Love Apples

This is the perfect holiday read. A delicious feast of a book, devourable in a sitting but best savoured over a day or two for prolonged pleasure.

A thinking woman’s chick lit!

A delightful read - beautifully written and totally engaging.Highly recommend.

Before starting to read Love Apples, the debut novel by Melissa van Maasdyk, get ready for craving for at least one glass of red wine and a delicious, home-made-from the heart meal. Or two, because you can be so caught up into the story that you rather skip lunch and dinner altogether to read it in a matter of hours.Written with passion - both for food and for writing - this novel brings to from the hot beaches of Mauritious to the rainy London, in the world of glossy magazines and their cruel intrigues and revenges. Meet Kate, a passionate food writer and recipe tester, and her wine taster boyfriend Daniel. While on a work assignment in Mauritius, Kate is exploring the local meaning of tomatoes - called here love apples - but put at risk her relationship, especially after her adventures were noticed and mentioned by her boss. The beehive is stirred and the situation is going out of control after Kate succeeds to promote an article she wrote on her own initiative. A lot of emotional suspense and drama follows, but in fact, only 'happy beginnings' matter.Although the characters are either good or bad, they do have psychological depth and even complicated stories. The pace is relatively slow but filled with delicious recipes - shared at the end just in case you want to create your own 'love apples' variant.Definitely, a recommended read for your summer vacations.Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

3.5 Stars – roundedThe title is taken from the term used for tomatoes in Mauritius – and throughout the story food and the use of food to show love and caring is a strong thread, perhaps occasionally overtaking the characters at points, particularly the heroine, Kate. A complete conundrum this one: she claims to have difficulty with romantic commitments (a hangover from her own parents’ divorce) but bemoans the loss of her ‘soul mate’ Daniel after she behaved abominably. She wasn’t the easiest to like: immature, selfish to the nth degree, and stuck in a bit of a self-pity party. Her redeeming feature? The woman is a genius with food: setting a scene, meal or moment with food that you know you just have to taste it now. But, I digress. Back to the beginning.Food editor for a glossy, Be, a kerfuffle over the cover image for the magazine and a major layout both have Kate in the catbird seat, and her first cover is coming out with the new issue. Unfortunately for her, she also managed to make an enemy out of one of the other editors, cheat on her boyfriend of long standing, and arrive home to ‘bare her soul’ and lose said man. After a long weekend of shutting out the world to regroup, cry and rest, she returns to the office, an office in crisis. With this crisis comes another: one week to close down the magazine, and everyone is out of work. Now jobless and finding few opportunities in her field, she runs home to her mother’s house. Here menus are discussed, she relives her parents’ divorce (sudden) and cooks with her mother: food is a constant here – and the recipes and options are truly wonderful.And then, a brainstorm after stalking her ex when not isolating herself – she calls her old editor, now in charge of a large new venture, and asks about opportunities – one of which will push her straight out of her comfort zone: but having made friends in the beauty and style divisions, she’s got backup for the outer her. Now just to work on the screen test and hopefully score the job. Then, it’s back to convincing her boyfriend to come back.Overall – the story was a quick read and for all of the goings-on I expected to feel more of the drama and angst from someone other than Kate. But, again, she wavered between brilliant when discussing / describing food and wet blanket when she rolled into her self-pity. There wasn’t a moment that felt like she was actually concerned for Daniel’s feelings about her cheating, only that she had lost him: it all seemed to develop over a trip to the flower market that they spent many a lazy Sunday at, without a great deal of self-reflection. The food and the magazine insider moments were refreshing and new: and while the descriptions did overrun themselves frequently, the halt in progress that these brought did serve to refocus the story to the food. In fact, the food and combinations were a character in themselves: from place settings to visualizations the food often felt more important than Kate or any of the action surrounding it. There’s a curious balance between forward story progress and description to build a scene or an emotional attachment to a character that didn’t happen, and I was left wondering about much of the ‘growth’ that Kate displayed as it never really felt real because of this lack of emotional connection. Overall – this was unlike any story I’ve read, with lush descriptions that presented a visual, recipes to try and a heroine that claims to have learned a lesson – all making for a quick-reading and enjoyable story.I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

This delicious tale will take you on a number of journeys, it's a sensory feast wrapped in a love story, peppered with commitment and career issues, and while one follows the tricky path Kate is stepping one cannot help but be swept up in the magical descriptions of all things foody. From the purchasing, pairing and pan-frying to presentation and ensuing passion, Van Maasday makes each and every ingredient come alive so that as a reader one can almost reach out and sample the delicacies. Cleverly many of the recipes are to be found behind the final page, and for those trying to recreate at least a little of the glamour of Kate's life, they provide a tempting starting point. Fast-paced and peppered with wit, the story is highly satisfying giving one a sneak peak into the scenes behind the glossies and just how much prepping goes into perfecting each page. This is a love story on many levels, one falls for the man, the table and the island thanks to van Maasdyk's masterful descriptions and deft use of language.

I was glued to Love Apples once diving in. Fast paced city living with the main character caught trying to balance the turmoils of dating and her career ambitions. Savouring delicious meals along the way and having some interesting liaisons in Mauritius with colourful characters. The imagery is great and I enjoyed the very authentic, vibrant market descriptions which created vivid pictures that stimulated the imagination beautifully. It evoked wonderful thoughts of really special memories of London living for me. Love the recipes too! A beautifully written and well put together book.Congratulations Melissa. :)

Beautifully written with wonderful, creative and colourful scenes that made me wish I was a fabulous cook! The story twists and turns nicely and leaves you rooting for the perfectly flawed Kate.