A Well-Read Tart

A Food and Book Lover’s Blog

MIDNIGHT AT THE BLACKBIRD CAFE Book Review

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe is as wonderful and lovely as its book cover. Please read it. There. DONE! Book review complete. Oh, okay. I suppose I should tell you a little more about why I blazed through this utterly charming novel by Heather Webber.     What's Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe about? Anna Kate Callow unexpectedly inherits her grandmother’s adorable Blackbird Café, on the stipulation that she uproot her life and move to...

THE COOKBOOK CLUB Book Review

I think I want to start a Cookbook Club. I had no idea what one was until I read The Cookbook Club by Beth Harbison. Now, I'm obsessed with the idea. And that's completely due to the fact that this women's fiction-meets-foodie-fiction novel is a sheer delight.   What's The Cookbook Club about? The Cookbook Club is about three women whose lives intersect when they meet up together for this unique book club group. They pick a cookbook,...

THE LOST APOTHECARY Book Review

The Lost Apothecary is one of my favorite books of 2021. BOOM! I’ve said it.   What's The Lost Apothecary about? There's a lot of story packed into The Lost Apothecary. This novel explores two timelines. There's 1700s Nella, who runs an apothecary shop that sells poisons for women to use against the awful men in their lives, and 12-year-old Eliza, who helps in Nella's shop. And, then there's present-day Caroline, who's visiting...

MUSICAL CHAIRS Book Review

Looking for a beach read that goes a little deeper than your typical rom-com?  Enter Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel.   What's Musical Chairs about? This wonderful novel is about friends and family whose lives intertwine when they’re all brought together under (or very near to) one roof over a Connecticut summer when nothing goes as planned—in both good and bad ways. The majority of Musical Chairs follows Bridget and Will, who...

THE SUPREME MACARONI COMPANY Book Review

I spent the last 50 pages of The Supreme Macaroni Company bawling my eyes out. We're talking up at 6:30 in the morning, lying in bed, and flanked by a box of tissues and a wastebasket. I was crying so damn hard that my cat charged down the hall to see what the hell was wrong. (My husband, meanwhile, slept through the whole thing. Bless.) Before those last pages, though? The Supreme Macaroni Company was really, really good.  ...

IN FIVE YEARS Book Review

In Five Years isn't the book I thought it'd be. In a good way. Everyone seemed to be reading this Rebecca Serle novel last year during quarantine, so I was excited to score a copy from my library as quickly as I did. I'd just read two heavy books back-to-back, and I wanted -- nay, needed -- a fun, breezy women's fiction/romance to lighten up my mood. Well. In Five Years was NOT the book to pick up for that. But, I'm glad I read it anyway....

MEG and JO Book Review

OMGILOVEDTHISBOOK. *deep breath* Ahem. Sorry. But, seriously, guys. I absolutely adored Meg and Jo. I’m a huge fan of retellings, particularly ones that modernize classic stories (see Eligible), but this is the first retelling of Little Women that I’ve read. That being said, expectations were high when I started reading – and I’m so happy to report that Virginia Kantra's reimagining completely surpassed everything I could have hoped...

A SINGLE THREAD Book Review

Tracy Chevalier’s novels are absolutely beautiful, and her latest book, A Single Thread, is no exception. This might be my new favorite title by this author.   What's A Single Thread about? The shadow of WWI looms over everything in A Single Thread -- every person, every conversation, every interaction. Main character Violet's life is forever changed when both her fiancé and her brother are killed in WWI. At 38 years old and...

THE HEIR AFFAIR Book Review

Some of you may remember me gushing about The Royal We in one of my earliest posts on the blog. So, you can imagine how excited I was to find out that Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan were writing its sequel, The Heir Affair! This minute I found out it was publishing, I began chasing down ARCs like kids after an ice cream truck. None made their way to me, so I was forced to wait until the ebook was available at my local library. I have to say...

ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE Book Review

A friend with whom I regularly chat about books warned me against reading Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. We have similar reading tastes -- she's the one who introduced me to Things You Save In A Fire -- and she said she couldn't get into the book, despite all the positive hype around it. As a result, I delved into Eleanor Oliphant with a slightly closed mind and a heavy bout of skepticism. And, to be honest, I wasn’t greatly intrigued...