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Comfort Food

3.29 of 5 stars 3.29 · rating details · 5,241 ratings · 960 reviews

In this smart, delicious novel by the bestselling author of The Friday Night Knitting Club, a celebrity chef shows her friends and family the joy of fulfillment� and manages to spice up her own life at the same time.

Shortly before turning the big 5-0, boisterous party planner and Cooking with Gusto! personality Augusta �Gus� Simpson finds herself planning a birthday party...more

Hardcover, 336 pages

Published May 6th 2008 by Putnam Adult (first published 2008)

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Jun 01, 2008 Tricia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Gus Simpson is turning 50, has two 20-something daughters, and her own cooking show which is experiencing a ratings slump. The story revolves around her need to heal from tragedy, develop better relationships with her children, and define who she is and what she wants out of the rest of her life....with a little romance thrown in the side.

One problem I had with The Friday Night Knitting Club is that there were too many darn characters in the book. It's even worse in this book because the book is...more

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Aug 14, 2008 Lain rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: not-going-to-finish

Zzz... oh, I'm sorry, did you say something? I apologize -- I was put into a deep sleep by this latest book from Kate Jacobs. A great cure for insomnia!

I couldn't make it past 100 pages. Too much telling, not enough showing, and no clue where the book was going or why. If I read one more word about poor little Gus the TV star, who seems like a total unlikeable control freak, I was going to scream. Nothing happened, and I didn't really care if it did or not.

The inconsistencies really got to me,...more

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Jul 24, 2008 Jill rated it 2 of 5 stars

I loved the first three hundred pages. The details are on, the story line is engaging, and I am willing to suspend some disbelief.

But, I figured out my trouble with Kate Jacobs. She runs this huge ensemble cast of characters through her novels, and this forces a contrived ending to wrap up all the different characters.

The over all effect is that everyone is a little too good, and that things work out perfectly, just like that. I think this book and Friday Night Knitting would be better if she...more

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Jan 18, 2012 Nancy Cours rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-books

I only got another Kate Jacobs audiobook because there was nothing else left, I swear! No, actually, I liked this one better than Friday Night Knitting Club, as a matter of fact. I'm not sure what Jacobs' background with food is, but she is much better at writing about knitting, which seems to come much more naturally. Jacobs writes about her characters on the "Cooking Channel" like she's never bothered to watch the Food Network prior to publishing the book. It's all so foreign sounding and sill...more

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Sep 08, 2008 Cortney added it

Shelves: books-i-could-not-bear-to-finish

I only made it past the first chapter. It just didn't engage me. At all. Maybe it's something about reading in the third person that I don't like? Maybe it's something about Kate Jacobs drilling into my head the characteristics of Gus Simpson over and over and over and over....
With so many books on my to-read list, why waste time with something I'm not enjoying? It's so very hard for me to give up on a book because it may very well be a fabulous book after you muddle through _____ number of page...more

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Jan 17, 2009 Gail rated it 3 of 5 stars

Comfort Food is about Augustus "Gus" Simpson a Fiftyish television cooking show queen, who is suddenly thrown into a situation where she has to fight for her job against the younger woman who will do anything to take her job. Comfort food is a fun easy read, not a complete twinkie, but not meat and potatoes either. I would categorize it as a light lunch. There is conflict and some really unfortunate things happen to the main character, but in the end everyone gets their happily ever after. Kate...more

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Dec 08, 2012 Anna rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: well-that-was-terrible

I'm not sure where to start with this one. It wasn't until I reached the last chapter of this book that the hope for something worthwhile was finally crushed. What was wrong with it?
-The plot- What plot? This book is a string of contrived coincidences.
-The characters- Of the main seven, three (the underdeveloped ones, at that) were tolerable; the other four were so thouroughly dislikable I couldn't believe it.
-The writing itself- It was tell, and tell, and more tell, and never any show. Long...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

What always blows me away about every book by Kate Jacobs isn't the amazing writing, the creative plots, or the unique characters. It's the fact that no matter what she writes about, it makes you want to do it. For example, her series The Friday Night Knitting Club and Knit Too, was why I wanted to start knitting. And why I did start knitting. You become so enveloped in the story that you too want to learn how to make a great meal with some Spanish accents or a 3 layer cake with amazingly diffic...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Knitme23 rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Okay. Picked this up after a tough October, nervous about the elections, looking for a nice, long, comfy snuggle type of a book. I have read the knitting club book by Jacobs, and wasn't crazy about it, but I figured this would work regardless. BUT: it was read by Barbara Rosenblatt, whose voice is way too emphatic and enthusiastic and who doesn't know how to pronounce words like "ebullient," and, in a cooking book, "cumin," or "basil." I mean really.

