Melissa Ford (1)

I was counting the days to the release of this book. Measure of Love is the sequel to Life from Scratch and, though it’s not essential to have read the earlier book, I would never miss an opportunity to recommend Life from Scratch because it was such a wonderful reading experience for me. It was a pleasure to immerse myself in Rachel’s world again in Measure of Love, and be carried along by complex, believable characters whose conversations, actions and reactions feel so authentic. I loved the way the author was able to build the tension as we moved through the story, but temper it with delightful moments of humor and romance. A couple of words about Adam: I adored him in this book (and the previous one) and would marry him twice in a heartbeat. He is my idea of a romantic hero – funny, charming, intelligent and a man of integrity. By the way, I was fascinated by the developments in Arianna’s life (Rachel’s best friend) so I am thrilled to hear more of Arianna’s story will told in an upcoming book.… (más)

Life From Scratch by Melissa Ford

★★

Rachel Goldman is recently divorced, childless, and 35 years old. She decides to find herself by taking a year off work (can’t everyone afford to do that?) and learn how to cook, a skill she has never mastered. She starts a blog on her adventures of a single New York woman (and the men she meets along the way) and her new cooking prowess.

This novel has pretty high reviews on Amazon so perhaps I am in a minority here but I just didn’t like this story. Besides being overly cliché, I did not like the character. Rachel is whiny, needy, naive to a scary degree, and lives in a world of oblivion. She was a very flat character. The book just seemed exceedingly obvious to me, no room for mystery. Everything just seemed too much in your face and the ending quite simple. I don’t mind a light, fluffy read but this was just too much fluff in one book for me – cotton candy overload. On the plus it was a short read (less than 200 pages) and there some redeeming minor characters, saving it from a 1 star rating for me.
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Rachel Goldman should be on top of the world. Her blog is an internet success. She has a book about to published. And she's in love. Of course, there are a few snags; her book is about being successful at divorce and she's about to remarry her ex-husband. If that isn't bad enough, she thinks her best friend, Arianna, is cheating on her live-in boyfriend, Ethan, who just happens to be Rachel's brother. Almost forgot, her ex-mother in law, Anita, wants to make Rachel and Adams second wedding even more of a society event than their first.

Rachel carefully navigated the world of marriage breakup, divorce, and being single in Life From Scratch. Although she was devastated by the breakup and divorce, she found solace in writing about her problems and endeavored to achieve success at cooking. She merged these two into a blog that become a massive hit and evolved into a book contract. Rachel wasn't looking for love, but she found it - with her ex-husband, Adam. He has left his law firm and embraced his first love, literature by becoming a teacher. In Measure of Love, Adam and Rachel take their relationship to the next step, marriage (or in this case remarriage). Rachel is happy that Adam wants to commit to her, but before she knows it she's trying to plan a wedding in less than four months. What follows is a mixture of I Love Lucy and Jane Austen's Emma (the latter is actually referred to in the book); well-intentioned meddling with disastrous results (minus the comedic happy endings).

I found Measure of Love to be a fast-paced read. I almost felt as if I was meeting up with old friends as I revisited with Rachel, Arianna, and others in their new struggles and dealings. Rachel isn't as self-assured in Measure of Love, but only when it comes to her love life. Arianna is still somewhat exotic, but not nearly as extreme when compared to Adam's sister Lisbeth. Lisbeth is an artist and is planning her own wedding to her partner, Emily, a physician. (Truly an odd couple with disparate personalities, but they fit.) I felt sucked in by Rachel's internal struggle with her remarriage and her well-intended meddling. I waited patiently with Adam as he watched Rachel struggle with these issues. I suffered along with Arianna as she drifted slowly away from her best-friend. And I hoped for that happy-ending for not just Rachel and Adam but also for Lisbeth and Emily. The characters are well-developed and the situations not only realistic but relatable. Ms. Ford blends great writing and a tale about romance and love, mixed with relationship/friendship drama and touches of humor; the result is a great read about second chances for love. Measure of Love is the second installment in Ms. Ford's Life from Scratch series; I am rather anxious to read the next installment, featuring Arianna's story, Apart At the Seams.… (más)