So I couldn't wait to get my hands on another Mary Kay Andrews book and my wish list finally came through for me! Very quick read and enjoyable characters as her other books. But then came the mention of Tomato Soup Chocolate Cake and I thought okay that's different. And there it was in print at the end; the recipe for Tomato Soup Chocolate Cake. Don't you know it....in the a.m. there I am in my kichen pantry pulling out a can of tomato soup, coco powder, flour, sugar and oh boy am I excited...I actually have all the ingrediants in my pantry. I stirred and I mixed and popped it in the oven. Patiently I waited for it to cool on the rack on my counter while I whipped up some frosting. An hour later it's frosted and ten minutes later it's cut and put on small paper plates for my hubby and I. With mounted anticipation I bring the first bite to my lips while my hubby keeps repeating "tomato soup huh". I made it through about three bites wishing that I could relish in my new find, wishing that somehow the next bite will be better. The more I ate the more I tasted tomato soup and finally I stood up and said, "I cannot do this anymore!" Moral of my story....some things are better left to the imagination.

“Every girl needs a little chick-lit brain candy once in a while,” my friend Erin wrote, passing to me her advance copy of “Deep Dish,” which came out Feb. 26. “And since it's all about cooking, I thought of you.”
I'm glad she did �" as I'm not the book snob my pal had me pegged for, I dove in and found that author Mary Kay Andrews has the recipe for another best seller in “Deep Dish.” Her last book, “Hissy Fit,” spent some time on the New York Times Best Seller List.
“Deep Dish” ($24.95, HarperCollins) tells the story of Gina, a shadow-swearing, pork-rind sneaking, somewhat-naïve host of a public television cooking show. She's a young up-and-comer in the food world, having edited a major newspaper's food section before moving to TV. But when her producer-boyfriend gets her show canned she faces losing her career, her lovelife and worse, her freedom, if she has to sell her condo and move home with Mama and Daddy and her hard-partying sister Lisa.
When Gina gets an audition for a spot on the national cooking network, the potholders come off. But in the midst of a fight for her professional life, Gina's looks take a hit thanks to her usually skillful esthetician D'John, pronounced, I assume, like the mustard. Will she wind up with the hot job and the hotter man, her competition: a tasty outdoorsman named Tate?
“Deep Dish” isn't a cookie-cutter romance novel, nor is it over-processed. It's as real as the cream in the gravy.
Andrews took pains to make it so. She visited Paula Deen's set to see firsthand how a cooking show is made.
She is also well-schooled in human behavior and that comes through in her vivid descriptions: Her characters don't simply answer their cell phones, they roll onto one hip and fish the phones from their pockets before flipping them open. They don't merely sweat when they're nervous; perspiration beads in the small of their backs. Peppering the dialogue is a little “language” that Southern belles would scold but the text isn't overly salty.
Andrews knows cooking �" what's more she knows from sharing kitchen space with her husband how sparks can fly when two hard-headed cooks get in each other's way. “Deep Dish” isn't the first time she has drawn a plot from personal experience. Nor is it the first time food has played a role her novels.
In “Deep Dish”, food is in the spotlight.
And that's where Andrews is a tease. She whetted my appetite for more than the three recipes included at the back of the book. Her descriptions of shrimp remoulade, Granny Smith apple and mint slaw and lemon pound cake had hungrily flipping to the back of the book to find them not there. Instead Andrews serves up grilled peaches and Brunswick stew, barely mentioned in the story, and a chocolate tomato soup cake.
Nonetheless, “Deep Dish” is a delicious diversion. But if you can't stomach the thought of people finding out about your indulgence, just tell them you only read it for the recipes.

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Regina is a 29 year old cooking show host who has worked her butt off to get where she is in life. She's having a lovely affair with her production manager and life is simply perfect. Blech. Fortunately (for me who is bored to tears at this point) it comes tumbling down when he decides to hop in bed with the wife of the show's main sponsor & they can the show. Not too bright of a guy. Now Gina, at the ripe old age of 29, has lost her guy and her show and fears she'll lose her home which she shares with her younger deadbeat, sassy (and terribly annoying & immature) sis.

Coincidentally a cooking network is interesting in picking up her show but there's a hitch (wouldn't you know it?), they are looking to fill a time slot but have another show they're also pursuing. For some odd reason, the other show "Vittles" hosted by a hunky outdoors-man named Tate who catches his food & cooks it too shows up in town and begins shooting in Gina's studio and using her makeup/hair guy. This didn't make sense but I could have dozed off and missed something. Anyway, now she's bumping shoulders with this guy, who she thinks is hot moments after a horrid breakup with the other snake and you can guess what kind of hijinks will ensue from here -- especially when the network decides to pit them against each other in a new reality show with the winner getting the time slot.

This book either annoyed or bored me. So many of the characters are vaguely irritating. The heroine is a hypocrite who cooks light, organic food but either starves herself or stuffs herself with chemically laden pork rinds (or something just as gross). This was disturbing to me. Also though she's nearly 30, she acts very immaturely for her age, especially when she calls Tate "butt-head" on several occasions. None of this junk was cute or endearing. Couldn't the author have come up with an insult worthy of a 29 year old woman? My 13 year old comes up with better jabs than butt-head. And don't even get me started on her stylist who burns her hair off and, instead of being lucky he's still in a job, insults her about her looks on numerous occasions. I suppose if the book were more interesting these little things wouldn't have bothered me so much. As it was, the only bright spot was the cute, rambunctious setter pup named Moonpie who had more personality than anyone else in the book and that was probably because he couldn't speak.

Mary Kay Andrews is hilarious. I have read three of her books and have enjoyed them all. The characters are entertaining, and there's always a strong woman as the main character. The plot always moves along quickly. There's suspense, humor, and always a little romance, but nothing sordid, so you don't have to worry about your kids picking the book up from the coffee table. Great light reading for the summer!

Loved this book!!!

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