Sarah Pinneo

You can also read my review here: http://www.turningthepages.ca/2012/02/review-julias-child.html

Julia's Child embodies the struggle that all working mom's go through... that delicate balance between work life and home life. The guilty conscience that nags you as you leave in the morning and doesn't stop until to pull back into the driveway. For that reason alone, I thoroughly enjoyed the story.

Julia Bailey is a mom first and an entrepreneur second, that is until her struggling business begins to take over her entire existence. While I found myself wanting to stab Julia at many points throughout, I did understand her. I get that she wants her kids to eat as naturally as possible and leave as little carbon footprint as she can, but I just found her to be so unrealistic. To cringe because your children had McDonalds - once - or because your kids are enjoying the 'crap' candy at Halloween, it just didn't work for me. Now that could be because I am NOT a 'granola' mom and will gladly feed my child processed food because it's easy, but I have to believe there is a healthy balance somewhere.

The overall story was wonderful. I loved that Julia was setting out to prove that if you stick to your guns and work hard, you really can succeed. It may not always be a pretty road that you are going to travel, but it will have a beginning, a middle and an end... you just have to stick it out.

One part of the novel that I found myself laughing about was 'The Scene' - a talk show of 5 women. Being a HUGE fan of The View, the similarities were blaringly obvious and while I am sure that was intentional, I couldn't help but shake my head. I wish a little more creativity had gone into that aspect... Lizze Hefflespeck (or Elisabeth Hasselbeck) made me roll my eyes!!

Overall, a great story that brings home that everyday question - Is it really worth it? Sarah Pinneo's debut into fiction is sure to be a hit with all moms.… (más)

Jumping right into the story, Julia Bailey is already set up with her organic food for toddlers business, selling to small local markets in Brooklyn. Without her co-worker, Marta, I don't think Julia would have succeeded as well. When a chance to be interviewed on a morning tv show arises, it's Marta that preps Julia to face the audience. There were some great characters in this debut novel, I loved the title, but have to say the story meandered a bit, the end having some twists that were worth the journey.… (más)

When successful entrepreneur and mom Julia Bailey goes into business for herself she pores every ounce available into it, including the time she once spent with her family. Opening her new business “Julia’s Child” only became a dream after the birth of her two children, but her business sense came long before that. With a team consisting of only her and her new friend Marta, Julia develops an organic line of food for toddlers that quickly has them both working around the clock. In a matter of a few months her life is quickly turned upside down and she’s left wondering if what everyone else feeds their children is really that important.

Julia’s Child was such a pleasure to read. Not only was it based on a topic that is close to my heart, but the writing was superb. Within pages Sarah Pinneo’s writing had me caught up in Julia Bailey’s life & new found business and I couldn’t help but want to keep reading until the very last pages were finished. Sarah’s characters were fantastic and I especially loved her husband Luke. Now, Julia could actually become a bit annoying at times but thankfully another great character emerged in her new business partner Marta who helped balance her out. There was even more to it than that including a mother that couldn’t be more different, a nanny who gets herself into her own bit of snafus, and her two adorable little kiddos. Overall the entire cast of characters coupled with the writing made for a spectacular read and one I won’t soon forget.

Speaking to the actual subject matter of the story I’ll say I was pleasantly surprised. I’m actually quite fortunate in that I live in an area on the coast of California known for it’s abundance of fresh locally grown organic produce as well as numerous farmer’s markets weekly. It’s something I value about living here and enjoy a great deal, but I’ve also lived in other places around the country where it’s incredibly difficult to get access to organic fresh produce. So the idea of putting a struggling organic toddler food business in the heart of New York City was intriguing and worked incredibly well to move the story forward. It was easy to see how Julia would have struggled to find a packaging plant as well as local fresh produce to put in her recipes. Now add that to the fact that she may have had a saboteur in her midst made it even more interesting.

What I valued more than anything about the story were the various relationships Julia had. As I mentioned I especially appreciated the role her husband Luke took on. It’s not often that you read a novel as of late that has a strong, attractive, genuinely kind and supportive husband who doesn’t end up sleeping around on his wife. This was a huge breathe of fresh air! Because of this, their relationship became something that supported the story rather than worked as some sort of twisted plot device that I would have detested. It also lent itself to delving deeper into Julia’s relationship with her children, her motivation for the business as well as her relationship with Marta who I absolutely adored. Marta was hilarious and exactly the voice of reason that Julia needed almost one hundred percent of the time. Her sass was also something I looked forward to in nearly every scene she was in, often because I was so tired of Julia’s uptight behavior. All of these relationships were what to me truly made the story shine.

Julia’s Child was a marvelous debut novel for author Sarah Pinneo! Her characters stood out as some of my all-time favorites and the way in which they interacted with Julia became a driving force behind the story. Now I have to say before I’m finished that I love the play on “Julia Child” with the title Julia’s Child. Having grown up in a home with a chef and now food blogger/foodie it was fun to see this nod to such an innovator of her time which I’m certain also plays a part in Julia Bailey’s own trend setting ways. This would absolutely be the perfect afternoon read for food lovers, but also anyone who simply loves a well written story full of delightful characters. Congratulations goes to Sarah Pinneo for a wonderful new novel! I’ll certainly be looking out for her next novel and our readers should as well!

Originally reviewed and copyrighted at my site Chick Lit Reviews and News.… (más)