Delicious by Sherry Thomas

Verity Durant is a cook famed both in Victorian England and abroad. Abroad for her food, which is described in a way that borders on magical realism, and in England for an affair with her employer, Bertie Somerset, which many believe lasted for over ten years, until his death. After he dies, she comes into the employ of Bertie’s half-brother, Stuart, with whom she has a complicated history, though he doesn’t know about it.

Stuart, meanwhile, is engaged to Lizzy, a cold and pragmatic woman who doesn’t yet realize that she’s in love with Stuart’s secretary, Marsden. Marsden may or may not be gay, however. Then again, Lizzy also once did a bit of experimenting in same sex relationships, so she might be able to take the veracity of that rumor with a grain of salt.

There are also secret identities, a secret child, masked encounters, and old family secrets.

Like Thomas’s debut book, Private Arrangements, Delicious is told in both the past and the present, though most of the character development in Delicious is in the present, unlike its predecessor, and this is a much more polished book. I was very interested in Verity’s past and secrets, and very charmed by Lizzy and Marsden’s story. I had a difficult time, though, getting a handle on Stuart. When I did, it was fairly late in the story and at what was his worst point in terms of behavior, which resulted in my not being as kindly disposed towards him as I may have otherwise been.

While both of Thomas’s books have been very enjoyable, they’ve also featured questionable power dynamics between the leads. Despite the employee/employer aspect, though, there’s a better feeling of equality her in some ways than in Private Arrangements.

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giandujakiss 's Dollhouse vid is now on youtube.  The video's title is "WhatYouPay," the description is "dollhouse," and the only tag is "fun."

Make of that what you will.  The possible interpretations make 8 hours of customer complaints and being blamed for their inability to manage funds and/or pay bills on time look positive.

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So, I don't know about anyone else, but when I call a place during normal business hours and am told the person I'm looking for is "not in at the moment" and "will get to this as soon as she gets back," then I assume that mean's they're at lunch/on an errand/in a meeting/etc.  Especially if the call is in reference to an important time limit.  I don't think that implies "they're out of the office until late tomorrow."

Which was the case with my doctor, meaning my prescription order wasn't sent until this morning.  That was about 8:45 this morning.  At about 9:15, I called my pharmacy to ask if it'd be ready by 11:30, and they said they'd have it by 11.  I got there at 11:20 and, after having to wait a little while, was told that they didn't have my medication in stock.  Which meant them transferring it to ANOTHER pharmacy and assuring me they said it'd be ready "right away."  I get there and am told it'll be about half an hour.   It ended up only being about 10 minutes, but I'm pretty sure the poor guy there thought I was throwing up my arms in exasperation at him.