Friday, February 22, 2013

FOODFIC: The Selection - Kiera Cass



I always read the back cover flap to *meet* the author whose book I’m about to read. Kiera Cass both looked fun and engaged me with her bio…until she declared her love of cake. Uh-oh. Everyone who knows me also knows how unkindly I feel toward cake (sorry, cake; it’s not you, it’s me). Suddenly the gorgeous cover gown looked too much like an elaborate pastry and it occurred to me that every meal beneath it could revolve around petit fours and other cloying confections. In other words, I began to worry it would all be just too sweet.

I shouldn’t have.

This actually turned out to be the 3rd book of the past year that I read in one sitting. It’d even be fair (and bad punning) to say I devoured it.

Not unlike America Singer, the story’s 16-year-old heroine who finds the food at the grand palace of Illea to be the best part of the Selection experience. Of course, that might have something to do with her tier-5 upbringing where food was almost a luxury for the family and they’d at times had to choose between electricity and groceries. Or perhaps it’s that America has no interest in the contest which she’s been brought to the palace to participate in – the one boasting a grand prize of marriage to Prince Maxon – because she’s still in love with a boy back home. Or maybe, just maybe, the palace steak is just that good – in America’s words, “so juicy, so tender, so flavorable. I wanted to ask someone if this wasn’t the best steak they’d ever had.”

What’s not to love about a dish (and book) like that? ;)

No comments:

Post a Comment