Unfortunately, the book wasn't very well word...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Becky rated it 1 of 5 stars

Caveat - I 'read' this in the audio version, which may or may not have affected my experience.

So, hitting the library looking for something light to keep my commute to and from work from being an endless litany of radio bad news is a very hit or miss proposition. And I should know by now that I really should avoid anything that smacks of chick lit. But I don't think I've ever read any novel whose author seemed to dislike ALL of her characters so much. I was six disks into the book before any of...more

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May 31, 2011 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was interested to read another of Kate Jacobs’ books, especially since this one is not centered around knitting. I wanted to “get to know her” as an author and read a work that I wasn’t interested simply because it was favorable to one of my favorite hobbies. Wonderfully, I wasn’t disappointed.

Gus Simpson is a character who feels like she’s a little bit based on Martha Stuart – classic, perfect, and the one you turn to when you don’t want something adventurous but something homey and simple –...more I was interested to read another of Kate Jacobs’ books, especially since this one is not centered around knitting. I wanted to “get to know her” as an author and read a work that I wasn’t interested simply because it was favorable to one of my favorite hobbies. Wonderfully, I wasn’t disappointed.

Gus Simpson is a character who feels like she’s a little bit based on Martha Stuart – classic, perfect, and the one you turn to when you don’t want something adventurous but something homey and simple – like a comfortable sweater. Her shows are a staple on the Cooking Channel and she feels though she’s set for life. It doesn’t matter if she thinks her daughters’ lives are a bit of a mess, she’ll always have the show.

But when Gus’s ratings drop, she is forced to share a live show with the beautiful, young, and cut-throat Miss Spain – Carmen Vega. All Carmen wants is what Gus has, the chance to be a cooking tv starlet. The show becomes a very unwelcome change in Gus’s life: her daughters are both on the show with her, alongside her youngest’s ex-boyfriend, a charming and good-looking food producer, and Gus’s neighbor who is in hiding from her past. And soon it seems they’re the next reality tv show sensation. But the heat of working with all the people she feels she needs to be perfect around will produce something in Gus that no one expected.

I was a little wary of reading this book after reading “The Friday Night Knitting Club”. While I liked “Knitting Club,” it wasn’t all that I hoped it would be. The story felt a little bit disjointed, as though Jacobs had one thing in mind for the story and then changed her mind 2/3 of the way through. This novel had none of that feeling. The entire story built up to the changes that Gus found she needed to change in her life, using things from everyone’s past to illustrate how we can get in a rut or take things in our lives for granted, or even just need to have a little more confidence that we’re doing the right thing. Each person’s past is a vital part of the grand story of the novel, with none of the characters less interesting than anyone else. No one emerges as the true antagonist at the end, everyone is simply human…which in my book, is a great quality for a written character to have.(less)

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Apr 25, 2011 Michelle Hankes rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book has an interesting premise of a well-known and firmly-established cooking show host whose life becomes entangled by a mess of family, friends, and Cooking Channel colleagues. Augusta "Gus" Simpson has been on the Cooking Channel for twelve years and loves what she does, but the ratings are dropping. In an effort to spice up the network and their long-running host, the president of the network sticks Gus, her family, and a newbie host, Carmen Vega, together in a live cooking show simila...more

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Jan 26, 2011 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: food

Originally I thought this book was going to be a sequel to the Friday Night Knitting Club novels; mainly because the main character's daughter liked cooking. However, I should have read a little better. That is not the case, this is actually a stand alone novel. And once I got past that, it was pretty good.

