As World War II rages on, life in the English countryside has been irrevocably changed. Threatening planes streak through the sky, devastating telegrams keep arriving on doorsteps, and home cooks scrabble to put together decent meals from the meager pickings they can forage from the forest and village. While residents strive to keep their chins up, it's getting more and more difficult by the day. 

Things perk up for four women when they learn a popular BBC radio program will be hosting a cooking contest in their area. The winner will be rewarded with a coveted spot as The Kitchen Front's first female co-host. Snagging first place will be life-changing. For Audrey Landon, a grieving war widow with three young sons, it would mean keeping a roof over her children's heads (however leaky it may be). Lady Gwendoline Strickland doesn't need the prize money, but she would love to laud a victory over her sister, who was always their mother's favorite. A young kitchen maid, Nell Brown dreams of being free from working for a family she despises. Zelda Dupont, a trained restaurant chef, craves the validation winning would give her in a competitive profession that's filled with condescending men. With each member of the quartet fiercely determined to come out on top, the contest quickly becomes a tense affair that some of them would do anything (even cheat) to win. Audrey, Gwendoline, Nell, and Zelda all have struggles and secrets the others don't know about. As their defenses are slowly chipped away and a fragile friendship forms between them, the contest starts to become something wholly different. Which one of them will emerge victorious? And how will the experience change all of their lives?

War books cannot usually be described as uplifting or heartwarming and, yet, that is exactly how I would characterize The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan. The story also features heartache, sorrow, and struggle, but overall, it's about unity, friendship, and the power of a loving support network in helping one learn to stand on her own two feet. Audrey, Gwendoline, Nell, and Zelda are all likable characters, whose challenges make them sympathetic and relatable. Although their story has a predictable end, I didn't care a smidge. I enjoyed every word of this charming, empowering novel. Because it highlights recipes for delicacies like The Ministry of Food's Sheep's Head Roll and Zelda's Raised Spam and Game Pie, The Kitchen Front—unlike most novels I read that are centered around food—did not make me salivate. It did, however, give me new appreciation for WWII cooks who had to use their own resourcefulness and ingenuity just to turn their meager rations into something at all edible! 

(Readalikes: Reminds me of other books by Jennifer Ryan)

Today's TTT topic is an interesting one: Top Ten Books That Are Too Good To Review Properly (I Have No Words!). Usually, I have the opposite problem—too many words. The reviews I tend to choke on are for classic books that have been critiqued so many times there's literally nothing new to say about them. Since I don't read that kind very often, I'm going to have to spin the prompt today. 

How about a game? Let's see if it's even possible for me to be succinct when writing about books. You up for it? Okay, here's how it's going to go. I'm going to describe the last ten books I've read in just one word. Stop laughing! I can do this. I think. To make it even more challenging, I will try to avoid the adjectives I tend to most overuse in my reviews: engrossing, fascinating, compelling, heart-warming, enjoyable, tense, fun, depressing, entertaining, and taut (my husband always makes fun of me when I describe books as "taut psychological thrillers"). I'm not even going to include a plot summary, although I will link the titles to Goodreads. Will I emerge victorious? Let's see... 

But first, be sure to hop over to That Artsy Reader Girl and give our hostess some love. If you're feeling listy today, join in the TTT fun!

(from most recent to least)

Since Valentine's Day is on Monday, today's Top Ten Tuesday prompt is, not surprisingly, a love freebie. My mind always blanks on freebies and I'm especially stumped on this one because I'm just not much for romance. In fiction, anyway (in real life, I've been married to my college sweetheart for 24 years). I mean, I don't mind a love story; I just don't want it to be the only story in a book, you know? Still, there are a few romance novels I've seen around lately that I wouldn't mind reading. What do the books on this list have in common? They're light, sweet, and funny (at least as far as I can tell—if I'm wrong, let me know, please). Swoony, without being smutty (I hope). I'm a right prude, so I don't want anything more than that, thank you very much!

If you want to join in the TTT fun, click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl for all the details.

1. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood—This love-in-the-lab rom com sounds super fun (even though I'm not a fan of fake dating tropes). It's gotten lots of rave reviews all over the book blogosphere. Plus, just look at that cover. It's adorable!

2. Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis—Two strangers trapped in a snowstorm together fall in love in this "heartwarming" novel. This one got a lot of buzz around the holidays. Sounds like a fun Christmas read for the end of the year.

3. What You Wish For by Katherine Center—I've enjoyed several of Center's novels, so I'm definitely up for this one. Set in a school, it's about an unrequited romance between a librarian and her new principal that gets a second chance to blossom.

