The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender REVIEW & GIVEAWAY

Nine year old Rose Edelstein bites into her mother's homemade lemon cake and discovers she can taste her mother's emotions in the cake.  Is this a magical gift or an enormous burden?  From that day on food becomes the enemy.  She can't eat anything without tasting the emotions of the person who made it.  Factory processed food becomes her menu of choice because it is made mostly by machines that have no emotions.  When she eats anything prepared by her mother she tastes the lies, desperation and despair. Food prepared by her brother without tasting how miserable he feels about his life.

With the help of one of her brother's friends she tests herself and tries to understand the magnitude of this "gift".  She tastes many things about her own family, secrets she wished she didn't know, but she also realizes there are some secrets her enhanced taste buds do not understand.

Again this type of story is not one I would usually read and I think I will have to change, and add books with a little fantasy to my preferred genres.  This book was a little sad and depressing in places but the story moved right along and kept the pages turning.  I don't want to give the whole storyline away, but I will say it ended sooner than I would have liked.  As Rose started to understand her ability and was moving ahead with her life, the story ended and I feel there was a little more to tell.  With that said, I did like this book.

Thanks to Judy at Doubleday I have 2 copies of this new book to giveaway here at 

Dollycas's Thoughts!

Please fill out the form below if you would like to win a copy of 

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.
The contest will end at Midnight CST on July 28.

OPEN TO U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY

 To find out more about this author, visit her web page at http://www.flammableskirt.com/home.html

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the Doubleday Publishing. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”