Melissa Senate - The Love Goddess Cooking School

Camillas Cucinotta Risotto al salto

Leftover risotto alla Milanese

1 pat butter

1 sad memory

1 fervent wish

Melt butter in skillet. Spread risotto on bottom of pan, forming a pancake. On low to medium heat, cook until gilded a golden brown, then cover pan with a lipless lid. Flip pan and lidrisotto should now be on the lid. Return pan to the burner. Slide the risotto from the lid back into the pan and cook other side until gilded.

If the dish does not turn out as you expected,
you simply try again.

DELICIOUS PRAISE FOR
THE LOVE GODDESS COOKING SCHOOL

The Love Goddess Cooking School reads like a recipe for reinvention, filled with hope and seasoned liberally with forgiveness. But the real magic here is Melissa Senates writing, which laps rhythmically against your heart like gentle waves along the coast.

Claire Cook, bestselling author of
Must Love Dogs and Seven Year Switch

THE CRITICS ARE JUMPING FOR
MELISSA SENATES WARM, WINNING
(Booklist) NOVEL THE SECRET OF JOY!

Engaging.

The Free Lance-Star (VA)

Senates page-turning comfort read is descriptive and contains a suitable mix of wit and romance. Her characters exemplify the universal need we all have to belong.

Romantic Times

Now and then, a book appears that is so absorbing, you portion it out to yourself chapter by chapter because you dont want it to end. The Secret of Joy is that kind of book a big-hearted book with an ending youll never guess.

The Portland Press Herald

Enjoyable characters and a story about finding ones self apart from men, this book is great for women who love to while away a few hours with a good book and a cup of tea.

York County Coast Star (ME)

I loved, loved, loved this book. The story was captivating, the narration fresh, the characters fun. I flew through it. The characters were relatable, and the subplot was just as interesting and segued well into the ending for Rebecca and Joy. I dont think you can go wrong with Melissa Senate. Bellas Novella

The Secret of Joy is a beautifully written novel that will have the reader crying one moment and smiling with happiness the next. Senate weaves together many tales of love and in so doing discusses, through a brilliant array of characters, what it means to love and be loved. Rundpinne

A special story by a special author. The Secret of Joy opened my heart, made me laugh, cry, and smile all at the same time. A dont-miss read.

Carly Phillips, New York Times bestselling
author of Kiss Me If You Can

A warm hug of a book. Insightful, wise, and romantic, its as inviting as the small-town life it depicts.

Claire LaZebnik, author of
The Smart One and the Pretty One

A wonderfully heartfelt story about hope, possibilities, and the yearning for real connections. The Secret of Joy will take you on a much needed vacation, while sneaking vital life lessons in when youre not looking.

Caprice Crane, international bestselling
author of Family Affair

The Secret of Joy is a heartwarming story that hits all the right notes. Senate has you cheering for more.

Cara Lockwood, USA Today bestselling
author of I Do (But I Dont)

A wonderful story that encouraged me to take a deeper look at love, relationships, family, disappointment, and most important, forgiveness. With a smooth and enjoyable writing style, Melissa Senate whisked me into the lives of Rebecca and Joy.

Beth Hoffman, New York Times bestselling
author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

Gallery Books A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2010 by Melissa Senate

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Gallery trade paperback edition October 2010

GALLERY BOOKS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.

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Designed by Renata Di Biase

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Senate, Melissa.

The love goddess cooking school / Melissa Senate.1st Gallery Books trade pbk. ed.

p. cm.

1. Single womenFiction. 2. Cooking schoolsFiction. 3. MaineFiction. 4. Chick lit. I. Title.

PS3619.E658L68 2010

813'.6dc22

2010021190

ISBN 978-1-4391-0723-2
ISBN 978-1-4391-8674-9 (ebook)

In memory of my grandparents,
Ann and Abe Steinberg

Many thanks to my agent, Alexis Hurley, whose insight, especially at the idea stage, was invaluable; my editor, Jennifer Heddle, for yet another brilliant, thoughtful revision letter; my family and friends (Lee Nichols Naftali, I am particularly talking to you) for their cheery support; and my dear son, Max, who turned me from the takeout queen into a cook in constant training. (Note: Max is proof that the recipes at the back of the book are kid-friendly.)

I was thirty-two when I started cooking;
up until then, I just ate.

Julia Child

THE
LOVE GODDESS
COOKING SCHOOL

According to Holly Maguires late grandmother, revered on Blue Crab Island, Maine, for her fortune-telling as much as her cooking, the great love of Hollys life would be one of the few people on earth to like sa cordula, an Italian delicacy. It was made of lamb intestines and stewed with onions, tomatoes, and peas in a savory butter sauce that did little to hide the fact that it looked exactly like what it was.

So Ill know if someone is the one if he likes stewed lamb guts? Holly had asked repeatedly over the years. Thats it? Thats my entire fortune? Shed kept hoping her grandmother would say, Just kidding! Of course thats not it, bella. Your true fortune is this: you will be very happy.

Holly would be satisfied with that.

Not that Camilla Constantina would ever say just kidding. Or kid, for that matter.

That is it, was her grandmothers response, every time, her gleaming black eyes giving nothing away. The stones have spoken.

A month ago, her hand trembling, her heart hoping, Holly had set a plate of sa cordula in front of John Reardon, the man she loved. As shed been living in California, thousands of miles away from her grandmother in an attic apartment with no oven, shed paid the Italian butchers eighty-six-year-old great-aunt to prepare the dish. Holly and John had been a couple for almost two years. She was practically a stepmother to his four-year-old daughter Lizzie. And more than anything, Holly wanted to become part of their family.