Gus is a famous tv chef with two grown daughters. When she finds out that her show may be canceled she is desperate to stay on air. In a plan that goes awry, she ends up co-hosting a new show...more

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Oct 22, 2010 Chantelle Roberts rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 29, 2010 Jlaurenmc rated it 4 of 5 stars

So you're laying in bed, cozy with a quilt (and perhaps a dog at your feet)... It's snowing outside, or at the very least it's so cold you don't want to budge from underneath the covers. That's what my New Year's weekend was like. I started off the New Year right by participating (somewhat) in a New Year's Read-a-thon sponsored by Kristen at Bookworming in the 21st Century. I didn't really get a chance to read much on New Year's Eve until later, then I dove straight into a comfy read -- Kate Jac...more So you're laying in bed, cozy with a quilt (and perhaps a dog at your feet)... It's snowing outside, or at the very least it's so cold you don't want to budge from underneath the covers. That's what my New Year's weekend was like. I started off the New Year right by participating (somewhat) in a New Year's Read-a-thon sponsored by Kristen at Bookworming in the 21st Century. I didn't really get a chance to read much on New Year's Eve until later, then I dove straight into a comfy read -- Kate Jacobs's feel-good novel Comfort Food. I was immersed in Jacobs's book for most of the next two days (both New Year's Day and January 2nd), then I completed it late that second night. I spent the last day of the read-a-thon with a New Book shelf find from my local library, Richard Powers's The Echo Maker. It's a deeply interesting read -- kind of a cross between Carolyn Parkhurst's The Dogs of Babel: A Novel and Dean Koontz's The House of Thunder... And yes, I realize that on paper those two have absolutely nothing to do with one another. Just trust me (and wait for my final word on that novel after I finish it).

But back to Comfort Food. Such a lovely read. Not literary or pretentious, just a good plot and likeable characters. How often I find myself searching for only that -- a good storyline & characters I actually care about. Jacobs delivers just that in this book. Augusta "Gus" Simpson is a CookingChannel star who came from a tough background and fought her way to the top. She is successful because she's put in the time -- twelve years, to be exact.

Gus finds herself becoming less and less relevant as new technology (think video-chatting with viewers in mid-stir) & pretty faces move in and good old-fashioned cooking and entertaining are being pushed out. She finds herself in a position where she must compromise or walk away, and compromise she does. Rising network star Carmen Vega, a former beauty queen who isn't afraid to sleep her way to the top, walks into the CookingChannel studio and gives Gus a run for her money. Also included in the action are Gus's grown-but-not-grown-up daughters, a neighbor who has spent her life running from scandal, a Wall Street stockbroker-turned-chef, and various CookingChannel executives who are in it only so long as their bank accounts are growing.

Gus is the epitome of Food Network (ahem, CookingChannel, I mean) stardom -- down home, but a performer in truth. However, in Comfort Food she's forced to make a choice between keeping her personal life separate (and her on-air persona "clean") or giving the viewers what they want -- the real-life Gus Simpson, with all her flaws laid out for the television camera to capture.

Jacobs gives readers quite a few interesting subplots, and there is plenty romance spread around among the characters. All in all, it's a winning combination of pop culture references, well-rounded characters, and good storytelling.

Jacobs is also the author of The Friday Night Knitting Club series, which has been optioned by Universal Studios for an upcoming movie. (less)

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Jul 21, 2009 Diane rated it 3 of 5 stars

Author Kate Jacobs , who wrote the successful THE FRIDAY NIGHT KNITTING CLUB, moves to the culinary world in her new novel, COMFORT FOOD. If you enjoy spending the evening watching Food TV, this novel is for you.

Augusta "Gus" has been hosting a successful TV show on the CookingChannel for years. She was widowed several years ago and left alone to raise her two young daughters Aimee, a global economic analyst, and Sabrina, an up-and-coming decorator. Gus is about to turn fifty years old when she...more Author Kate Jacobs , who wrote the successful THE FRIDAY NIGHT KNITTING CLUB, moves to the culinary world in her new novel, COMFORT FOOD. If you enjoy spending the evening watching Food TV, this novel is for you.

Augusta "Gus" has been hosting a successful TV show on the CookingChannel for years. She was widowed several years ago and left alone to raise her two young daughters Aimee, a global economic analyst, and Sabrina, an up-and-coming decorator. Gus is about to turn fifty years old when she receives news from her boss- the format of her show is going to be changed and she is getting a sexy young co-host, Carmen, a former Miss Spain.

