Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown

4 reviews

kelly_e's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Title: Recipe for a Perfect Wife
Author: Karma Brown
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: January 21, 2020

T H R E E • W O R D S

Dark • Illuminating • Unsettling

📖 S Y N O P S I S

When Alice Hale leaves a career in publicity to become a writer and follows her husband to the New York suburbs, she is unaccustomed to filling her days alone in a big, empty house. But when she finds a vintage cookbook buried in a box in the old home’s basement, she becomes captivated by the cookbook’s previous owner–1950s housewife Nellie Murdoch. As Alice cooks her way through the past, she realizes that within the cookbook’s pages Nellie left clues about her life–including a mysterious series of unsent letters penned to her mother.

Soon Alice learns that while baked Alaska and meatloaf five ways may seem harmless, Nellie’s secrets may have been anything but. When Alice uncovers a more sinister–even dangerous–side to Nellie’s marriage, and has become increasingly dissatisfied with the mounting pressures in her own relationship, she begins to take control of her life and protect herself with a few secrets of her own.

💭 T H O U G H T S

After reading (and absolutely loving) Come Away with Me by Karma Brown earlier in 2022, I knew I wanted to read another one of her books before the end of the year. Since this one was on my shelf it's what I went with and came away having very mixed feelings.

What worked:
• the potential. Modern-day woman meets 1950s housewife exploring what it means to be a wife fighting for her place in a patriarchal society. Two women. 60 years apart. Dual narrative. Food. Identity. Love. Secrets. Yes. Yes. Yes.
• the vintage vibes. This aspect of the book is very well done. It gave me the feeling of living during a time period I didn't actually live through.
• the recipes and quotes to start each chapter. These offered perspective and added a humurous touch to the plot development. I even tested out a few of the recipes, without much luck though.
• the exploration of societal roles. I thought this was interesting to dive into.

What didn't work:
• a lack of connection. I never felt invested in the story or the characters lives.
• the execution. There was just something about it taken all together that didn't work as I anticipated it would.

Unfortunately, Recipe for a Perfect Wife was very anti-climatic despite having a strong foundation. It was reflective and mysterious while exploring how roles have changed and how they've stayed the same over the years. With that said, Karma Brown did wrote one of my favourites of 2022, so I look forward to exploring more of her backlist and reading her upcoming 2023 release.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• fans of the light thriller
• bookclubs

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"The sun always returned...as long as you were strong enough to wait for it."

"'Sally, the hardest question we have to ask ourselves in this life is, 'Who am I?' Ideally, we answer it for ourselves, but be warned that others will strive to do it for you—so don’t let them.'" 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Abortion

Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, and Pregnancy

Minor: Death, Death of parent, and Murder

death of partner, parental estrangement, overdose

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This definitely kept me engaged, but sometimes the foreshadowing was a bit heavy-handed.  I don't love something being hinted at three times before actually coming out with it. But I was surprised by some events as the plot moved forward.

Although the moral seems to be that life with men is at worst, abusive, and at best, vastly disappointing. Pretty bleak look at the lives of women barely improving in the last 60 years

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fatphobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, and Murder

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Addiction and Sexual content

bretagnereads's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, and Death of parent