Caroline Tung Richmond

As this is an anthology, I have rated the individual stories below but I’m still rating the overall collection a 5 star because I think it’s beautiful and heartfelt and has an important message.

While this book has been on my most anticipated list of 2019 and I have eagerly awaited its release, I somehow never realized that all the stories in this anthology are interconnected and that was actually a nice surprise. I completely fell in love with Hungry Hearts Row, with its diversity and show more amalgamation of culture, and the absolute pride everyone had in their food and how they loved sharing it with everyone. Grief also seems like a common point among most of these stories, and I think we all can relate to the fact that food always plays a major role in our lives when we are dealing with loss or trauma. While every single description of food in this collection is mouthwatering and I highly recommend you don’t read the book when hungry, every story here tugs at your heartstrings and just makes you feel. Food is truly magical and it has the ability to bring us all closer, and I hope this amazing collection of stories has the same impact on its readers.

Rain by Sangu Mandanna

A heartbreaking story of a father-daughter duo coping with the loss of her mother, and trying to remember her by cooking her favorite delicacy. It showed how much we associate specific foods with our loved ones, especially moms and I loved the way they tried to get the taste just right. Beautiful story of grief and loss that ultimately leads to hope.

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Kings and Queens by Elsie Chapman

A story of family, food, gangs, loyalty and revenge, this was thrilling and dramatic and definitely not what I was expecting. Very interesting and enjoyable.

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Grand Ishq Adventure by Sandhya Menon

A story about finding the courage to do things outside our comfort zone, without worrying about the end result, this was a beginning of a cute teenage love story while also being very profound and insightful. The main character embarks on her adventure by exploring unknown to her cuisines and I loved how this symbolized her being courageous. And those food descriptions were delicious.

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sugar and Spite by Rin Chupeco

Very much seeped in the folk magic of the Philippines, this is a beautiful story about the importance of traditions and legacy, while also arriving at the realization that sometimes it’s okay to infuse a bit of newness into the traditions to keep them alive and move forward. The way magic and food is interlinked in the story is amazing and the second person writing style made the theme of high school bullying feel very visceral. And while the major lesson here is never to use magic for personal vengeance, there was also an emphasis on standing up for oneself and I thought that was explained very well.

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Moments to Return by Adi Alsaid

While I didn’t fully comprehend the feeling of doom the main character felt, I totally understood her excitement and the feeling of magic she tasted in the delicious food which made my mouth water as well. My takeover from the story was that we should find magic in the little things in life because we are all mortal and while we may die, our experiences live on.

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Slender One by Caroline Tung Richmond

Another beautiful story about carrying forward the family legacy, sometimes even when you feel like you want to carve your path in life away from it all. It also shows the importance of having friends who truly appreciate your culture, not just as an exoticized other. I also thought the concept of appeasing the fears or loneliness of ghosts through food was very fascinating and unique. It ended on a really cute note and I wouldn’t have minded to read what happened next.

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Gimme Some Sugar by Jay Coles

The story of a young boy who signs up for a cooking competition so that he can win money for his mom’s surgery, this made me so emotional. His anxiety attacks just made me feel so raw because were written in a way that evokes that feeling in us readers. The cooking process on the other hand is written with so much love, with the message being that infusing your soul into the food is what makes it amazing, and I thought that was brilliant. And god all that talk of butter.... I just wanted to go and eat some mozzarella sticks or butter chicken.

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Missing Ingredient by Rebecca Roanhorse

A story about a girl who just wants her mom to be back to normal, and her mom who cares more about their restaurant than the daughter, this was creepy af all the way through but that ending just knocked it out of the park. I did not see that coming.

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Hearts à la Carte by Karuna Riazi

Set against the backdrop of a halal food cart, this is the endearing story of a developing friendship between the cart owner’s slightly shy daughter and a cute young superhero. While there were a couple of angsty moments, I loved how they connected over food and made some unlikely decisions for their future.

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bloom by Phoebe North

There is a lot of pain in this story, especially how inter generational trauma affects survivors in the long run and defines their life choices, making them different from everyone else who can never understand it all. I didn’t always connect to the main character but it ends on a very sweet note.

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

A Bountiful Film by S. K. Ali

Told through the POV of a young woman who is new to the neighborhood, this is a story of finding your place in new circumstances and opening up your heart to receive the love that others want to give you. And I absolutely love the idea that people show love through food, because it felt very relatable.

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Side Work by Sara Farizan

While this started off on a sad note, it was a wonderful story about a young woman trying to get her parents to trust her again, the pride she took in working at her uncle’s restaurant and the beginning of a cute sapphic love story. I particularly appreciated the theme that a restaurant’s success depends on how well the staff are treated and when importance is given to how authentic the food being prepared is, not just the glossy appearance of the place.

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Panaderia ~ Pasteleria by Anna-Marie McLemore

The story of a girl who knows exactly what to bake for others because she feels comfortable communicating through food rather than words - this was sweet and heartfelt. But there was also an underlying theme of the harmful affects of gentrification and how it must feel for families who can’t afford to live in the places which have been home for decades, and it all made me sad.