4. So Not My Thing by Melanie Jacobson—Jacobson's sweet, sassy romances are always entertaining. Her newest is the first in a duology set in the author's native Louisiana. It's an enemies-to-lovers story about a pop star and the woman whose most humiliating moment was plastered all over the Internet because of him.

5. Hope Between the Pages by Pepper Basham—This historical novel features a woman who helps run her family's 100-year-old bookshop in Asheville, North Carolina. When she discovers an old, forgotten love letter in the store's attic, it sets her off on a treasure hunt that just might end with a romance of her own.

6. A Reluctant Bride by Jody Hedlund—I've enjoyed other books by Hedlund, so I might be up for this one. It's the first in a series about a group of British women who board a bride ship bound for British Columbia in the 1860s in search of escape, improved circumstances, missing family members, and—oh, yeah—love.

7. An Impossible Imposter by Deanna Raybourn—Okay, this one is a bit of a cheat since it's more mystery than romance. It does, however, feature one of my favorite literary couples, so there ya go...This is the seventh installment in the Veronica Speedwell series, which is tons of fun. In this newest outing, Veronica and Stoker are tasked with deciding if a man with amnesia is really a client's long-lost brother.

8. The Happy Camper by Melody Carlson—I'm not someone who enjoys camping (although sleeping in an RV is infinitely more appealing than braving a tent), but this love story about a woman whose camper makeover mirrors the transformation of her life, looks like a cute, happy read.

9. Otherwise Engaged by Joanna Barker—I loved Barker's debut Regency romance, so I'm definitely up for more. This one features a spunky woman who saves a child's life, thus attracting the attention of her handsome older brother. As the two fall for each other, she must tell him the unfortunate truth—she's already engaged to marry another man. 

10. A Lady's Formula for Love by Elizabeth Everett—The plot summary of this historical romance is giving me Deanna Raybourn vibes (see #7). It's about a brilliant female scientist in Victorian England who is on a secret mission for the Crown. She's assigned a bodyguard, who turns her head more than she'd like.

There you have it, ten romance novels I might actually read. Might. We'll see. Are you a romance novel lover or hater? Which are your favorites? Based on the list above, what titles would you recommend to me? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I'll gladly return the favor on your blog.

Happy TTT!  

Inara Erickson has always done what's expected of her in order to please her father, an intimidating and successful Seattle businessman. Now that she's out of grad school, though, Inara's not feeling very keen on starting the job she's been offered with Starbucks, especially once she learns the offer is at least partially due to her dad's influence. Instead, she wants to turn the dilapidated house she's just inherited from her aunt into a boutique hotel. It might be crazy, but she knows that with a little remodeling (okay, a lot of remodeling), she can create a calming place of retreat on beautiful Orcas Island. All Inara needs is someone who believes in her ability to make it all come true (preferably someone with a lot of cash to invest in a new hotel). 

When Inara discovers a scrap of intricately-embrodiered silk hidden inside a forgotten cubbyhole at her aunt's house, she's puzzled. The fabric appears to be of Chinese origin. Inara's family has lived on Orcas Island for generations and she's never known any Asian people to reside there. How did the scrap come to be there? And why was it hidden away? Sensing an unsolved mystery, Inara begins looking into the history of the house and discovers the heartbreaking story of a young 19th Century Chinese-American woman who swam for her life in order to reach safety, only to find an uncertain future on Orcas Island. Inara feels that something awful must have happened to Lu Mei Lien, but what? And what role did her ancestors play in the woman's disappearance?

I'm always up for a novel that takes me back in time to explore intriguing historical moments, tantalizing family secrets, and the truth lurking beneath placid surfaces. If the story utilizes an always-compelling dual timeline format? All the better! The Girl Who Wrote in Silk by Kelli Estes offers all of these elements, so I was eager to dive into the tale. While the San Juan Islands setting is atmospheric, the characters in this novel aren't nearly as vivid or colorful. They're sympathetic and likable enough that I cared what happened to them, but none of them are the kind of story people I think about after I close the book. The plot is compelling enough that I kept reading (listening, actually), but I never felt so engrossed that I couldn't have walked away from the story. Estes' prose also feels uneven, with patches of melodrama that made me roll my eyes. On the whole, then, I didn't end up loving this novel. I liked it well enough to finish it, though, and that's saying something.

Note: I listened to this book on audio. The narrator, Emily Woo Zeller, is okay. Her voices annoyed me at times, but overall, she's fine. 

(Readalikes: I can't think of anything. Can you?)

To the FTC, with love: Another library fine find