Carmen appears to be a manipulative woman, gunning for Gus's job. Somehow, Gus's daughters, Sabrina's ex-fiance Troy, Gus's reclusive neighbor Hannah, and new chef Oliver all end up on the TV show, making for a crowded kitchen, with insults being tossed around the kitchen, along with the ingredients.

Gus has been told that if this doesn't work, she will be out of a job. So as she has always done, she rolls up her sleeves and is determined to make it work.

Jacobs writes interesting characters, and the family dynamic amongst Gus and her daughters is very real. They never dealt openly with the loss of their father and husband, never spoke about it. Eventually all of the repressed feelings come to light and must be dealt with. Many families handle situations like that in the same manner, and readers will identify with this. A passage that I found thought provoking was this:"You don't know what it's like to struggle." Gus was getting angry; her cheeks were turning red. "I have done everything for you two."
"Maybe don't do so much, then," Aimee said quietly. "We may not have had your struggle, but we've had our own."
That sounds like a conversation many families could have.

All of the characters have strengths and weaknesses, they are three dimensional, and for the most part likable, just as most people are. Everyone is just trying to do their best to get what they want out of life. Gus meddles in her daughter's love life, Hannah is reclusive for a good reason, Troy wants to win Sabrina back, and Oliver has his eyes on romance; Jacobs manages to keep all of these plates spinning while the story unfolds.

Many people watch Food TV for the personalities as well as the food, and if you are one of them, you'll find COMFORT FOOD a tasty treat. You get a bit of a backstage look at how those shows work, and for good measure, Jacobs gives the reader a few recipes mentioned in the story at the end of the book.(less)

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May 26, 2009 Kathleen Hagen added it

Shelves: 2009-audio-books, 2009-fiction

Comfort Food, by Kate Jacobs, narrated by Barbara Rosenblatt, produced by Penguin Audio, downloaded from audible.com.

Barbara Rosenblatt is one of my favorite narrators, and she does books like this one very well. Augusta, (Gus) Simpson is a nationally known chef from the food channel. But she is turning 50 and doesn’t like it. Her husband has been ded for 15 years but she hasn’t really dated anyone since he died. Her life is sort of stalemated, still mainly spent around her two daughters and the...more

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Apr 22, 2009 Isabella rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who like light-hearted stories

Recommended to Isabella by: A librarian

Gus (Augusta Simpson), soon hitting the “half-century mark,”is a guru on the Cooking Channel hosting three successful shows over the last twelve years. However, even with her achievements she can’t help but feel herself becoming stale spice on the shelf, being thrown to the wayside as younger chiefs take center stage. This only worsens as her show is threatened and the only means of survival are teaming up with Carmen Vega, Miss Spain, on a new show called, “Eat, Drink and Be.”
I found the predo...more Gus (Augusta Simpson), soon hitting the “half-century mark,”is a guru on the Cooking Channel hosting three successful shows over the last twelve years. However, even with her achievements she can’t help but feel herself becoming stale spice on the shelf, being thrown to the wayside as younger chiefs take center stage. This only worsens as her show is threatened and the only means of survival are teaming up with Carmen Vega, Miss Spain, on a new show called, “Eat, Drink and Be.”
I found the predominant mother-daughter theme in the novel a well scripted relationship and quite accurate to the feelings many siblings may experience. Aimee, the eldest, is described as a “cool cucumber,” and though she has a practiced neutral expression, her feelings become apparent when she says to Gus, “’I want you. Call me sometime and don’t ask about Sabrina.” Sabrina, on the other hand, “had always been rather scattered, popular but naïve,” and as the younger sibling, took a meatier portion of Gus’s time. These issues threaten to boil over as Aimee, Sabrina, and Gus are constantly being forced into working in close proximities. The palpable tension was engaging; showing that at any age, family comes first.
The story is shown through many points of views and though I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the world through the eyes of a fifty year old, “She hoped Sabrina’s Billy choked on that little picnic! Sabrina and her monstrous boyfriend,” I think the author overstepped the boundaries. I applaud her efforts to incorporate different ethnicities, but when the dialogue from an ex-Wall Street worker, organic Korean boy, tennis star and Miss Spain all start to sound the same, the endeavour distracts and left me differentiating characters in conversations by Ms. Spain’s interjection of Spanish and rather confused about everyone else.
Being a light hearted story I enjoyed the airy mood it created, the headings like “Upsetting the apple cart,” and “Oil and water,” form a pleasant ambiance. A feel-good novel that tackles with the central theme: family and friends being the first priority, with cooking being the blatant symbol of the glue holding the relationships together. However, the mood couldn’t atone for the flagging plot, which never climaxes to the extent you could tell where it was. Instead, there were many hanging chapters meant to keep the reader enticed to continue, but they never quite fulfilled the promise of delivering something that matched the reader’s anticipation.
Comfort Food is a well detailed novel, not meant to evoke too much thought. With banter that can be humorous – provided you can figure out who’s talking – to the underlying meaning of family, this story would be satisfying for a rainy day. There are pleasurable elements if you don’t over analyze, nevertheless this isn’t the type of book that that you’d stay up late reading.
(less)

