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Opposites Attack: A Novel With Recipes Provencal (2014)

by Jo Maeder(Favorite Author)

3.59 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0985548223 (ISBN13: 9780985548223)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Vivant Press

review 1: This book is a tasty summer treat that will whisk you all the way to Provence where you will want to stay forever.American Alyce is searching for change in her life. She takes herself to Provence and enrols in an intensive language course to immerse herself in French culture and more importantly, she hopes her absence from his life will be enough to have her boyfriend Nelson crossing the Atlantic with a huge ring for her finger. In her mind she will have gained that mystical French ‘je ne sais quo’ and they will live happily ever after.However, Alyce has problems. French isn’t as easy to learn as she first thought. She has hilarious issues with her host families and boyfriend Nelson, when he does make an appearance has quite a bit of baggage. Alyce finds herself livi... moreng in the guest cottage of troubled, sultry author Jean-Luc – American hater, in debt, suffering from writer’s block and with an inability to rid himself of elegant hanger-ons. They are an unlikely pairing but Alyce and her antics awaken something in him. He finds himself duty bound to educate her American palate in the delights of French cuisine. Each dish he illustrates is deliciously described within the novel and in more detail (with added spice) at the end of the book.I thought it was good fun, with good food and good company. It was a quick and easy read that had me putty in Jean-Luc’s hands and missing the antics of Alyce once I’d finished the book.
review 2: I couldn’t wait for this book to arrive! The plot and ideas for the main characters sounded very interesting and one of the main reasons for my interest in this book, was that it’s different to the usually books I read. I wasn’t expecting it to have great humour and most of the time, 95%, it really worked to either lighten up the mood or to just enlighten the characters personalities. I even laughed out loud at particular points, so humour in this book is definitely an aspect that I loved. It was only sometimes that I felt some of the lines correlating to humour did not quite work to its full advantage. It almost felt awkward like I would have to read through that particular line/paragraph again to make sure I didn’t miss a particular point. However, overall? The humour side of the book was great. It was one of the few aspects that made me not want to put it down.Another aspect that I really loved, which I always enjoy when I discover that the book contains, is the way the author provides descriptive outlooks on every aspect of Alyce’s life. From the first page I was hooked purely on the writing style alone, and that’s definitely one of the major aspects of a great novel. Throughout Alyce’s journey within France we get to experience everything in detail from the scenery, to the people, to her thoughts and even to what goes in everything that she eats. Jean-Luc loves his food and from how often he describes what goes into a recipe to how it is prepared, at a particular point I was convinced that he was a chef. I love watching the Food channel myself so I did not mind this at all. But, but. It did turn into something that I was sort of tired to read about. I mean, I know that the way he teaches her how to cook proper food is part of the formation in their relationship, I completely understand that. However, at certain points describing what and how a recipe is made does not really fit in well with the rest of the atmosphere that they author was describing. That is just another small detail that lowered my, well, my addiction in reading the book as much and as fast as I could. It just sometimes slowed down the pace or it didn’t quite fit into a scenario as if did not necessarily need a description of the wine, dessert or any type of main course to be included.Alyce was a likeable character and I could greatly relate to her in terms of going to College as I am a student myself. But also in feeling vulnerable in not being able to speak the mother language in the country that she finds herself in, that part I could completely understand. I had to learn Greek from scratch and who knows how it happened but I can completely understand the struggles that go with it. I liked reading every aspect of her getting the pronunciation wrong, the corrections, mistaken words...it all made me go back to my times in Greece. She also seemed a strong female character and she knew what she wanted, but what’s even better is that she actually stands up for what she thinks it’s best for her.Jean-Luc on the other hand...for some reason I couldn’t really turn to like his character. From the first time that he was introduced I sort of felt he was detached from the other characters – if that makes sense? I really did try to like him and towards the end of the book I did build a soft spot for him, in terms of how he changed his mind about Alyce. But other than that i just felt he was too opinionated most of the time. I love it when a parson has their own opinion – without a doubt – but not to the point that they think everything they mention, discover, talk about, know...is correct and that it overrules everyone else’s thoughts/opinions. I liked the fact that he was an author though, and that he had a writer’s block for a significant about of time as I do can understand that type of situation. With that, I did give him leniency in having a reason for being the way that he is. Still though, I could not turn on the switch in liking him, I just couldn't.I enjoyed reading this book a great deal, I loved being immersed into the French culture and I absolutely loved the humour and most of the characters (including Nelson...). Though, most of the time I felt a little confused with how much was happening at certain points within the book. There was too much information from too many different characters that made it almost, almost hard to keep up with the story. The writing style (humour, Alyce’s points of view and the way everything around them was described) should be applauded because I couldn’t get enough of it. It was just those few small other aspects that made me give this book 3/5.So, if you are looking for a light, fun and enjoyable summer read you should definitely give “Opposites Attach” a shot. Though I did read this book during winter as it’s freezing here, but I still really liked reading it, it was addictive and for the most part – aside from a few minor dislikes – a great story. Thank you Jo Maeder for creating such a lovable story! less

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