entertain but to teach.

So how does Woman on Top measure up? On an entertainment level, it does very well. There is the romance between the young heroine, Isabella, and her faulty prince, Toninho. The gods bestow curses and gifts in equal measure. The relationship between the two lovers is threatened, tested, and ultimately...? But I won't ruin the ending for you. Suffice to say that it was fun to read, not only because I wanted to know what would happen to Isabella, but also because I delighted in picking out the classic fairy tale elements. Not to mention seeing them treated with a Latin flair.

On the instructional level, it does just fine. There are lessons enough, and I didn't feel as if I was being hit over the head with them. Even more interesting, these lessons are meant for adults in real relationships, not the fairy tale ideal that is so often shown in modern fairy tales and Disney films. Although there were elements of the fantastic in this book, I could imagine Isabella, Toninho, and the other characters as real people. This made their story (and the lessons it teaches) all the more effective.

So why did I only give the book four stars? I'm a fairy tale fan, yes, but I also love to cook, and I was disappointed by the recipes. There are a few drinks, a few sauces, barely enough to make a full meal. I finished the book with the wish that they had either left the recipes out entirely or included a more extensive section at the end. As it was, there was only enough to whet my appetite and not enough to satisfy.

I bought this book for its recipes. After watching the exquisite Isobella (Penelope Cruz) sauce it up in the racy motion picture version, I had to know how to bring some of the magic into my own kitchen. Her recipes are all in this charmingly illustrated book:

shrimp in pepper sauce, black beans, snapper in banana leaf, fried bananas, how to extract coconut milk, coconut flan, palm souffle...there's even a recipe for a spell to cure heartache (you'd need things like artichoke, eyes of boiled catfish, midnight rain, rooster feather, etc.). The food enhances the fairy tale aspect of 'Woman on Top'.

Beautiful Isobella suffers from motion sickness. She can only control it by controlling her motions (driving the car, leading in dance, and being "on top"). Her talent is for cooking. She meets the handsome Toninho, who needs a chef for his restaurant. It's love at first "bite". Ah, but wait, there's a twist. Tonihno cheats and Isobella runs off to San Fran to stay with her cross-dressing best friend. There she lands her own TV show and discovers things about herself and her "true love" that you have to read (or watch-the flic is sexy) to believe.

I shelf this one in the kitchen, of course! Get the soundtrack - the Brazilian tunes are amazing. It's a romantic bossa nova mix! Some of the songs that Tonihno sings to Isobella are translated in the book.

I loved the movie. The book is great. It is basically the movie but with great illustrations and in between the story are Isabella's recipes. If you like fun, charming and happy stories, this book is for you. Even if you haven't seen the movies, it it still a cute story to read and the recipes are really yummy!!!!