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ show less

This is an anthology of loosely interconnected short stories, all by different authors who write primarily for teens (the target audience here as well). The stories all take place in a fictional "Hungry Hearts Row," a section of a town named Rowbury that is inundated with food trucks and mom-and-pop restaurants offering a wide range of cuisines from Chinese to Egyptian to Filipino to Iranian to Mexican and more. One character, Lila, pops up in the majority of stories with her seemingly show more magical pastries, but otherwise it is mostly only places that re-appear in the stories, not people.

The subtitle of "13 Tales of Food & Love" along with the gentle pastel-colored cover made think this would be a light read full of happy endings, so I grabbed it up from my library right before the current global pandemic closed everything down (despite having a lot of other books checked out from the library already!). So I was surprised when the book immediately opened with a tale of grief. Indeed, many difficult topics are tackled in this book. That is not a criticism of the book, just a caution for the unwitting reader.

On the other hand, the food part of the subtitle does not disappoint! I'd recommend not reading this book when even the slightest bit hungry as this will only amplify that. Many, many delicious dishes are described that make the reader's mouth start to water; I even looked up recipes for some of the entrees and desserts because they sounded so good and like something I'd want to try making.

The stories in this book are as follows:

1) "Rain," in which a teen trying to cope with the grief from her mother's death travels from England to Rowbury for a visit with her aunt. She and her dad struggle with their difficult emotions and with trying to make her mom's signature dish. This was an emotional start to a book that, as aforementioned, I thought was going to be light and fluffy. Still, it was a decent story all around, talking about one's emotions and working through tough situations as a family. It was well-written with lovely prose, use of metaphors, etc.

2) "Kings and Queens," in which a teen's family is stuck in a terrible situation of being in debt to a local gang, which is only amplified when her older sister is the victim of a deadly attack. To make matters worse, their restaurant is selected to be the site of a wedding feast for a rival gang. The twist here was interesting as were the character profiles. Again, it was much darker than I expected from a book with a teal-and-pink cover; my mistake in judging a book by its cover!

3) "The Grand Ishq Adventure," in which a teen relationship columnist decides to follow her own advice and build up some courage to ask out her crush by spending time visiting new restaurants on her own without caring what strangers might or might not be thinking of her sitting alone in public places. This is easily my favorite story in the collection and much more in line with what I was expecting from this book. Even though it was somewhat predictable, the plot was sweet, and the tale had the added bonus of learning to be confident in one's self as well as being a 'love story.' The main character's journey was nice to follow, even if it was only for a short while. I already wanted to read other books by this author (Sandhya Menon), and this just reinforced that desire.

4) "Sugar and Spite," in which a teen learns from her grandmother and other elders about the secret recipes that affect more than just the eater's stomach -- they impact the person's very soul with the magic carried in the ingredients. She wants to make her own recipes, despite being told the magic might be weaker or nonexistent, and she also just desperately wishes to no longer be bullied at school. This was my least favorite story in the bunch, not so much because of the story itself but because it was written in second-person point of view. That perspective is always a risky gambit, and I just don't think it paid off here.

5) "Moments to Return," in which Rowbury's fame has traveled as far as Montenegro where a teen decides to visit Hungry Hearts Row in hopes of finding a magical cure for his fear of death. This was one of the weaker stories as well; perhaps I am just old and jaded but I didn't find the narrator's realization that he's mortal to be that big of a deal. I do have to say the food descriptions here were really evocative, but otherwise the story felt pretty forgettable.

6) "The Slender One," in which a teen and his grandmother share a supernatural ability to see ghosts and must guide them to the other side by helping them with any unresolved issues, often using special recipes to aid in the process. For this year's Hungry Ghost Festival, his grandmother is too weak to do much so Charlie is determined help a particularly unhappy spirit on his own. This was an action-packed story with a lot of character drama as well -- family relations, navigating school friendships, a crush, etc. This story, along with #7 and #10, tie for my third favorite story in the collection.

7) "Gimme Some Sugar," in which a teen is determined to win a cooking contest so he can use the prize money for a surgery his mother desperately needs. This was an incredibly sweet story and I absolutely loved the main character. I wish this tale lasted for longer because I wanted to know more about Leo, his mother, and his grandmother both before and after the contest. This story, along with #6 and #10, tie for my third favorite story in the collection.

8) "The Missing Ingredient," in which a teen and her mother struggle to keep their restaurant afloat and their relationship intact (or ideally better) when a new employee offers to help with a twist of magic ... for a price. This story contained some really beautiful prose throughout. I liked the story pretty much up to the reveal at the end; it was so shocking and disconcerting that I re-read the ending a few times to make sure it was what it was.

9) "Hearts à la Carte," in which a teen meets a beautiful and seemingly perfect boy when he literally falls in front of her family's food truck, and the two begin to form a romantic relationship that is threatened by a secret he is hiding. This one had a slight feeling of the absurd when its supernatural bits seemed to press even further passed the magical realism seen in several of the other stories. But I still liked it overall, especially the ending with the idea that a teen's love life does not need to be figured out and completed at this point in her still young existence. To wit, "... I could live with a little less steamy Bollywood and a little more open, honest time. That's the thing about fairy-tale, neatly tied happy endings. They don't exist ..."

