Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jan 29, 2012

Chachic rated it:

Won a copy of this from MangoJuiced. My review is originally posted here.

Ginny has never been good with people – she doesn’t like strangers and she doesn’t like talking to people. She’s not comfortable with physical contact and only allows a handful of people to touch her. She lives with her parents, in the house where she grew up and fills her days with cooking. Food comforts her and that’s what she uses as a coping mechanism. Here’s a sample of the writing and how Ginny uses food t More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 18, 2011

Nancy rated it:

This is actually my favorite kind of book. It's about something relevant but also about something else much more relevant. It reminds me of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake which is about a girl who feels what people feel when they cook the food. But it's really not. It's about coping skills or it's a little story about growing up...

This book is about Ginny who is 26 years old and has a personality. At least that's what she's always been told. Secretly, Ginny has never been More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 26, 2011

Athira rated it:

After the sudden death of her parents, Ginny is left feeling isolated and unsure of what to do. Her sister, Amanda, is trying to cope with the tragedy in her own way, but she doesn't really know how to look after Ginny, who has Asperger's syndrome. Ginny throws herself into cooking, because nothing else seems to be able to address her intense sadness the way cooking and food does. The first time, she makes a bread soup from a recipe written by her grandmother. Even before she could relish the aw More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2011

Patty rated it:

Ginny has just lost her parents to a tragic accident. She lived with them in a magnificent old home in Philadelphia and was not at all prepared either emotionally or in reality for them to be gone. She is living with undiagnosed Asperger's and her parents had protected her all throughout her life. After the funeral her sister blows in like a tornado trying to take over her life and sell the house and take her away from everything she has ever known. Her sister refuses to accept that Ginny is cap More...

0 comments like

Feb 18, 2012

Erin rated it:

I thought this book was a very calm and gentle book, despite the massive, sad tragedies that occur within its pages. Ginny has Aspergers, and sees and feels the world in a way that is different from most people. She doesn't like to be touched, and tries to understand the emotions of others. The book begins with the death of her parents, which rocks her world. They were her touchstones, they were her guides in a world that was difficult for her to manuever in certain ways. She is left with a More...

0 comments like

Feb 05, 2012

April rated it:

THE KITCHEN DAUGHTER by Jael McHenry is an interesting women's fiction. It tells the story of Ginny Selvaggio, a young women who is shy,sheltered,loss her parent's to an unexpected death,finds comfort in the kitchen and has Asperger's syndrome. It has ghosts,cooking,recipes,mystery,family,secrets,living with Asperger's,acceptance,loss,grief,intrigue,love and characters who are compelling along with the delicious almost smelling recipes described throughout this delightful story. "The Kitch More...

0 comments like

Jan 31, 2012

Katherine rated it:

I really enjoyed this book--it's kind of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time mixed with Like Water for Chocolate and The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. The plot twists in unexpected ways but it's still a quick read and fairly straightforward in the end. I identified with the main character a lot in the personality traits that overlap between those with Asberger's and strong introverts as well as the feeling of sinking into the process of cooking.

I think Holly's review More...

0 comments like

Jan 13, 2012

Jackie rated it:

I would probably rather give this book 3 stars for effort, and only 2 stars for result. I get the sense that Ms. McHenry isn't quite sure what she herself wants this book to be: A "cause" book (informing the public about aspbergers), a book about cooking, a book about relationships, a book about grieving or simply a narrative about life. In any event, I don't think she accomplishes any of these particularly well.

I expected to like this a lot better than I did. And I adm More...

0 comments like

Jan 12, 2012

JenniferJ rated it:

This was a fascinating story of a young lady who has Asperger's Syndrome and has tragically lost her parents and now trying to live on her own. She never really knew anything was wrong with her because she led a sheltered life which has not prepared her for living in the "real" world so to speak. Even so I still got angry with her sister quite a bit. She just assumes Ginny should now come to stay in her home and they will automatically sell the family home and get rid of the things ins More...

0 comments like

Jul 29, 2011

Jan rated it:

I don't do "chick lit," but I was intrigued by the premise of this story, and I'm so glad I read it. Ginny, the protagonist and voice of this story, has Asperger's syndrome, but she also has the tendency to think of things and people in terms of food. Someone has an "orange juice voice," and another has an "espresso voice." When she is confused by a social situation, Ginny finds comfort in food, either cooking it or imagining it being cooked. Just thinking of the More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 03, 2011

Cathy rated it:

I loved this book and couldn't put it down until I finished it. Ginny's voice is so fresh and different from the average female protagonist. I have read several nonfiction books about Asperger's and felt McHenry did an excellent job portraying a young woman with that syndrome. Ginny had Asperger's but the book became more about her acceptance of herself and reaching out to others in her life so that they would accept her as well.

