Dear Fellow Reader,

I thought that I would surprise you this week with a book that is not a mystery nor is it part of a series. Dinner with Edward was a delightful surprise. I seem to have a “collect them all” mentality. In terms of books, this means that I tend to have many books to read on my eReader at all times. I often don’t remember why I have a particular book or where I got it. I don’t know what originally drew me to this book.

Edward loved his wife, Paula. They had been married for 69 years. When she died shortly before her 95^th birthday, he wanted to die with her but she told him that he had to continue living. His daughters feared that he would give up on life. His daughter Valerie had a friend who was living in New York with her husband and little girl. Valerie suggested to her friend Isabel that she have dinner with her father.

Isabel was at her own crossroads. She had moved to New York with her family for a fast-paced newspaper job. Isabel and her husband had lived all over the world following wars and other stories. While Isabel was working in New York, her husband, a Canadian citizen, could not work. He hated living in New York. He was unhappy and she was unhappy. The relationship was wearing out and Isobel wonders if the relationship had lasted as long as it had because they had chased stories all over the world. Now that they were settled down, their problems could not be denied.

“I don’t know if the temptation of a good meal did it for me, or if I was just so lonely that even the prospect of spending time with a depressed nonagenarian seemed appealing. It was probably a combination of loyalty to Valerie and curiosity about her father that propelled me to Edward’s door a couple of months later. I could never have imagined that meeting Edward would change my life.”

That was the first of years of dinners with Edward. Edward was a phenomenal cook and he taught her to cook and he guided her though hard times in her life. His dinners were always amazing meals. Edward would go specialty shopping for the ingredients all over New York City. While the dinners and cooking were important it was their discussions about life and love that helped Isobel.

While there is some information about cooking, it is much more about the relationship that she developed with Edward and how he helped her and how she was there for him. Edward would be a lovely addition to everyone’s life. He was there when Isobel needed him and as she learns, he was there for others also.

This book is not going to change your life but it will be a nice addition. A pleasant story for you to read and enjoy.

Goodreads update

Did you sign up for the Goodreads 2017 Reading Challenge? Are you keeping up with logging in the books you have read? I have really been trying to keep it up this year. I had set my goal and then decided that I really wanted to read more this year. As of right now, I have reached 40% of my goal. Which is not bad, especially when I have rejected a couple of books so far this year. If you have not done it yet, I urge you to sign up. If nothing else, it does help to keep track of the books you have read. You might surprise yourself with how many books you have read. Also, we can be Goodreads friends!

Happy Spring!

Thanks for reading!