The Review That Was to Be, But Wasn't (part 2)

If Lauren Monroe can be described in one word, persistent would be it.  Over a year ago, the Montour native approached me with the first in her Maryland Shores romance series for a review.  The PG agreed to it and I wrote it.  It was never published.  Lauren approached me, the books editor, the managing editor relentlessly without luck.  I am not so sure this was a good plan on her part.  However, I was told that the remains of my work on file would be printed before the end of 2014, and they weren't.  I tried to find another publication to print them, but had no luck myself.  So, because I like to keep a promise if I can,  and in this case, I couldn't, I am printing the review here.  By the way, Lauren has written a second book in the series, Second Chances, and for readers of books series along the lines of Debbie Macomber or Susan Wiggs, and who enjoy a Pittsburgh connection, you may want to give the series a try.  As for now, here are my thoughts on the first book in the series:

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Montour High School graduate and former Monroeville resident, Loriann Oberlin, has moved to the Chesapeake area and published her first novel, Letting Go under the pen name of Lauren Monroe.  This romance novel is the story of a young widow, Maren Mitchell, who meets and falls in love with a young surgeon, Dr. Steve Kramer , when her son undergoes an emergency appendectomy.  The story takes place at a difficult time in the DC/Maryland area:  a year after 9/11 and during the time of the I-95 sniper attacks.  Maren, who lost her husband in an auto accident 16 months prior, is attempting to open her own graphic design business when an offer comes from the hospital that Dr. Steve works in.  He encourages her to interview and accept.  As time goes on, their relationship grows.

Monroe shares the beauty of the Chesapeake area with her readers and intentionally brings a bit of the ‘burgh into the story.  Taking place in the fall, some of the book’s action takes place on Steve’s  large power boat and a sailboat belonging to Maren’s father.  Steve and best friend, Dr. Paul Romano, attended UPMC medical school.  Dr. Romano is a native Pittsburgher, and a lover of the Strip District, biscotti and Sunday gravy.  Both men are Steelers fans and the story follows the Steelers season, led by  quarterbacks Kordell Stewart and Tommy Maddox .  Terrible towels and the black and gold (vs. purple and black) get  plenty of attention.

The story behind  Letting Go had its roots in the 1990’s  before the author’s move to Maryland.  A practicing counselor with a masters degree from John Hopkins, Monroe has written nine non-fiction  books as well.  Her most recent non-fiction book is Overcoming Passive-Aggression.  She also taught creative writing at locally at community college campuses  and at Pitt’s Informal Program.  Monroe revisited her original story, and hoped to update the story to reflect her life experiences as well as to write fiction rather than a journalistic style that she had been accustomed to in her local work.

Letting Go has both strengths and weaknesses.   Character development is strong .  We know that Maren has had anxiety and difficulty adjusting to her husband’s tragic death.  She hates hospitals.  It is a challenge for her to not call for support while her son undergoes his appendectomy in the same hospital that her husband died in.   We learn that Steve, at the age of 39, has become chief of surgery due to his perseverance  in attending both the University of Pittsburgh’s medical school and Columbia University.  He also is alone, and has some secrets that he doesn’t wish to share with Maren.  However, his ability to capture not just her heart, but her son’s and her parents,  overshadows the past he chooses not to share.  Maren’s son , Dylan, is a typical 6-year-old and endearing.   Her parents, and Steve’s as well, are likable and open.   In contrast, Maren’s former in-laws and Steve’s past love interests are almost caricatures of the extremely  evil girlfriend and the extreme bimbo girlfriend.

The challenge to reading Letting Go is not the realistic story or the characters, but in the flow of the writing complicated by the attempt to bring Pittsburgh into the story.   I found much of the dialogue hard to follow and that I was missing the point.  Using Pittsburghese fell flat.  Dr. Paul uses “Yinz,” and  the phrase “redd up” is explained in the story, but only Western Pennsylvanian readers will care and perhaps not in a positive way.  And really, do outsiders honestly believe that the Strip district is a red light district?  I just didn’t feel that we were portrayed in as positive a light as Monroe hoped we would be.  

Letting Go may appeal to light romance readers who are not looking for any reading that is too intense.   As the first in a planned series under the header, The Maryland Shores,  the novel  falls short.  I will often continue with a series that is not a favorite because I care how the characters fare as they move on.  In this case, now that these two have resolved their storyline, I think I can let this series go.

