After the initial reading of this cookbook I was very excited to start cooking from it. The book is full of beautiful pictures, but due to the publishers decision to print on matte paper, they feel lifeless. I also think matte paper should never be used in any book that will be used in a kitchen since once you spill on it there is no chance of wiping it off.  

The variety of recipes is good. Baked goods, soups, breakfasts and dinners. The recipes are all good, but only good. There wasn’t one that just made you go “Wow”. My families favorite was the Lemon-Lavender Chicken. It was the only one that didn't feel like something was missing.

The author has a tendency to use “a pinch” as a measurement in her recipes, which is fine for soups and such, but in breads or other baked items that can lead to bland food that cant be corrected. She also seems to change tried-and-true methods that work fine in order to make the recipe her own. To make a recipe your own you change the ingredients, not the method, especially if it makes the recipe harder without a better outcome. Some of the recipes are also missing steps leaving you looking at the pictures to fill in the missing instructions, giving new cooks another stumbling block.

The book, while beautiful, fails to excite or make itself a stand-out on the shelf with its recipes. With incomplete and unnecessarily complicated  instructions, I can only give it 5 out of 10.