Chapter by Chapter

If you’re looking for a read that will make you smile like a dork through pretty much the entire read, Stir Me Up by Sabrina Elkins is the book for you!

Aspiring chef, Cami Broussard knows exactly what she wants.  Unfortunately, she and her father don’t see eye to eye.  Cami wants to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a chef.  Her father, on the other hand, wants her to go to college and have a career where late nights and long hours won’t interfere with having a “normal” life.

In her senior year at high school, Cami knows what she wants, but is struggling with thoughts of whether her father is right.  With a boyfriend who has the same aspirations as her, Cami has to decide if she wants a future that will make her happy, or appease her father.

But after arrangements are made to have her step cousin, Julian, stay in her room (in her room!) after a horrific bombing while in the Marines, Cami’s world is turned upside down.  Julian isn’t the easiest guy to get along with.  Sporting a huge chip on his should, on account of the bombing that took one of his legs, Julian makes life in the Broussard household anything but easy.

But Cami and her hard headedness and caring ways manages to break through the ice cold barrier that Julian has built up, and the two of them find themselves in a relationship that explores love and finding one’s self.

First and foremost, Stir Me Up by Sabrina Elkins, was a read that left me…hungry!  Not only hungry for a story that was one that was pretty impossible to put down, but also in a food sense.  All the talk about recipes and cooking and the scrumptious food concoctions had my tummy grumbling and aching to taste the food creations found in the pages.

But food aside, Stir Me Up is a book that opens up the heart of the readers and has them witness a beautiful relationship unfold.  It also allows the readers a glimpse at the harsh reality of war, and the casualties and hardships that follow. It will also have readers falling in love with a wanna-be chef girl who manages to tame the beast.

I, personally, thought that there would be more from Cami’s ex.  Aside from a brief text, he pretty much disappears from the book, and I feel like a little head butting and chest puffing would have added a little bit of romantic excitement in this book.  And as much as I loved Cami’s father, he infuriated me at times.  Maybe life as a chef is one that is difficult, but the way in which he went about discouraging her from following her dreams pissed me off.  But he more than makes up for it in the end…

The story flowed easily that readers will be completely swept up in this story without realizing that the pages are just flying through the pages.

Fans of contemporary reads and stories of finding yourself will fall in love with Stir Me Up by Sabrina Elkins.  Trust me when I say that this book will have you grinning from ear to ear, with an ending that will either make you squee or sigh.