I am not a particularly good chef, I'm more of a ba More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 05, 2011

CoffeeBook rated it:

Ginny Selvaggio is twenty-six years old, and she's spent her whole life comforted with food. But not eating food, instead making it. Taking recipes and creating dishes, searching food blogs and trying new things. She is an adventurer in her life by searching the internet and reading new food techniques to try out, but she is an adventurer only inside her house. She's never moved out of her parent's home, and with their recent, unexpected deaths, along with her sister wanting to sell the house an More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 04, 2011

Louise rated it:

Ginny Selvaggio is twenty-six-years-old and attending the funeral of both her parents on a cold December day in Philadelphia. She lives in the family home alone, now that her parents are gone. Her older, domineering sister, Amanda and her husband, Brennan, and their two girls, Shannon, and Parker live in Jersey. Ginny has Asperger’s Syndrome which is a rare and relatively mild autistic disorder characterized by an awkwardness in social interaction and by the development of restricted interest More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 19, 2011

Nicola rated it:

Reason for Reading: The main character has Asperger's, as do I, and I make it a habit of reading books that portray Aspies.

First, I'd like to mention that this is as far from my regular type of reading as it gets. I don't *do* women's fiction; no matter what the topic I stay very, very far away from it. But when I was introduced to this book I saw the protagonist was Asperger's and I didn't really pay attention to anything else. I just wanted to read it.

I loved this book with More...

0 comments like (11 people liked it)

Apr 14, 2011

Tomi rated it:

What a wonderful read given April is National Autism Awareness Month and the central character in this well written novel suffers from Asperger's Syndrome. The story, told from Ginny's point of view, is like a Sixth Sense/Ghost Whisperer type of tale. Ginny has a gift of contacting the dead via her cooking. Author Jael does a superb job mixing food and mystique to create a deliciously written novel.

Ginny's sister, Amanda, is very controlling and limits Ginny to her autism. H More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 13, 2011

Jules rated it:

This was one of those books that you start reading without really knowing what to expect. The publisher's blurb promised ghostly magic, cooking, an unconventional heroine with Asperger's Syndrome, and a lot of family drama. I wasn't really anticipating learning everything that I did and enjoying the story quite so much. It was a real treat to lose myself in this sweet and uplifting debut novel.

The author has done an amazing job of creating memorable and endearing characters. She More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 12, 2011

Cheryl rated it:

Ginny Selvaggio has Asperger’s syndrome. It is a disorder that causes people to not be able to communicate sociably and effectively with other people. Unfortunately, there is no cure currently. For this reason, Ginny is very protected by her older sister, Amanda. When Ginny and Amanda’s parents die, Ginny seeks solace within the confines of the kitchen. There Ginny finds old recipes. She takes to trying them out. The first one is a recipe for the “Best Ribollita”. The recipe was Ginny’s Italian More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 04, 2011

Michele rated it:

Cooking with Spirits
Ginny Selvaggio is a 26-year-old woman who lives at home with her father, a doctor, and her overprotective mother. As the book opens, she is attending her parents' funeral. They have died years before their time, in a vacation cabin, of carbon monoxide poisoning. It becomes obvious immediately that Ginny has a problem. She cannot look people in the eyes or read social cues. She responds to touch by screaming or escaping into a dark closet for hours. She has a photographi More...

0 comments like

Apr 29, 2011

Rebecca rated it:

Very impressive first novel from cooking expert, Jael McHenry. Ginny is a 26 year old woman with some sort of autistic spectrum disorder, who's dealing with the sudden and unexpected deaths of her parents. Being in a crush of mourners is hard for her and her sister, Amanda, isn't helping. Amanda may be more socially outgoing than Ginny, but she lacks the ability to emphasize even more than her sister.

Amanda puts the house up for sale without discussing it with Ginny first, and insist More...

0 comments like

Dec 09, 2011

Krystal rated it:

Looking for a great Christmas gift? This book is guaranteed to keep its reader up late at night, unable to put the book down. Ginny, the main character, is portrayed as quiet and rather stuck in her ways. She lost both of her parents and has an overprotective sister. When she discovers that by baking someones recipe, she can bring back his/her ghost, she begins to experiment. However, she receives warnings, pleas, and quiet reassurances in response. Ginny must decide how much More...