The Review that Was to Be, But Wasn't

A while back, I was approached by a writer of historical fiction with a wonderful book about Pittsburgh when glass-making was king.  Carnegie and Frick were young bucks, just moving into  the coke and steel industry.  I liked the book a lot, and asked if I could review for the Post-Gazette since the subject matter was our history,  Unfortunately, while I was told the review would make the paper, it never did, but the book is still in print and the author is still hoping for a review. Ah, promises, promises. . . .

Because I think that this is a really great Pittsburgh story, here is my review.  the author has a Facebook page, so please get in touch, and buy a copy.

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Wealth and Privilege, a new effort by Dayton, Ohio author Jeannette Watts, combines romance and the Industrial Revolution in Western Pennsylvania.   Ms. Watts lived here for four years and thoughtfully researched the setting of her first novel, finally developing a thoughtful historical novel that takes place in Pittsburgh rather than the more popular settings of the Western or Southern states.

Our history shines through the supporting characters of Henry Clay Frick, Andy Carnegie, and C. C. Hussey as they develop their steel, coke and metal operations in Pittsburgh following the Civil War.  Young industrialist Thomas Baldwin falls in love with the raven-haired, black-eyed, intelligent Mrs. Regina Waring but lives in a loveless marriage to naïve, blonde and dim Meredith Burke.   Through the eyes of Thomas Baldwin, we experience the smoke from the furnaces along the three rivers, the beauty of homes in the Mexican War Streets and mansions in the East End, and the struggles of growing industry during difficult economic times and the development of labor unions.

Thomas is the surviving son of the owner of Olympus Ironworks—a company that thrived by providing iron ingots to ammunition manufacturers during the Civil War.  Favored son Benjamin was killed fighting for the Union Army.  The more handsome of the brothers, the reserved Thomas always seems to follow in the shadow of his deceased war hero brother despite his efforts.    The story opens with his 25^th birthday party, a grand evening affair designed to find young Thomas a bride.   In an effort to escape the attention of every single young Pittsburgh female, he hides in the conservatory and accidentally meets Mrs. Regina Waring.  Regina comes from Johnstown’s working class, but is well educated, beautiful, and the source of gossip among the young ladies attending the party.  Thomas is bewitched by Regina, and nobly follows her lead throughout their professional and personal friendship. 

Meanwhile, Meredith and her mother plot to trick Thomas into a loveless marriage.     Meredith entices him into the library and they are discovered there by both of their mothers.  Three months later, the two marry and move into a small home on Buena Vista Street, but with separate rooms.  Thomas even takes his meals in his library, and speaks condescendingly to his wife when he speaks to her at all.

Regina becomes Thomas’ confidante and her husband becomes Thomas’ champion.  Later the two partner in a joint venture designing winter gardens that are built worldwide of the iron and glass manufactured by their own family businesses.   Regina seems to blend into the male-dominated industrial world of Pittsburgh.  She is admitted to the Duquesne Club, maintains a membership at South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club, and  later travels to Europe with several Pittsburgh businessmen.

Historically, the novel inspires readers to further explore the events of the book that include the Johnstown Flood, the business ethics of Andrew Carnegie, and the riots against the Pennsylvania Railroad.  Thomas’ unrequited love for Regina, disdain for Meredith, and his celibacy are the romantic themes of the book.  The novel reminds me of  Western Pennsylvania author Agnes Sligh Turnbull, who wrote of Pittsburgh’s history from its frontier days (The King’s Orchard) to pre World War II (The Bishop’s Mantle) in the mid Twentieth Century.  Turnbull was a favorite of mine from junior high school on.  I get the same feeling for Wealth and Privilege.  Its historical content and chaste love story might appeal to a romantic young teenager or to any reader who doesn’t feel that sexual intimacy needs to be described in full detail in every book.

Recent Reads (and Listens. . . )

Once school starts, there's a new kind of busy--even if there are no children or teenagers or college students to occupy our time.  In the past couple of weeks, I've celebrated the Gobblerito from Mad Mex with friends, the same restaurant's cauliflower, brussels sprout and squash tacos with my daughter, the symphony featuring the very handsome Pablo Sainz Villegas (whose going on my work wall of shame) on guitar, Robert DeNiro's comedy "The Intern"  with a brisket sandwich at the Murray Avenue Grill, brunch at Eleven, and brunch at Sonoma Grille.  I spent a lovely evening at an Oktoberfest party with wonderful food and great friends that sweat with me a few times each week. I cooked a little, and read a lot.  Thank Goodness I gave cable the boot.

