Welcome to Litsy!

“The hardest question we have to ask ourselves in this life is, "Who am I?" Ideally, we answer it for ourselves, but be warned that others will strive to do it for you- so don't let them.” #feminism #pageturner

This follows two women living in the same house:Nellie in 1955 & Alice in 2018. I liked Nellie & was able to appreciate & even applaud the choices she made but didn't like Alice from her first mention & grew to loathe her by the end. I feel the author was mirroring the situation so many undeserving women had to live with in the past by having Alice come to so thoroughly dominate Nate who had been nothing but a good & loving husband* to her. ⬇️

#VolumesAndVocals

Not only is the author‘s name #Karma while it‘s been a while since I read it for my virtual foodie book club, I feel like there was some karma happening for a least one of the male characters in it. ☯️ ⚖️

“It's called Karma, baby
And it goes around
What goes around comes around
What goes up must come down…”

P.S. I linked my review & the recipe it inspired (Creamy Tomato Soup with No-Meat Meatballs) in the comments below

Check out my review of Karma Browns Recipe for a Perfect wife on Book Interrupted‘s Manuscript Monday here. https://www.bookinterrupted.com/post/manuscript-monday-recipe-for-a-perfect-wife Also, check out our interview with Karma on the podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0qXnZ8EUmZjSXI7GLFFYbb

This was a great book. I caught on to the mystery fairly quickly but enjoyed it just the same. The recipes in it were great too! I liked how it was the house that linked a women from our era to a women in the 1950‘s and how we aren‘t much different in our needs/desires. Also, that the power struggles between men and women are still present but we have so many more options now. We direct our lives and can choose to redirect our lives too. Read it!

This was such a great book, I loved the different story lines and the little blurbs at the top of the chapters..

Thanks to these Litsy folks for today‘s prompt:

#CURIOUSCOVERS
@Eggs
@AlwaysBeenALoverOfBooks

Today‘s Prompt: RED AND WHITE COVER

An old house, an old cookbook, notes in the cookbook that reveal the life of Nellie, and Alice who has some secrets of her own is what the reader finds in this lovely read.

A truly, enjoyable, makes-you-feel-good read.

Loved it. 5/5

FULL REVIEW: https://tinyurl.com/25nk6mh3

@karmakbrown

I was pleasantly surprised with this one. It was recommended by the employee at the bookstore and not what I normally enjoy but I found myself really liking it. It really took a turn at the end 😜

"Relationships are never easy. Especially the ones we're born into." .....so very very true

Just started this one, so far I'm intrigued

For my virtual foodie book club, a dual narrative of two wives, one in present day (Alice) & one in the 1950s (Nellie) I liked the 1950s storyline better as I wanted to shake Alice for her bad decisions. I loved the good housewife tips from retro magazines/cookbooks that preceded each chapter & the foodie elements. Some dark themes of domestic abuse. My book-inspired dish is a soupish, veg-friendly take on a retro classic “Porcupines”-meatballs⬇️

Isn‘t this great advice?! Best advice from the book!
💗📚💗

These quotes!!

These quotes about being a good wife!

The quotes from the book are so interesting! ( try not to get too mad! ) This one is the ‘worst‘ so far, but I‘ve just started!

Me in December 2019: ugh I don‘t want to be too ambitious with my reading goal next year. I think I‘ll be so busy running around...

Lol 😂 if a pandemic is good for anything, it‘s for encouraging nights in with a book!

My finished Broccoli-Cheddar Soup from Ellie Krieger, so it‘s a lightened you version that uses white beans for more creaminess. Quite rich & tasty even with less cheese & fat. It‘s a warm & humid day but this is just what I was craving. 🤷🏻‍♀️🥦🧀🍲

Finally trying to start this book for my virtual foodie blogger book club—it‘s due at the end of September. I‘m liking it so far.

#audiocooking to this strangely fitting book. I started it today and haven‘t wanted to stop listening. Dual timeline about marriage and womanhood in 50s versus today united by a cookbook and a house.

My recipe is for empanadas. First time making them and I baked rather than fries because I am horrible at frying things!!

Recipe for a Perfect Wife was a very middle-of-the-road read for me. It wasn‘t bad by any means, but it also wasn‘t particularly exciting or memorable. 3⭐️

Completing this book means I have one #Bingo for #BookSpinBingo! I don‘t have my card with me, but I‘ll post an update picture next week. Hoping to have another bingo by then! This is also my #ReadOutside pick for #SummerFun bingo.

My one-book library haul. It‘s for my bimonthly virtual foodie book club. The Litsy reviews are mixed but my fellow book club host liked it so we will see. The💙book chicken🐔seems to approve. I like that I can make an appointment & pick up holds but I do miss being able to peruse the library shelves. We are spiking in COVID-19 cases on Oahu & rolling back some things (parks & beaches & bars are closed again) so there won‘t be any changes soon.😔

Seems to be some mixed reviews for this one. I ended up really enjoying it. I loved the recipes, gardening tips and the dual time frames. I read it in two days!