10) "Bloom," in which a teen keeps her emotions to herself as she works at her grandfather's deli and doesn't talk about her parents' tragic death and her family's history as Holocaust survivors. When she meets a college freshman who quotes James Joyce to her, she thinks perhaps he could be someone she could open up to but isn't quite sure yet. This was a well-written story about food, literature, strong emotions, family history, and wide-open futures. I like that this one too did not need to be tied up with a 'happily ever after' romance but instead a focus on friendship (or arguably, a same-sex romantic relationship blossoming could be read into that ending) and making plans for education and work. This story, along with #6 and #7, tie for my third favorite story in the collection.

11) "A Bountiful Film," in which a teen newly moved to Rowbury from a nearby suburb is determined to win first place in the state's teen film festival this year, as opposed to the second place prize she scooped up last year. With only a few weeks before the film must be submitted, she debates between several subjects, including Rowbury's food culture, when she learns about a local legend that intrigues her. This story felt a little less like it fit in with the food theme seen throughout, although that is certainly still there to some extent. I liked the emphasis on creativity, friendship, and collaboration. The story itself went in several directions I didn't expect but landed nicely with its ending.

12) "Side Work," in which a teen must work at her uncle's restaurant after a DUI accident derails her plans for college and her parents' trust in her. Despite seeming like it might be another heavy story, this one actually felt kind of light in the end. It does have a romantic aspect to it that was quite cute and more in line with what I initially expected from this book. It is also the first clearly stated LGBT romance in the anthology, so that's a plus for sexuality diversity as well as the ethnic diversity seen throughout the book. I also liked how a chain restaurant was introduced for the first time and pitted against a mom-and-pop place. (And I really liked that the small local restaurant won out!) This was my second favorite story from the anthology; although I was previously unfamiliar with this author (Sara Farizan), I'm interested in reading her books now as well.

13) "Panadería ~ Pastelería," in which a teen's family opens up their pastry shop to also selling savory foods to help out a family friend who recently moved back in to the area. Lila, who we've often glimpsed briefly throughout the book, is now the main character of this story. The family who returns into their lives includes Gael, who Lila previously knew as a little girl she used to play with but who has now transitioned to a teenaged boy. This story is the only one to include a trans character, so that rounds out more of the diversity. However, after Lila popping up in so many other stories, I sort of expected something more magical from her story or a tale that wrapped up the other stories more. Still, it was fitting that she got her own chance to speak her mind and have her own love story. It was a nice note to end on. show less

This re-imagined Little Women set during World War II began when Jessica Spotswood posted a story idea she found daunting on Twitter. Her fellow authors joined with her to flesh out this story where Jo is queer and working in a factory, Amy has run away to join the Red Cross in London, Meg is a teacher and living at home with Marmee, and Beth watches over them all.

Each of the four authors assumed the story line of a different March sister. Spotswood wrote Meg’s chapters, Sharpe wrote Jo, show more Richmond followed Amy, and McCullough gave voice to Beth. I particularly liked how McCullough used poetry to show Beth following her sisters’ exploits.

With four authors, the four sisters had more equal roles than in the original work, which really focused on Jo. Having them each in a separate location helped, as they had fewer shared experiences. This was especially true for Meg and Amy.

And, while the time frame is World War II, this is NOT a soldier’s story, but more a story of how the women left behind dealt with their fears, and rose to the challenge of supporting those fighting overseas.

A favorite quote: A woman with ideas is terrifying to a certain kind of person.

Some libraries, including mine, have shelved this in the Young Adult section, others, as adult fiction. Jo’s relationship is depicted in way that is not at all graphic, but deals more with the feelings of love and connection between the characters. show less

This is a retelling of the later part of Little Women, set during the second world war. The March sisters, grieving for Beth, have gone their separate ways. Jo is working in a factory making planes and questioning her identity. Amy, having lied about her age, is working in England as a Red Cross volunteer. And Meg, left at home with Marmee, is teaching at the local high school.

As a Little Women AU, as a story about the work women did during WWII, and as a book about sisters grappling with show more grief, I really liked this! It's a satisfying mix of the predictable and the unfamiliar -- I particularly appreciated that the sisters all have jobs I haven't often, or ever, encountered in wartime fiction.

But I have very mixed opinions about the sections from Beth’s perspective, which are told in verse. I quite liked them as poems, and the way they fitted into the story, picking up on ideas or imagery from a preceding chapter. But it was increasingly weird and distracting to have Beth commenting on things from beyond the grave. I would have preferred if her sections had just been purely flashbacks -- poetry that Beth had written (or thought) during her lifetime.

Isn’t it funny
how we spend
so much time

and there’s so little time, my darlings

desperately trying
to be perfect
for the ones who’ll love us
no matter what show less