Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal  298 pp.

This book could have been titled "Erotic Stories BY Punjabi Widows" since that is what happens in the story. Nikki, the daughter of Indian immigrants, is a modern London girl who tries to distance herself from the traditional Sikh culture of her parents. While performing a favor for her sister who has suddenly decided to seek an arranged marriage, Nikki sees a want ad for a writing teacher. What she ends up with is a group of Sikh widows who are expecting to learn basic English, not how to write short stories. But these women have outlandish imaginations and the stories they begin to tell are racy ones. There is danger in these stories from a Sikh men's group who use threats and violence to keep people on a conservative Sikh path. There is also the mystery surrounding the death of a young woman in the community and Nikki's own love story. There is a lot going on in this novel which is entertaining but briefly bogs down in the middle. The writing class widows are very entertaining and the results of their efforts has a positive ending.

Close to Famous by Joan Bauer 250 pages

Just look at the luscious cover of this book! Foster is a young girl who has dealt with heartache (her beloved dad died a soldier in Iraq), by watching the Food Network and adopting TV cooking show celebrity idol Sonny Kroll as her mentor/idol. Her goal is to have her own TV cooking show someday, sharing recipes, techniques, and morsels of homespun wisdom. Achieving this goal is not going to be easy. She can't read. Her mom yanks her from their home and flee Memphis. In the escape from mom's abusive, egomanical boyfriend Foster loses her pillowcase -- her treasure box of all her letters, medals and mementos of her father. Although she is devastated, she makes new friends and literally cooks up a job for herself. She becomes Culpepper's cupcake queen, whipping up cupcakes and muffins each day and selling them to a gruff diner owner, Angry Wayne. Her newest friend introduces her to the town celebrity, Miss Charleena, who seems to be hiding out from Hollywood and the world. Before you can say chocolate cupcake, Charleena is teaching Foster to read and Foster is teaching Charleena to cook. This book has a lot of teachable moments. My only complaint is that Bauer, who has written plenty of award winning teen books, but no cookbooks, does not include any recipes. Any reader will be craving a yummy cupcake or moist muffin before finishing this book.