There are plenty of reasons to marry that have nothing to do with love. And you can be head over heels in love and not get married. But no matter what, you should never marry unless you believe you‘ll die—one way or another—without that person. They should be more important to you than oxygen. Otherwise, you‘ll suffocate, one damn anniversary at a time 🥐💍🍋🌷☕️

The heat is climbing so I moved outside to read this morning. This book was a fast read! I loved the back and forth between 1955 and 2018 ( Nellie and Alice) and I have said it before, I love a book with recipes. Some of these I won‘t be trying 😉😂

Not sure I need a recipe 🤔😂

I forgot I was on the waiting list for this book. I realized it became available on Libby last night. I couldn't sleep and started to read it. Ended up staying up well past my bedtime reading it. I spent most of today reading it between errands. I could not put it down. I also really liked the insane advice from old marriage books and the recipes at the start of the chapters.

This was a good read. A bit of intrigue mixed with plenty of 1950s nostalgia lends drama to the life of a controlled and “perfect” housewife. While I liked the style with recipes and dual narrative, I found Alice and Nate a bit irritating at times - they exemplify why good communication is important! And this book almost makes marriage seem like a power-struggle women usually lose. A more supportive husband in the end would have been nice. 6/10

This book started off with a lot of promise. I enjoyed the recipes scattered through out and might try some. The story flits between Nellie (1950s) and Alice (2018), two very different housewives. I loved getting to know Nellie's story but Alice annoyed me. Shes seemed very immature at points. It was good but not as good as it could have been.

"But funerals were not for the dead; they were for the living"

A friend recommended this book to me as something I may like. I'm currently 43% through and loving it so far. There are actual recipes sprinkled throughout and the story has me intrigued.

I found it disheartening to be immersed in what a marriage with a narcissist and domestic violence looked like in the '50s compared to all that's available for resources for women today. I did enjoy the glimpses of housewifery, numerous dinner parties. I plan to make a few of the recipes mentioned in the book, avoiding the deviled ham dip and Jello-molds. Modern themes included: disagreements over family planning and workplace sexual harassment.

For two fascinating women & their dual timelines—contemporary & 1950s—and for their ties to an old cookbook (with recipes!), and the author‘s exploration of gender roles in patriarchy, and dishonesty in marital relationships, and the dark undertones, and spooky things that might be either supernatural or not (left up to the reader): I call this a pick, even though there‘s a wobble in the landing. #Audiobook is a pleasure with two narrators. 🇨🇦

Who says a test swatch must be square? I had fun exploring possibilities with this cotton yarn that I had tucked waaaay in a back cupboard in the 90s. #audioknitting #knittersofLitsy

My two books from the used bookstore today. I paid three dollars for both books! #bookhaul

60 years separate Nellie and Alice but both suffer under ridiculous patriarchal society. Alice finds a cookbook and letters revealing Nellie's stifeling life and her fight against it. Will Alice find the same courage to change her life? Great characters and story. Loved the dual timeline.

Wrapping up my weekend by finishing the tagged book. I really enjoyed reading this novel about two women in different eras both struggling with marital woes and fertility pressures. Indeed, both women seek answers to the questions "who am I?" if I'm not a wife or a mother? This was a quick read, predictable in spots, but a wonderful reflection on the conflicting expectations of women - not just in days past but in the modern world.

This was a dual timeline book, one from a housewife in the 1950‘s and the second in current times. When Alice moves into a new house with her husband she find the letters of the former owner, Nellie. I thought this would be a light read, but there are many trigger warnings in the book especially around domestic abuse. I saw where the author was trying to go with this book but it just never quite made it over the finish line for me.

Interesting idea, bizarre contemporary characters. Outstanding narrators. Meh. ⭐⭐⭐

Next on audio from two of my favorite narrators (and 🤞 I can finish in 9 days when it returns to the library!)

So the rating should come as no surprise! I enjoyed this immensely - a real page turner!!

Hysterical. Thank you Mrs. Carnegie, will have to keep this in mind! 🤣

Thanks to @Eggs

TODAY'S PROMPT: COOKBOOK

Not necessarily a COOKBOOK, but an old house, an old cookbook, notes in the cookbook that reveal the life of Nellie, and Alice who has some secrets of her own is what the reader finds in this lovely read.

LOVED this book.

FULL REVIEW: https://tinyurl.com/s263p95

@karmakbrown
@duttonbooks

This was last night's picture. It's been too long of a week, and buckets of wine will be needed all weekend long. Luckily here (if you look at it the way I am) we're supposed to have wild storms with all kinds of rain and ice. This only guarantees the weekend is spent doing nothing but hunkering down by the fire with plenty of reading material!

Book haul from today's adventures. There were so many books on my want-to-read list that I didn't realize were already available. Now, I just need a blanket, some hot chocolate, and about 10 days of solitude (please).

Well this one is a quick loan from the library, so I have to put the Flowers book aside and get to this one first.

Bailing at 16% / 1:33:58—first bail of 2020. I'm seriously confused as to what all the fuss is about.

This #newrelease sounds good! Plus that blurb from fave #TaylorJenkinsReid really caught my attention! #TBRtemptation

RECIPE FOR A PERFECT WIFE is an endearing and nostalgic trip back in time with written letters and a cookbook that were found taking us back to the 1950‘s and influencing the main character‘s present-day life.

Women‘s fiction fans, readers who enjoy a dual time line, and a story line that keeps you wanting more will enjoy it.
Loved it. 5/5

FULL REVIEW HERE:

https://tinyurl.com/s263p95

@karmakbrown
@duttonbooks
@penguinbooks

A book I had a hard time with at the beginning, but once I found my footing I couldn't get through it fast enough. I liked both perspectives equally and thought the author put clever excerpts from publications and recipes in between each chapter.

Full review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3031866551