Here, briefly, are the books I've completed recently:

Malice at the Palace, Rhys Bowen.  A cozy mystery featuring the poor heiress to the throne, Lady Georgie, as she escorts the future Duchess of Kent before her royal wedding in 1934.  Of course, there's murder and the handsome Honorable Darcy O'Mara to keep the romance alive for the lovely Lady Georgie.

The Funeral Dress, Susan Gregg Gilmore.  A sweet bit of women's fiction involving a young motherless mother, her friends from the Tennessee garment factory she works in, and the challenges she faces with family after her best friend and ally dies tragically.  Such a lovely story about community in Appalachia in from 1955 to 1974.

Silver Linings, Debbie Macomber.  Returning to the Rose Harbor Inn, Debbie Macomber continues the budding romance of  widowed innkeeper Jo Marie and her handyman Marc, as well as the stories of two 28 year-olds at their 10th high school reunion.  One has an axe to grind, the other an apology to make--both are reflections of the Young Adult novels Debbie Macomber has been exploring and are intriguing stories.  I listened to this on CD in my car, and loved the story, but struggle with her narrator which is unfortunate.

Dishing the Dirt, M.C. Beaton.  Agatha Raisin is my favorite.  Why?  She's of an age, colors her hair brown, loves a cocktail, and loves men.  Retired to the Cotswolds after a career in PR, she is forever in love and forever tripping into murder which is why she opened her own detective agency.  Not a favorite of the local police force or certainly the local vicar, she gets herself into some humorous scrapes and always gets her killer---just not in a practical or safe way.  Love her!

Pretty When Your Cry, Skye Warren.  A very dark romance involving a strip club owner and generally dangerous man and a headlining stripper who is a runaway from a religious cult.  Two very broken people, a mystery and the next to last novel in a series.  Having started in the middle, and only having read two of the books plus the prequel, I have some catching up to do.  And I will. (This book was released today on Amazon.)

Wrong, Jana Aston.  The debut novel by J.A. Huss' PA, about a gynecologist and a virgin.  Sort of. Actually, this is a wonderful contemporary romance about a 30 something doctor who falls for a 21 year old Penn student/barista in Philadelphia.  He's got money and prestige and a nasty ex-fiancee, she has nothing but grandparents who raised her  after her mother passed away before her second brithday.  An unlikely couple (but legal!) and a hot romance.  I LOVED this book!  It makes me smile.

Sweet Filthy Morning After, Christina Lauren.  If you read Sweet Filthy Boy and loved Ansel, and have been dying to hear his voice, this is how you do it on Audible.  The morning after in Vegas through Ansel's eyes.  Yes, he sounds just like I thought he would.  And I may love him more than Max Stella--well almost.  My first Audible purchase, but not my last--when the CD's jam in my car, and I can no longer stand  pop radio or Mark Madden, I will buy Audible for my commute home.

Thinking of  bourbon and listening while commuting--If I can't drink and drive, I can get primed for that evening Jim Beam with the Bourbon Kings, J.R. Ward.  The narrator with that silky Kentucky drawl and the Dynasty/Falcon Crest/Dallas plots between a bourbon distillers patriarch and his children as well as the staff who work for them has made my commute home longer because I insist on sitting in my car until either a new track or a new chapter start.  I am loving this family saga, and am on the edge of my seat now--waiting to go to work tomorrow! (Say what?)

The Wind, the Cold, and the Vegetable Soup. . . .

During my weekends, I'm pretty much guaranteed to do a few things:  Hip Hop Classes at Pure Athletex, Sunday breakfast club at Denny's, laundry, and make something that will suffice as dinner for a few days in the week.  If it is something my son likes, then it may not last long--last week's penne and meat sauce was gone by Wednesday.  

After Hip Hop this morning, I decided to stop at Target and Giant Eagle to pick up some things for soup.  I picked up lots of things--moisturizer, cat food,  soup on sale (in particular microwaveable tomato), and a bag of cole slaw mix from the produce aisle.

Cole slaw mix is a joy of convenient cooking for the vegetable lover.  A pound bag seems like a lot, but trying to grate a head of cabbage without skinning the knuckles makes that $2 I spent feel like a million bucks.  I can easily use this bag three different ways--cole slaw (and if I flavor it with taco seasoning, a great topping for fish tacos), layered with cooked onions, rice and ground beef along with tomato soup and tomato sauce and baked in a slow oven--stuffed cabbage in a hurry, and vegetable soup.

