Fiction Tuesday - Piglet

 

It just might be the worst book this year...or the best. Hazell writes glorious prose! She is indeed a foodie writer. However, she uses reverse irony as well. You see, we never find out what a certain character did in the novel. Some for the love of food don't really care while some of  us would rather have character building and plot. Needless to say, folks are looking forward to Hazell's next novel. Perhaps, she will meet the needs of all readers or just keep doing what she's doing. Sorry, to say, I couldn't finish this novel.

Outside of a childhood nickname she can’t shake, Piglet’s rather pleased with how her life’s turned out. An up-and-coming cookbook editor at a London publishing house, she’s got lovely, loyal friends and a handsome fiancé, Kit, whose rarefied family she actually, most of the time, likes, despite their upper-class eccentricities. One of the many, many things Kit loves about Piglet is the delicious, unfathomably elaborate meals she’s always cooking.

But when Kit confesses a horrible betrayal two weeks before they’re set to be married, Piglet finds herself suddenly…hungry. The couple decides to move forward with the wedding as planned, but as it nears and Piglet balances family expectations, pressure at work, and her quest to make the perfect cake, she finds herself increasingly unsettled, behaving in ways even she can’t explain. Torn between a life she’s always wanted and the ravenousness that comes with not getting what she knows she deserves, Piglet is, by the day of her wedding, undone, but also ready to look beyond the lies we sometimes tell ourselves to get by.

A stylish, uncommonly clever novel about the things we want and the things we think we want, Piglet is both an examination of women’s often complicated relationship with food and a celebration of the messes life sometimes makes for us.

Will Love in Spring

 

Oh, I do love Li Xian's dramas. He never lets me down. Lately, he's made some quirky ones like Meet Yourself. I think Will Love in Spring might be from the same team since Mark Ma plays his younger self. And Zhou Yu Tong is captivating. I've seen her play in more action roles so it's sweet to see her character in a romance.

Both characters have their baggage. They knew each other in high school. She knew he was a bit of a hothead. He knew of her accident and how she lost her lower leg. But she's thriving in Shanghai and he has found his way to help the community at his funeral service. 

His grandmother thinks it's fate that has brought them back together. She can't seem to find anyone for the thirty-something grandson, but she thinks the world of his old high school friend. The grandmother is a medal-winning ping pong player. If you want to watch how the old folks stay fit, it's fun to watch.

I LOVE the soundtrack to this drama. The beginning song doesn't play until after the first scene and I love the intro, but a lot the songs in this drama are perfect. I also like that they have other actors to play the back story of the drama. Also we have a determined mother, the quirky brother and a lot of great things about living in the country. It seems to be a trend these days in C-dramas of community and finding the perfect balance of family and work.

Brandon & Izzy

ellie

 So do you think of each other as family?

Brandon: (His arms are folded as he looks over to Izzy on the couch) We were good co-workers. Yes, she feels like the little sister I never had. (His lips are even) We've been through a lot together. I'm glad we can still talk. Izzy: (she shrugs a soft laugh) Oh, well..I am glad we can still talk. I guess he turned out to be that big brother I always needed. (She presses her lips tight) You know, he was really my first love. (She nods. He takes her hand). Brandon: I just wasn't what she expected. (He grins) I do think there is something noble about Izzy, even if she doesn't see it. I know she cares about her friends. Maybe she doesn't have the time to always be there but she takes it seriously, on occasion. I know I've always rushed in on a whim. It doesn't always pay off.

Izzy: But, (she looks at him with a sweet smile) You and Declan are good for each other. That's what I want some day. Brandon: Who knows, you might have already found it. (Brandon shrugs with a smile).

The Profile

Name: Wyona Dale 

Age: 28

Hometown: Fredricksburg, Texas

Actually, she grew up around Enchanted Rock on a ranch and remembered the wild tales Gramps used to tell her when he was a boy breaking horses and riding around on the rock. Something, she always wished she could do. Her mother breaks horses for a living, but Wyona had other ideas.

She is of German heritage on her mother's side. Her father ran a gas station and smoked sausage and brisket that she grew up on. 

Likes: Wyona wants to be a songwriter and move to Austin, but she is finding it is best to be in a band and write music together. It is a creative muscle she keeps at every day even if it is tiring. She likes hanging out with her girlfriends and it's nice to hear from her friend Dan who went out to L.A. to sing on the streets. She thinks he'll be home any day and would like to see him. She likes helping her dad with the barbecue business he still has going. She likes to think she will go to UT one day, but she keeps putting it off. She likes helping her friend Josie with her jewelry business. She likes playing every Saturday night at the local polka place. She has taught herself how to play the accordion. She can play, guitar, drums, harmonica, the keyboard, and now the accordion. Wyona's favorite author is Ruby Dixon. Sometimes, she likes to write songs from Dixon's characters in the Barbarian Alien series.

Worries: She worries about Dan the most. She hopes he is really all right in L.A. Secretly, she would like to keep him here, but she has a way of shooing him away. She knows she doesn't want to bring him down because a good chunk of her life is taking care of her mother who was injured from one of her horses and is wheelchair-bound. She knows she is needed at home.

Dislikes: The mean girls back in high school who thought she was the meanest. She feels they never got to know her and her reputation succeeds her. "Maybe I had to be the meanest," she shrugs now about the matter. Most have grown up, moved away and have families now, but occasionally she'll get stopped when she's at the grocery store, "You mean? You, still live here? But why would you want to do that?" Wyona seldom gives them the time of day.