Iris Rainer Dart, author of BEACHES
"In COOKING FOR LOVE, Sharon Boorstin whips up a delicious confection you'll want to devour to the last yummy page."

Kathy Patrick, founder of THE PULPWOOD QUEENS BOOK CLUB
"COOKING FOR LOVE is not only a great read but a delicious one, with a luscious layer of naughtiness."

Suzy Gershman, author of BORN TO SHOP and C'EST LA VIE
"A delicious story with all the trimmings of humor and womanspeak. Thankfully you can't gain weight from a fun read."

Kirkus Discoveries
"Chick-lit grows older and wiser... Boorstin exuberantly mixes the sweet things in life-- love, friendship, family, and spice..."

Bon Appetit Magazine
"The story follows friends in search of a lost love; recipes sprinkled throughout add a delicious dimension to the tale."

The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
"Boorstin leaves no balabusta behind when it comes to adventure. She's the consummate storyteller to stir up this hilarious brew."

The Jewish Review of Portland, Oregon
"Boorstin's novel will resonate with women in their 40s and 50s, whether they are long-married, remarried, single or divorced..."

Park LaBrea News/Beverly Press, Los Angeles
"Cooking for Love is a middle-aged woman’s fantasy trip…a feast of hilariously risqué fun."

Book Description
A Pulpwood Queens Book Club Selection "COOKING FOR LOVE is not only a great read but a delicious one, with a luscious layer of naughtiness that leaves the reader craving more."
--Kathy Patrick, Founder of The Pulpwood Queens Book Club Who says women over 40 are too old for fun, romance and sex? In COOKING FOR LOVE, Beverly Hills cookbook author Miriam Levy dreams about food. Her best friend Kate McGrath dreams about "The One" who got away. When, after 25 years, Kate finds him on Google, and he asks her to visit him half-way around the world, she begs Miriam to go with her. It leads to an adventure that teaches both women love, life, friendship--and food. Inspired by a true story, this warm, funny novel--Chick Lit for "mature" women--includes 20 delicious recipes. If you loved Like Water for Chocolate or The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, COOKING FOR LOVE is must reading. "In COOKING FOR LOVE, Sharon Boorstin whips up a delicious confection of fiction and food that you'll want to devour, all the way through to the last yummy page."
--Iris Rainer Dart, Author of Beaches and Some Kind of Miracle "COOKING FOR LOVE has cooked up a delicious story with all the trimmings of humor and womanspeak. Thankfully you can't gain weight from inhaling a fun read."
--Suzy Gershman, Author of Born to Shop and C'est La Vie

Download Description
A Pulpwood Queens Book Club Selection

From the Publisher
A PULPWOOD QUEENS BOOK CLUB SELECTION

From the Inside Flap
If you loved LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE or THE DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA YA SISTERHOOD, COOKING FOR LOVE is "must" reading.

About the Author
SHARON BOORSTIN has written for publications including More, The Los Angeles Times, Bon Appetit, The Los Angeles Confidential, The Orange County Register, All You and Jewish Woman Magazine. Her memoir/cookbook LET US EAT CAKE: ADVENTURES IN FOOD AND FRIENDSHIP was a selection of the PULPWOOD QUEENS BOOK CLUB and the SATELLITE SISTERS ABC RADIO BOOK CLUB.

Excerpted from Cooking For Love : A Novel with Recipes by Sharon Boorstin. Copyright © 2004. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
"Cheesecake IS sexy," I agree with Kimberly, whose sports bra can barely contain her made-in-Beverly-Hills breasts. "But not when it's prepared with fat-free cream cheese, fat-free sour cream, Egg Beaters, and Splenda." I place what I've dubbed the "cheesecake wannabe" on the kitchen counter. Without a crust, it looks naked, and it sags in the middle, like an old mattress. Kimberly blinks at it through her peacock-blue contact lenses. "It does kinda suck?" Her Valley-girl uplift turns everything she says into a question. "Look, it's your cookbook, Kimberly, and I know you asked me to come up with a low-cal, low-carb cheesecake, but I strongly advise we go with this one instead." Like a sculptor unveiling her latest oeuvre, I whip off the aluminum foil covering another cheesecake. Perched regally on a Waterford cut-crystal plate, with a graham-cracker crust as thick as a cookie and a sour-cream topping glistening like satin, it screams calories. "I based this on my Grandma Estelle's recipe," I say proudly. "Only I separated the eggs and beat the whites stiff before folding them in." From the look on Kimberly's face, the cooking jargon flies right past her. What did I expect? In her line of work, the words "beating" and "stiff" are not used in reference to egg whites. "Why don't we do a taste test?" I open the drawer that holds my Wallace Grande Baroque, the silverware I got for my wedding that so long ago, Kimberly wasn't even a twinkle in her father's eye. I picked the pattern because at the time I equated ornate with elegant, but now the baroque swirls and curlicues look garish, not grand. I offer Kimberly a fork. Instead of taking it, she flicks her wheat-blond hair behind her ear. "I...I'm not really hungry." Okay, here is a beautiful and sexy, but not particularly sharp, 25-year-old who could not possibly weigh more than 103 pounds, much of which is silicone. What's going through her pretty pea brain? Is she afraid that if she takes one bite of cheesecake, she won't look as hot in the mini dress she wore in "Murder in Malibu," a straight-to-video movie in which she starred? That her boyfriend-the-producer won't put her in his next movie? Even if he is paying me to ghost-write her book and create the recipes, how can Kimberly put her name on "A Starlet's Secrets of Sexy Cooking" without tasting them? Who am I trying to kid? No one who pays $24.95 for the book, which will be filled with cheesecake photos of Kimberly, will be buying it for the cheesecake--or any of the 63--recipes. Talk about irony: If they only they that the REAL author of "A Starlet's Secrets of Sexy Cooking" is a 40-something mom in elastic-waist jeans and an apron, whose idea of "sexy" is eating Haagen-Dazs Dulce de Leche from the carton.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In Cooking for Love, Beverly Hills cookbook author Miriam Levy dreams about food. Her best friend Kate McGrath dreams about ￯﾿ﾽThe One￯﾿ﾽ who got away. When, after 25 years, Kate finds him on Google and he asks her to visit him half-way around the world, she begs Miriam to go with her. It leads to an adventure that teaches both women about love, life, friendship￯﾿ﾽand food. Inspired by a true story, this warm, funny novel￯﾿ﾽChick Lit for ￯﾿ﾽmature￯﾿ﾽ women￯﾿ﾽ includes 20 delicious recipes.

