Rating: 
Summary: Great addition to your Nigella arsenal
Review: My only criticism of Nigella Lawson's other cookbooks (a term that seems inadequate to describe her work) is that many of the recipes included are heavy in starch and not the greatest for low-carb eaters.This book is a lot different. Whether it's because of the fact that most people eat "lighter" foods in summer or because she wanted a lower-carb addition to her impressive lineup of books, this book is GREAT. Lots of great salads, light desserts, fish/meat for grilling. As always, the pictures and overall production quality of the book are great as well. This one is not as narrative as previous books she's released, but a must-have for Nigella fans and anyone who just wants to make some relatively simple but elegant meals in the summer. For more traditional work/recipes try "How to Eat" and for the ultimate dessert manual, "How To Be a Domestic Goddess" ..
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Summary: Forever Nigella!
Review: Nigella has done once it again. "Forever Summer" is an entertaining, literate, highly intelligent, and most important, delicious book.
"Forever Summer" can be enjoyed on many levels. First and foremost, it is an outstanding cookbook with many wonderful recipes for summer food anytime of year. Certain of her recipes-pink soup, happiness soup, near-slut red raspberry-make you smile just at the title. Yet all (or nearly all) of her recipes are relatively easy to prepare and serve. As in previous cookbooks, she has a number of Italian recipes. Also in this one, she shows a more pronounced Middle Eastern strain. And, her recipes seem more low-carb than in previous books.
Yet, "Forever Summer," like Nigella's other tomes, is more than just a cookbook. Nigella is an entertaining writer who can reference English literature or American cinema (she opens with a quote from Singing in the Rain)on the same page. She opens each recipe with an anecdote about its origin or a comment about the ingredients or a story about how she got it. But what is great about Nigella-she also provides commentary throughout the recipe, so you feel as if she is standing right by you.
And, "Forever Summer," like Nigella's other books, is also about her philosophy, "her take" on life. One of her great quotes in this book is that safely guarded recipes usually die out-and for the right reasons. The best recipes are swapped, improved on, and then swapped again.
I would recommend this book to those who have enjoyed Nigella's other books-this is an addition to and not a reiteration of her previous work. I would recommend this book to those who like intelligent cookbooks; you don't need to have been enmeshed in the Nigella world to enjoy this one. It stands on its own. If you're one of the people that Nigella bothers-and there are some-this book won't you change your mind on her. She is pure Nigella. But, if you love summer food-well you'll love "Forever Summer."
Rating: 
Summary: Great Food, Poor presentation and organization
Review: Nigella Lawson is using the rather thinly presented premise that one should be able to enjoy summer style dishes with tomatoes and summer squash all year long. Before opening the covers of this book, I was anticipating a reasoned argument from an Anti-Alice Waters position followed by possibly at least some general thoughts about using selected produce out of season. Instead, the book is simply a compilation of new recipes with just the thinnest introduction to back up the premise and provide a theme to the headnotes on the various recipes. Make no mistake from the negative tone of the opening paragraph that this book contains bad recipes. It's recipes all look delightful and invite me to make as many as I wish. A lot of the attraction of the recipes in this book is common to many books of this type written by his nibs Jaimie Oliver, Tyler Florence, and Sara Moulton. They are intended to make cooking more fun for the casual cook. It's for those people who have more time to cook than the 30 minute meal crowd, yet are not hard core Molto Mario style foodies who read Paula Wolfert and Claudia Roden. They are people who occasionally want to broaden their range of cooking. And Nigella has the perfect style of book to suit this audience. The center of gravity of her cuisine appears to be Claudia Roden's definition of Middle Eastern food as many dishes have arabic names and Iranian spice mixes in their recipes. She includes many dishes and ingredients from the Orient as well. She is literally all over the map and shamelessly steals from everyone. As a newphyte foodie, I actually have a great appreciation for references to sources of dishes. It is great fun to see the influence of one writer on another, and for the student to not make believe that they are creating recipes out of whole cloth. Like Jamie Oliver, Ms. Lawson has an especially breezy style doubly effective on American audiences with her English slang. My only puzzle is why Ms. Lawson and Mr. Oliver don't seem to share any slang terms. Are they looking over one another's shoulders? They do have the same publisher, after all. In spite of the lushious recipes, there are several annoying things about this book which may make people feel they did not get their money's worth. The very thin discussion of the books premise is the first. The second is the abysmal organization and table of contents. In addition to the very short introduction and the index, there are but four chapter headings in the table of contents for 'first course', 'second course', 'desserts', and 'drinks'. Not being very fond of mixed drinks, the twenty pages in the last chapter are lost on me. This doesn't mean there are no divisions but two in the 169 pages dedicated to savory dishes. 'first course' is divided up into 'pasta', 'soups', and 'salads' and 'second course is divided up into 'fish', 'meat', 'poultry', and 'sides and more'. Why in the world did the author or editors not think to put these in the Table of Contents especially since they are essential to the largest audience for this book. The fact that Lawson and Oliver have the same publisher makes me wonder why the photographic styling in 'Jamie's Kitchen' is so good yet the photographic styling is so poor in this volume. The photographs of food have no captions. The reader can assume that the recipe and the photo of same are on facing pages, but good luck if there are any pics which don't fit this placing. The non food related pics range from being uninteresting to ugly, especially the washed out pics of Ms. Lawson herself. The recipes are luscious and Ms. Lawson is an engaging writer, but this book does not properly serve it's audience, especially at a list price of $35 a pop. If I were a Nigella Lawson fan, I would ignore everything I said above and buy the book. The recipes are worth it and are worthy of four out of five stars. If I'm looking for a resource for filling out a party menu, check out Ina Garten or Martha Stewart. Much more organization, and accessibility.
