Thai Iced Coffee, inspired by Come Away With Me

There's really only one thing that I didn't like about this book. It had nothing to do with the story, characters, or even the cover design—it was the particular review blurb they chose to highlight on the front cover. It says "Fans of Elizabeth Gilbert's EAT PRAY LOVE will flock to this novel." Well guess what? I was not a fan of EPL (the novel...the movie was just okay for me), so had I seen that before I read it, I may have cracked the cover a little less enthusiastically. Fortunately, I had an ARC, so I wasn't influenced by that little sentence, as  innocuous as it may seem. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about the book itself, though.

I will admit that it is similar to EPL in that it deals with loss and heartbreak while transporting us to three beautiful locations through food and travel. But I enjoyed Brown's voice so much more than Gilbert's. Raw, emotional, and visceral, it wrenched my heart and filled my eyes with tears, and even made me chuckle out loud a few times.

From Chicago to Thailand to Italy to Hawaii...and back to Chicago again, this was a journey that I enjoyed taking. Growing up so close to Chicago, I could easily slide myself into the story and fold myself into Tegan and Gabe's luggage as they experienced loss, pain, grief, possibility, and love in this story about survival. Without giving any spoilers, I'll tell you that there's also a twist that you may or may not see coming.