Nancy Garfinkel

Lilly and Val were friends until a betrayal at age 21. When Val's mother passes away 26 years later she decides to reach out to Lilly. They correspond by email over the next month with increasingly bitter messages and again go their separate ways. The next portion of the book reverts to a Recipe Club that they started as 10 year olds, including recipes in letters to each other; some while they lived in the same area (evidenced by referrals to phone calls, visits and sleepovers) and some while they were at various camps and eventually college. The letters reveal the love and friction between the two, leading to their fallout. The recipes are a mix of simple childish interests to more complex dishes. I didn't find anything in the recipes to grab me and I didn't feel vested in any of the characters. I was interested enough to read to the end, the whole thing felt too contrived.… (more)