. If you loved Like Water for Chocolate or The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, COOKING FOR LOVE is must reading.

SYNOPSIS

Who Says Women Over 40 Are Too Old For Adventure, Romance And Sex?

When nationally known journalist and food writer Sharon Boorstin sent her manuscript for Cooking for Love to New York publishers, they said they loved the writing and the story but that they didn't see a market for it:  That though the novel falls into the fast-paced, entertaining "Chick Lit" category, the main characters-two 49 year-old women-were too old!

Boorstin, the author of the memoir/cookbook Let Us Eat Cake: Adventures in Food and Friendship (ReganBooks/HarperCollins, 2002), a selection of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club and the Satellite Sisters ABC Radio Book Club, wouldn't take no for an answer. She went to iUniverse, a print-on-demand company, and published the novel herself. The iUniverse editorial board immediately tagged it as an "Editor's Choice" selection, saying "Boorstin's ability to draw well-rounded characters, her use of dialogue and her charming use of foreshadowing all combine with a fresh and delightful style to make this a novel to recommend to a large and varied reading audience."

Kathy Patrick, founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club, immediately made Cooking for Love an official Pulpwood Queens Book Club Selection, saying "Cooking for Love is not only a great read but a delicious one, with a luscious layer of naughtiness that leaves the reader craving more."

Boorstin contends that while "Chick Lit" is aimed at women in their twenties and thirties who struggle with relationships and the challenges of being single, there IS a market for a novel that deals with the issues of women in their 40s and 50s, aging boomers who are typically long-married, remarried or divorced. These women have issues of their own-for starters, that they are aging! Cooking for Love is "Chick Lit" for them.

Inspired by a true incident-involving Boorstin and one of her best friends-Cooking for Love is the story of Miriam Levy, a Beverly Hills cookbook author who dreams about food, and Kate McGrath, who dreams about "The One" who got away. When, after 25 years, Kate finds him on Google and he asks her to visit him half-way around the world, she begs Miriam to go with her. It leads to an adventure that teaches both women about love, life, friendship-and food. Yes, like Let Us Eat Cake: Adventures in Food and Friendship, Cooking for Love is peppered with delicious recipes.

FROM THE CRITICS

Kirkus Reviews

Chick-lit grows older and wiser.

Food writer Boorstin, author of Let Us Eat Cake (reviewed in the February 1, 2002, issue of Kirkus Reviews) serves up a concoction, more dessert than entree, that exuberantly mixes the sweet things in life — love, friendship, family, and plenty of spice.

49-year-old narrator Miriam Levy is an L.A. wife, mother, and "with" cookbook author ("someone who enables the author to get the "By" credit."). Her friend Kate, also 49, is divorced, rich, and unsettled. Eric, Kate's first love, was the Swiss guide on the girls' college trip to Europe in the '70s. Kate, itching for adventure...Googles Eric, with resounding success: He's now the Swiss Ambassador to Malaysia, and he's never forgotten her. Steamy e-mails ensue, itchy condition worsens, and Kate's off to Kuala Lumpur, attempting to drag along the always cautious, very reluctant Miriam, as support and partner-in-midlif antics. Miriam remains stalwart in her refusal until her eldest daughter, a TV reporter, announces she's pregnant and expects Miriam to raise the baby; Miriam's aging mother, who lives in Buffalo, wants to move in; and failed screenwriter husband Alan continues to ignore her.

Miriam's soon on the plane. In Malaysia, attempted assault, a kidnapping, and other zany adventures the two women face hit the picresque high marks... Kate finally hooks up with Eric, as his suspicious, pesky, dumpy wife mills about. And Miriam is wooed by Vijay, a rich Indian doctor she met on the plane. A widower, Vijay proposes marriage to a very tempted Miriam. (Alan, remember, isn't the fun fellow he used to be.)

The twists, turns, and revelations of life and love pile wisdom on top of wisdom and leave Kate and Miriam waxing wistful. Though "inspired by a true incident . . .involvng Boorstin and one of her best friends," this is an adult fairy tale (albeit with very real recipes.)Happy endings may just be in the works.

A ruefully witty love story, more for dames than babes.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Kathy Patrick

"Cooking for Love is not only great read but a delicious one, with a luscious layer of naughtiness that leaves the reader craving more." — Founder of The Pulpwood Queens Book Club

COOKING FOR LOVE has cooked up a delicious story with all the trimmings of humor and womanspeak. Thankfully you can￯﾿ﾽt gain weight from inhaling a fun read. (Author of Born to Shop and C￯﾿ﾽest La Vie) — Suzy Gershman