Luscious Lemon

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Detailed and Touching Story
Review: "Luscious Lemon" by Heather Swain is truly chick lit at its best. I found it be powerfully touching, exquisitely detailed and highly readable.

Lemon, the main heroine of the book, is strong, hard-working and an excellent cook. As a matter of fact, she owns her own restaurant in NYC and is trying (so far unsuccessfully) to turn the place into something profitable. Her devoted boyfriend is dropping marriage hints, but she just doesn't have time or desire to settle down until she has made her restaurant into something spectactular. However, it soon becomes apparent that she is pregnant, but she is so busy that she doesn't realize it right away.

When it finally dawns on her that maybe all the symptoms are pointing to pregnancy, Lemon has mixed emotions. On one hand, her wonderful boyfriend says he plans to be there every step of the way, which is reassuring. On the other hand, she is conflicted, because the timing just stinks. However, after some heartfelt talks with her boyfriend and getting an ultrasound, she becomes fiercely attached to the little creature growing within her.

Things are hectic, but going along okay, when tragedy strikes. Lemon loses someone very close to her, and things begin spiraling out of control. She is forced to deal with her emotions and overcome her grief, sense of loss and feelings of abandonment.

I don't want to give away any more details about the plot, so I'll leave the reader to find out the rest! One of the best things about Luscious Lemon is that it enticingly goes from one scene to another flawlessly. The story starts off with a daring food and love scene, then plunges into the details of Lemon's life. The author provides a detailed background on all of the main characters in the story as well as plenty of delicious descriptions of food. As with Heather Swain's previous book Eliot's Banana, there is a small supernatural side-story. All of these details combine to make Luscious Lemon into a wonderful, vivid and detailed story.

Heather Swain does an amazing job in capturing the true feelings of abandonment and pain that one often experiences when they lose someone close to them. Overall, I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: FINALLY...somebody who truly understands!
Review: I became a fan of Heather Swain after reading her piece in Salon.com two years ago in which she unflinchingly described her miscarriage and the emotions surrounding her loss. I had suffered my first miscarriage a few months earlier and was still working through my grief. While Swain's essay didn't necessarily help me through the grieving process any faster, the volume of e-mail the piece generated in response indicated that miscarriage was much more common than I ever believed, and that I was not alone.

My second miscarriage earlier this year was all the more devastating due to my husband's family's complete lack of understanding and respect for our grief. A book I purchased on Amazon about coping with pregnancy loss was helpful, but still a tad too clinical about the feelings women experience after the initial shock has subsided. Until I read Swain's "Luscious Lemon", nobody reassured me that my subsequent jealousy of pregnant women and new mothers was normal. I stewed alone in my thoughts of how I was more deserving of a baby than those other women, and berated myself for thinking that way. I got sick of hearing well-meaning friends and relatives tell me that all was for the best because the baby wouldn't have been "normal" if I hadn't lost it, that God had a plan for me but I didn't know what it was yet. Worst of all, I hated hearing about how I should be grateful that we already had a beautiful, healthy daughter when so many other couples were still struggling to have their first.

Heather Swain covers all those feelings -- and more -- in "Luscious Lemon" with wit, compassion and honesty. She doesn't shy away from the powerful and sometimes surprising emotions women experience after a miscarriage. Without becoming preachy, Swain allows her character to experience all those feelings that eventually lead to acceptance of her loss, and even uses it to mend relationships she strained while she grieved. It's an uplifting story that reassures women that good can indeed come from bad, that a pregnancy loss will always be a part of our history but we cannot define ourselves by our loss. I'm an even bigger fan of Heather Swain after reading "Luscious Lemon". It's a must-read for those of us who have been down this road, and for those who don't understand.

Rating:
Summary: A very touching story
Review: Let me introduce you to Ellie Manielli AKA Lemon. She was born into a large Italian family in Brooklyn, growing up in the kitchen savoring the smells and tastes of her family's Italian recipes.

At a young age, Lemon's parents are killed in a train accident and she is raised by her Grandmother and Aunt's. Lemon never really gets over the devastation of loosing her parents, but her family is always there for support.

As an adult, Lemon's love of cooking has given her the confidence to open her own Manhattan restauraunt which she calls "Lemon". She opens Lemon with her best friends (who are also fabluous chef's) and is an overnight success and she couldn't be happier until Lemon discovers that she is pregnant.

Luscious Lemon deals with serious issues that women face everyday. Can we really have it all? The thriving business, pregnancy, family members who like to interfere, a perfect realtionship with our partner? We like to think that we can control everthing and hate to admit that we can't.

Luscious Lemon is an insighftul read of one's womans journey to learn that she can't have it all and accepting the mountains that she has had to climb to get back on her feet again.

Rating:
Summary: A must read!
Review: Luscious Lemon is a funny page-turner that actually addresses a difficult subject. Swain's writing had me hooked from the first page. Her main character is appealing but not perfect, her story is heartfelt and entertaining. If you like a good read, this novel is for you.