It was love at first sight when I spotted Heartbake by Charlotte Ree at my bookshop. The yellow cloth cover, the delightful-to-hold unconventional size (a bit smaller than A5), and the subtitle – ‘a bittersweet memoir’. If that wasn’t enough to convince me (it was), I opened the book to find a section containing recipes and lush food photography. All so lovely.

The book focuses on the period after Ree’s divorce – she learns to cook and at the same time, slowly begins putting her life back together.

Unfortunately, while the recipes were enticing, and I enjoyed her deliberate inclusions of what she ate at particular events or moments, Heartbake fell short. Continue reading →