Rating: 
Summary: Not That Good
Review: Of course the book is gorgeous and the author's writing is delicious, but as far as the recipes go - no way is it worth more than 2 stars. I have her other books and they're great. She should have given this one a bit more time.
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Summary: Now Nigella has become time proven, a cookery staple.
Review: This has fast become my favorite cookbook ever. I'm a huge fan of summer veggies and dishes, but I live in NYC and a grill isn't exactly an option for me. These dishes are the next best thing. The pictures are gorgeous and all of the recipes I've tried have been amazing so far. A few are a bit too exotic for my taste, and she likes to do a lot with lamb and beef and I don't eat red meat, but the recipes are so good, I would almost be willing to revert to being a carnivore. The fish recipes are superb, and I don't even like fish that much. And the deserts...I ran out and bought an ice cream maker after flipping through the desert section. The white chocolate mousse with passion fruit and raspberry is my absolute favorite. I pour it into martini glasses and indulge.
Rating:
Summary: Summer cooking
Review: This has fast become my favorite cookbook ever. I'm a huge fan of summer veggies and dishes, but I live in NYC and a grill isn't exactly an option for me. These dishes are the next best thing. The pictures are gorgeous and all of the recipes I've tried have been amazing so far. A few are a bit too exotic for my taste, and she likes to do a lot with lamb and beef and I don't eat red meat, but the recipes are so good, I would almost be willing to revert to being a carnivore. The fish recipes are superb, and I don't even like fish that much. And the deserts...I ran out and bought an ice cream maker after flipping through the desert section. The white chocolate mousse with passion fruit and raspberry is my absolute favorite. I pour it into martini glasses and indulge.
Rating: 
Summary: Mixed results but worth the cost
Review: This is a beautiful cookbook with so many lovely pictures. I personally enjoy her little narratives at the start of each recipe...it helps make this less of a cookbook and more of an experience. The recipes that we have tried so far are: "Watermelon, Feta and Black Olive Salad" which looked lovely but just is a bad combination of tastes... however this recipe did inspire me to rearrange the ingrediants and come up with two different salads (a greek and a fruit) that taste much better. "Slow-roasted garlic and lemon chicken" smelled yummy and looked great! The chicken was dry because I used skinless chicken breasts - I will make sure to use pieces with skin next time. Tonight we are trying the "Black and Blue Beef". We have high hopes for it. Some of the tastes in this cookbook are a little too exotic for typical american taste buds but I still think this book is worth its cost - I look at it as an adventure, inspiration, and a way to eat healthier, fresher food while continuing to lose weight.
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Summary: Practically Perfect
Review: This is the type of cookbook that fights to stay on my bedside table instead of in my kitchen with its mates. It is that wonderful--the type of book that can cause a smile on a rainy day whether one is planning to cook or not. I have not tried all the recipes in this book, although just about all of them intrigue me, and I hope to try them all. I can only say that I find Nigella's irrepressible narration during her recipes (just like she does on television) as amusing and helpful as the recipes themselves. She invariably says, "if you don't have [this ingredient], it's ok," which is my type of cookbook. I have learned so much just from reading the recipes, because Nigella explains spices with which I am not familiar; or tells you how to strip the leaves off a fresh basil stalk (believe it or not, I did not know how to do this, and probably would have thrown the entire stalk in the pot); and gives you all kinds of ideas you may not have had before. For instance, in a lemon chicken recipe (which I have made to rave reviews), she says that the lemon bits themselves, peel and all, carmelize during cooking, and become sweet enough to eat whole. I tried it--she was right, and I have to tell you that a hot, baked, carmelized lemon is a treat not to miss--who would have ever thought of it? Maybe gourmet cooks, but certainly not me. Same with the parsley and tomato salad. It never occurred to me that parsley could be served and eaten as a salad green. Nigella says she "invented" it when nothing else was available in her fridge. Most of the recipes in this book are what I would call "light," although she does include some heavier fare such as spareribs. Mostly, though, these are dishes just perfect to prepare for a lovely summer dinner party, or--as I have done--to pig out on all alone! A word to the dieters who may be reading this review: I am on a low-carb diet and have found plenty of things to eat. I have had to skip many of the desserts (sigh), but I can still read about them! All in all, take my word for it: I am no gourmet cook, but I certainly feel like one with Nigella by my side. This is a fun, fabulous cookbook for just about everybody.
Rating:
Summary: Nigella's Best
Review: When it comes to Nigella Lawson there are two distinct camps: Those who love her and those who absolutely cannot stand her. I belong to the former. I have all of her books and get a lot of use out of all of them. Most people love How to Eat the most and while I agree that it is a fabulous book, this one wins out in my oppinion b/c I love that these recipes have a lighter and fresher feel and taste than the heavier (and definitely more traditionally English) ones of her first book.
I have made about 12 recipes from this book and would make them all again. The best meal I have made in recent weeks consisted of the slow-roasted garlic and lemon chicken paired with the hasselback potatoes. The whole house smelled of white wine, lemon, garlic and herbs and the chicken was very tender. I would also recommend you try the jubilee chicken, mustard coated salmon, fattoush and flatbread pizzas.
The pictures are gorgeous and the writing makes you feel comforted as you cook. What I like the most about Nigella's books and shows is that she really inspires people to not be so intimidated by the prospect of cooking and I have never made a recipe of hers and thought "This is just too much work."
If you're stuck in an American food rut and want to switch it up a bit, start here. She offers wonderful takes on traditional Moroccan, Thai, Italian and Indian foods that you might just like if you give them a whirl.
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