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Nov 07, 2012 Carolyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is another of those motif-style books published for women readers, books all about knitting or quilting or tea drinking or whatever. This one is all about cooking. I've read quite a few examples of this genre, and I have to say that Kate Jacobs is one of the best authors in this group. That's not to say this is great literature. But Jacobs' characters are more developed and their problems more compelling than those in most of the books of this type that I've read. Of course, the endings are...more

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Sep 23, 2011 Danny Lynn rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 19, 2012 Kate rated it 2 of 5 stars

Other reviewers have summed up the book well- the expository writing, the endless repetition of "he said", "she said" which is painfully obvious in the audio book version, the sloppiness of phrases like "whispered softly", and the contrived ending. The characters structure was good and the premise was interesting but you can't build a framework and not furnish the interior. Very little was furnished and I came away thinking Ms. Jacobs had gone for quantity of characters over quality. They all ga...more

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Jun 18, 2010 Clarissa rated it 2 of 5 stars

Have you ever read a book and loved it while reading but became uncertain of it after? I had that experience after reading Kate Jacob's first book (Friday Night Knitting Club). But I did enjoy reading it, so I decided to check this one out. Plus I love watching the Food Network which factors heavily in this book.

The novel's main character is a woman named Gus of all things, who after the death of her husband, leaving her a widow with two children to raise, found a way to make money. Gus opened a...more

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Feb 23, 2009 Anne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Comfort Food' is set in New York and centres around Gus (short for Augusta), a widow who is just turning 50. For the past twelve years Gus has been a hard-working single mother - her two daughters are both now adults, although neither of them are 'grown up'. Gus is the star of a succesful TV cookery show.

The beginning of the story tells how Gus is having mixed feelings about her impending 50th birthday and doesnt really feel like organising one of her famous partys. Everything seems to be going...more

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Sep 07, 2010 Sterlingcindysu rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyd The Friday Night Knitting Club and Knit Two, but boy, I did not care for this one at all. Much, much too sweet and sappy and I didn't care for any of the characters.

(copied review) Shortly before turning the big 5-0, boisterous party planner and Cooking with Gusto! personality Augusta "Gus" Simpson finds herself planning a birthday party she'd rather not - her own. She's getting tired of being the hostess, the mother hen, the woman who has to plan her own birthday party. What she needs...more

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May 07, 2009 Laura de Leon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fluff, chick-lit, audiobook

This book is a mid to low 3 stars for me. As I was listening to this book, it just wasn't quite working for me. I kept trying to figure out what (if anything) was wrong with it. I wanted to enjoy this book as entertaining fluff. Was I just not in the mood for it? The characters should have been interesting. The plot should have been amusing. Why wasn't it coming together for me?

I felt like I should have liked Gus, the single parent who has worked her way to the top of the food TV world. I should...more

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May 29, 2008 Bill rated it 3 of 5 stars

Diana and I listened to this audio-book while travelling by car from Maryland to Kansas this week. It was a good "read" for a car trip... easy to follow, funny and sad. The themes of the story: getting older, family, friends, love, pain, grief, healing and competition... all wrapped up in one of our favorite things, FOOD, had us smiling and even tearing up a couple times... pleasant book.