I used to make a big deal out of vegetable soup.  A piece of tough beef, a soup bone, diced carrots and onions, potatoes, frozen limas and corn and green beans, beef soup base, canned tomatoes, barley and lastly shredded cabbage.  This soup was an all day affair.  Good tasting, but so long to cook.

Now, I take advantage of the convenient foods in the markets and I have a small pot of soup on the stove in minutes.  Let it simmer until the vegetables are tender, Add some sort of starch--pastina, barley, rice, a drained can of kidney or cannellini beans--and a third of a bag of cole slaw mix along with a tablespoon of table sugar, and you are done once the starch cooks and the cabbage is softened and no longer crunchy.  Reheats like a dream.  I put it away in the refrigerator and serve myself a bowl reheated in the microwave along with some good Italian bread (Mancini's or Cellone's) with butter.  Dinner is served.  This soup has no meat in it--saves time.  Want meat?  Make a sandwich.

Easy Vegetable Soup

1 32 oz box of vegetable stock (or 1 quart of water with Knorr's vegetable bouillon cubes added)

2 cups of water

1 16 oz bag of frozen soup vegetable mix 

1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes

Black pepper as you like

1 bay leaf

Stir this together in a large saucepan, soup pot or crock pot if you'd like.  Bring to a boil, and the simmer for about an hour.  

1/4 to 1/3 cup of barley or acini di pepe or orzo

1 T sugar

1/3 bag of cole slaw mix

Stir these into the soup and turn the heat up to boil, then down to simmer.  Add water if the soup is too thick or if the liquid has boiled down too far.  I like my soup to be thick so I am cautious when adding water.  The raw pasta and barley will soak some broth up as it cooks, and the cole slaw will not add additional liquid, but too much water will affect the taste.  I salt at the table as there is a considerable amount of salt in the broth and the canned tomatoes.

Can't get any easier than this.  No chopping, peeling or shredding.  Just pour, stir and simmer.  So very tasty, too.

What I read before the weekend started

Whiskey Nights by Fabiola Francisco
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As I sip my bourbon this evening--something I've been waiting for since I started this book I may add--I have to give some thought to this second book of a series. It works as a standalone and it is pure romance. PURE Romance with a side of Kentucky Mules (for which I bought a fresh lime to enjoy after I write this review!) Sometimes, after reading a lot of romances--erotic, suspenseful, comedic, dramatic--it is a real shock to the system to read a quiet novel about a relationship building. I felt like the shoe was going to drop with every page turned. This is a book about a very real relationship between two very real young people--a bartender and a baker--who never thought they could have a chance together for one reason or the other, but took an opportunity and ran with it. For someone like me whose choices were based on being a trainwreck, this was strange to read---do young adults really have goals like these two do? And can those goals be dealbreakers? Life happens in a very well-written way with a side of whiskey.


View all my reviews


And yes, I did stop and pick up a fifth of Beam, but forgot the ginger beer....what is wrong with me? Tomorrow's foolishness, I guess.

What I cooked this weekend. . . and how I got there.

Do I or do I not turn on the heat?  This was a question lots of us faced this past weekend.  For many of you who know me, my son reflected it best on Friday night when he asked, "Mom, do we have gas?"

Last year, during a fall cold snap that coincided with my birthday, I was blessed to have a leaking gas line that was tagged and turned off by our utility company.  Unfortunately, I was also without funds to fix it.  So for about a month last November, Ryan and I snuggled up with our space heaters, worried about our new kitten and older cat, and tried to raise the money to have our gas line replaced, our basement lines replaced, and our stove, water .heater and furnace restarted.  Sometimes, we're blessed with wonderful patient people in our lives.  In our case, Ray Miller's Gas Line Replacement Company  was our savior--he was reasonable, patient, and checked on us when the fall rains poured down and the temperatures dropped.  To my Pittsburgh friends, if you need to replace a gas line, this is the guy to call:412-537-9497.  No one will beat him for honest pricing, neat and clean work, and kindness.  In my case, he even disconnected all of the gas lines that had been connected to ancient heaters and gas lights in every room of my house.  The mere fact that we did not blow up is a miracle.  

But, I am being realistic here.  I need to move.  I need to sell this barn to a flipper who will put the money and energy into bringing the place up to what it needs to be in the 21st century, not the 19th when it was built.