2 comments like

Apr 05, 2011

Reading rated it:

Review Written by Andrea @ Reading Lark

The Kitchen Daughter was a perfect mixture of cooking, paranormal, family relationships, and seeking normality. I was fascinated by this book and by the main character, Ginny. This is one of the most creative books I have read recently. I have never really read a book that makes cooking so interesting and integral to the plot nor have I ever read a book that has a main character with Asperger’s Syndrome. The Kitchen Daughter not only entertained m More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 09, 2011

Kimberly rated it:

As a huge foodie, I had really high hopes for this book, and it didn't disappoint. What a quiet, lovely, yet still stirring and thought-provoking read! I was especially touched by Ginny's relationship with Gert and David, felt the frustration between her and her sister perfectly without it being obvious or overdone, and was fascinated, of course, by the gorgeous, unique descriptions of the food. I loved the other-world theme as well (it's so easy to force a supernatural theme or make it hokey, a More...

0 comments like

May 29, 2011

Melinda rated it:

I picked this book up because it looked so interesting and off-beat. The main character and narrator of the book has Asperger's syndrome, is in her "happy place" whenever she is in the kitchen cooking, and discovers she can summon the ghosts of people by cooking the old, hand-written recipes they left behind. Honestly, how quirky is all of that?

It turned out to be more than I expected. The book is a view into the mind of someone with Asperger's (or high-functioning auti More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 17, 2011

Melissa rated it:

This story is told from Ginny's POV who has Asperger's Syndrome. She was never diagnosed so her parents did the best that they knew how in bringing her up. Unfortunately her mother protected her so much that she became isolated and really didn't learn how to deal with people in society. Her father also tried to protect her from knowing that there was anything different about Ginny. Even so, she knows she is not like everyone else and found ways of coping with extreme anxiety by cooking. Even jus More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 25, 2012

Ziaria rated it:

I really liked this book. Matter of fact I read it in one afternoon. I have been in a slump as of late and with one turn of a page of this book, the slump melted away and I was drawn into Ginny's world.
Watching Ginny transform from a scared woman with Asperger's, who just lost her parents, to a strong independent woman facing her fears and life, was amazing. I really enjoyed how food and cooking were brought into the book. Being someone who doesn't enjoy cooking, this book made me wish I d More...

0 comments like

Jun 28, 2011

Cat rated it:

If I could give 1/2 stars I would give this book 3.5 stars. I loved a lot of the descriptions and how the main character Ginny related everything to food. The author really painted vivid (and tasty) pictures. I had a hard time at first with the main character's voice though because all of the sentences were so abbreviated that I felt like I was rushing through them. As the book went out she did a better mix of long and short sentences which helped me to settle into the rhythm of the book a b More...

1 comment like

Apr 24, 2011

Molly rated it:

This is not your average, everyday novel. No, far from it. This debut is filled with emotions-all kinds (sadness, happiness, confusion, coping), humor, and lots of recipes. Jael McHenry is an author who, continuing to write novels like this, will rise to the top quickly. She drew me in to the instantly. I started it on a Tuesday evening and was done by Wednesday night.

I don't have Asperger's, but I've known some people who do, and I was really interested in seeing how Ginny was portra More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 21, 2011

Sue rated it:

This was a very touching book about two adult sisters--one with Asperger's, who struggle to come to terms with the sudden death of their parents. Amanda is the sister with the husband, big house, and two kids. Ginny still lives with her parents, and struggles to define "what's normal". She finds comfort and ways to cope with life when she cooks, thinks about food, and reads blogs about recipes and food.

After their parents die Ginny, in a moment of trying to cope, prepares More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 06, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

Unique, beautiful story about a young woman with Asperger's syndrome who loses both her parents in an accident, and then discovers that through her love of cooking she can bring ghosts into her kitchen simply by cooking a recipe handwritten by that person. While coming to terms with her parents' deaths and her "disorder" (she has never been formally diagnosed--just thinks she has a unique personality), she struggles to find herself and her path in life, while clashing with her well-me More...

0 comments like

Aug 14, 2011

Susan rated it:

My heart broke for Ginny, who's parents had just died, both of them at once. She has lived a somewhat sheltered life, living with them and being taken care by them, and now that protected life is gone. Her caring sister wants and expects Ginny to change her way of life but that is not an easy thing for Ginny to think about. She does not want to move and make changes.

I love the fact that Ginny can make deceased people appear in her kitchen by cooking their recipes and that these peopl More...

0 comments like

reviews