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Sep 24, 2012 Mandolin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Gus Simpson's star is fading. Once the darling of the newly-born cable cooking channel, Gus cooked her way to fame with her signature style and focus on entertaining and creating a warm and welcoming home. Now, with the revolution of the food industry and its new focus on the "hip" generation, idealized by beauty queen Carmen Vega, Gus finds herself being slowly driven away from the life she holds dear. Suddenly, Gus is realizing that she's gotten older and she just may not be ready for that. Ca...more

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Apr 17, 2011 Kristy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I didn't like this book as much as I had hoped or as much as I had liked "The Friday Night Knitting Club" series. It didn't keep my attention as much as I had hoped. What I did enjoy about the book was that Gus Simpson (the protagonist) dealt with a lot of problems and when times were hard, she knew how to make the best lemonade out of some really bad lemons. She handled everything with elegance and grace, even with turning the big 5-0. I was rooting for her when she celebrated by hopping into b...more

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May 25, 2008 Lynn rated it 3 of 5 stars

This story of a widow turning fifty, her relationship with her two twenty-something daughters, her cooking show trials and tribulations, and the interesting people in her life is a most enjoyable read. Likeable characters - even the ones you don't think will be. The cooking show - a fun scenario. I do believe I will go back and read the Friday Night Knitting Club.

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Jul 01, 2012 Bookworm rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chicklit, 2012

Because I love, love, loved the Friday Night Knitting Club novels I was super exited to read an other book by Kate Jacobs. But I must admit I was a little let down by Comfort Food.

It's not a bad book but I expected so much more. Most of all I missed the warm cozy atmosphere from the Friday Night books. Also some of the things that happen in the book just seem so unrealistic or a little far-fetched.
The story isn't bad but I did not get pulled into it as much as I had with Jacobs' other novels....more

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About Kate Jacobs

Kate Jacobs is the New York Times-bestselling author of Comfort Food, Knit Two, and The Friday Night Knitting Club, which has over 1 million copies in print.

Kate grew up near Vancouver, British Columbia, in the scenic and delightfully named town of Hope (pop. 6,184). It’s an area filled with friends and family and Kate loves to visit. Back then, of course, it was tremendously boring, as only home...more Kate Jacobs is the New York Times-bestselling author of Comfort Food, Knit Two, and The Friday Night Knitting Club, which has over 1 million copies in print.

Kate grew up near Vancouver, British Columbia, in the scenic and delightfully named town of Hope (pop. 6,184). It’s an area filled with friends and family and Kate loves to visit. Back then, of course, it was tremendously boring, as only home can be to a teenager. As a result, Kate begged her parents to send her to boarding school in Victoria, BC. From there she traded in her navy blazer to earn a Bachelor’s degree in journalism at Carleton University in Ottawa. Next, in a fit of optimism/courage/naivete – take your pick – she followed it up with a move to bustling New York City (pop. 8,143,197).

The plan? Breaking into magazine publishing. First she received a Master’s degree at NYU and worked at a handful of unpaid internships, then got a spot as an assistant to the Books & Fiction Editor at Redbook magazine. It was here that Kate answered multiple phones, read a ton of slush (getting to know some wonderful writers- to-be), and began to experience the impact of sharing women’s stories. Around this time, Kate settled into an apartment complex that housed about as many people as her entire hometown in Canada: It seemed that she wasn’t just a small-town girl anymore.

Professionally, Kate made it a priority to explore content that resonated with women: She was an editor at Working Woman and Family Life and was later a freelance writer and editor at the website for Lifetime Television. Personally, as a newcomer to New York, she learned the power of building a surrogate family and stitching together friendship connections that will endure. Exploring the richness of women’s relationships is a key focus of her novels.

After a decade of Manhattan living, Kate moved to sunny Southern California with her husband. (And discovered that she likes suburban living just fine, thank you very much.)

She relished the idea of her very own home office but found herself setting up the laptop on the dining table, just as she’d done in New York, and writing late at night in her pajamas.

A firm believer in the creative power of free time, Kate loves to recharge by tackling knitting projects that she can finish quickly (all the better to feel that sense of accomplishment). She’s also a fan of taking naps, especially when she’s on deadline, snuggling under a favorite green-and-yellow afghan knitted by her grandmother decades ago. Her beloved liver-and-white English Springer Spaniel, Baxter, often snoozes alongside.(less)

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“Sometimes suffering is just suffering,” she told Gus. “It doesn't make you stronger. It doesn't build character. It only hurts.” — 10 people liked it

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