On the weekends, I tend to cook one pot meals or a large cut of meat that will allow Ryan and I to slice and dice servings over the week until it is gone.  

A favorite of mine is a frozen turkey breast---bone in or boneless, these  are bargains and could not be easier to prepare in a crock pot.  A six pound bone in breast will fit in 4 quart crock pot.  I pull off the wrapper and dislodge the gravy packet under cold running water and the simply place the meat in the crock set on high for about 4 to 5 hours.  If I start it earlier, I can set the cooker on low.  An onion sliced in the bottom of the pot is optional as are seasonings.  There is plenty of liquid in a frozen turkey breast that will keep the bird moist.  It will NOT brown--so don't expect to make a Thanksgiving presentation.  On the other hand, you will have plenty of breast meat to pull off the bones, slice for sandwiches, dice for salads, and chunk for turkey pot pie.  Which leads me to:

TURKEY POT PIE with BISCUIT CRUST

Leftover turkey breast meat--about 3 cups--chunked

4 carrots, peeled and sliced 

3  stalks celery, sliced

3 medium potatoes, peeled and chunked into bite size pieces

1 chopped onion

1 cup frozen peas

5 T butter or margarine

5 T flour

3 cups milk

salt, pepper and parsley

In a saucepan, cover the carrots, celery, potatoes and onion with water.  Bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes and carrots are able to be pierced with a fork. Drain and then pour the vegetables into a 2 quart casserole dish or a 9 x 13 glass dish.  Sprinkle the peas over top

Layer the turkey meat over the vegetables.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and slowly add the milk, stirring to eliminate any lumps.  After the milk is stirred in, add salt, pepper and parsley and bring to a boil.  White sauce must cook at the boiling point for a minute to remove the raw flour taste.  Stir it to keep it from scorching the pot.

Pour the sauce over the turkey and vegetables.

BISCUITS (courtesy of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook):

2 cups flour
1 T sugar
4 t. baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2/3 cup milk

Stir together the dry ingredients in a deep mixing bowl, Cut the shortening into the dry mix with a pastry blender or two knives--working the knives in a criss-cross pattern through the mix.  The goal is to distribute the shortening throughout the flour mixture so that it resembles dry crumbs.

Stir in the milk with a fork.  Turn out onto a floured counter (I used a flexible cutting board sheet) and knead about 4 times.  Flatten the ball of dough into a circle about 1/2 inch thick.  Cut biscuits with a cutter or a glass dipped in flour (I used a stemless wine glass).  I got 9 biscuits from this recipe.  My final one was made of the scraps gently pulled together and shaped to resemble the rest.

Place the biscuits over the top of the casserole and then bake in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes.  the biscuits will be brown, the sauce bubbly, and turkey and vegetables cooked through.  Perfect!

In our house, a pot pie may last a few days (without the crust, this one reheats and freezes beautifully).   I was planning to do something with an odd package of boneless chicken I had in the freezer that was composed of both breast and thigh meat.  At first, I thought pulled chicken--maybe southwest style for tacos or burritos or soup.  But then, I recalled Ryan requesting chicken gumbo and buying frozen sliced okra to accommodate him.  And so,

CHICKEN GUMBO SOUP (OR  STOUP WITH A NOD TO RACHEL RAY)

1 1/2 lbs of boneless chicken, cut into bite sized pieces.  (I thawed mine in the microwave and just sliced the partially frozen meat.  It finished thawing and came into bits in the pot)

1 quart of chicken stock--from a box, a can, or 4 cups of water mixed with chicken soup base

1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes plus one can of water

1 chopped onion

1 chopped green or red pepper

2 cups of frozen sliced okra

2 t dried basil leaves

Bring all to a boil and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.  

Add 1/3 to 1/2 cup of raw rice and stir.  If the liquid in the pot has reduced, add more water, the rice will absorb the liquid and make the soup very thick (thus the term STOUP).  Salt and pepper to taste, but keep in mind the salt in your prepared stock as you add it.  

I tasted this on Sunday, had it for dinner on Monday, and am thinking about it as I write.  Spicy, flavorful, and thick--the rice continues  to absorb liquid.  You can always add more chicken stock or water if too thick.  On Monday, I scooped a serving into a soup mug, added just a couple tablespoons of water and microwaved for 2 minutes, stirring halfway through.  So Good!

So, I've turned the heat back off and opened two windows.  Looks like we're not ready for the deep freeze yet.  However,  a hoodie, some socks and a hot meal are calling me. . .