AUTHOR LOIS WINSTON'S SUMMER READING LIST

We’re heading into the hot, hazy, and humid days of summer. As a kid, I grew up in a cramped city apartment that was no picnic at any time of the year but downright beastly in the summer. Back then, kids were kicked out of the house first thing in the morning to fend for themselves much of the day. Summer camp was only for the rich suburban kids and community centers with organized activities didn’t exist yet.

So I spent as much time as possible hanging out in cool places—that’s cool, as in temperature—not “cool” as in the street corners where the “cool” kids hung out. As the class nerd, I was the furthest thing imaginable from a “cool” kid. Still, I liked to stay cool. So I spent my days at the library where I first tackled the mandatory summer reading list, then ducked into the adult section, grabbed whatever book caught my fancy, and found a secluded corner away from the prying eyes of the librarians to lose myself in fiction. (Marjorie Morningstar was my introduction to sex!)

Life has changed greatly since them. I’m still not considered a “cool” kid, but nowadays air-conditioning is everywhere. Even though I don’t have to camp out at the library to keep cool, I still try to make a sizable dent in my TBR pile over the summer months. So I thought I’d share with you some of the books I plan to read this summer.

First up on my list is Lighthouse Beach by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shelley Noble. The book is described as “a heartrending and uplifting novel about friendship, love, and what we’re willing to sacrifice for our dreams.” I’ve chosen this as my first summer read because it takes place along the shores of Maine, and if you’ve been following the blog recently, you know I recently spent some time along the Maine coast.

Lighthouse Beach

What was supposed to be an idyllic wedding leads to an unexpected journey of self-discovery… 

When Lillo Gray pulls up to Kennebunkport’s most exclusive hotel wearing a borrowed dress and driving a borrowed VW van, she knows she’s made a big mistake. She’s not even sure why Jessica Parker invited her to her posh wedding. They haven’t seen each other since they were unhappy fourteen-year-old girls at fat camp. And now they’re from two completely different worlds. There’s no way Lillo fits in the rarefied circles Jessica travels in. 

Jess isn’t sure she’s ready to go through with this wedding, but she’s been too busy making everyone else happy to think about what she wants. But when she and her two closest friends, Allie and Diana, along with Lillo, discover her fiancé with his pants down in the hotel parking lot, she’s humiliated…and slightly relieved. In a rush to escape her crumbling life, Jess, Allie, and Diana pile into Lillo’s beat-up old van and head up the coast to Lighthouse Island. Once there, she hopes to figure out the next chapter in her life. 

Nursing broken hearts and broken dreams, four lost women embark on a journey to find their way back into happiness with new love, friendship, and the healing power of Lighthouse Beach.

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COOKING WITH CLORIS--SPONGE CAKE WITH GUEST AUTHOR TJ BROWN

Today we’re joined by TJ Brown, the author of the Summerset Abbey series. TJ also writes young adult novels as Teri Brown. You can read more about her at her website. 

Even though she was the governess’s daughter, Prudence Tate was raised to be a free thinking independent woman by her guardian, Sir Philip Buxton, a man far ahead of the Edwardian time period in which they lived. When Sir Buxton dies, Prudence is compelled to move with his daughters to Summerset Abbey, where she is relegated to the servant’s quarters. One marriage and one book later, Prudence is a Camden Town housewife, completely unprepared for the cooking and cleaning involved in her new role.

Fortunately, Prudence gets cooking lessons from a friend and is soon learning to cook basic English dishes such as bangers and mash and Kippers. She tries her hand (more or less successfully) at traditional English treats from the era. Sponge cake was an English favorite and often served with afternoon tea.

When I decided to tackle a sponge cake, I wanted one fit for a queen. The first one didn’t cut it and instead turned out flat and rather eggy. After reading the reviews (which I SHOULD have done first,) I learned there had been a typo and it should have read 3 eggs and not 8! Big difference. Big, big difference.

This recipe turned out like a dream, light and airy. I spread strawberry jam between the two layers and topped it off with homemade whipped cream and though I admit to preferring my cake with coffee over tea, I have to say it was delicious.

Sponge Cake with Jam and Whipped Cream

4 eggs, room temperature
1-3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup milk (whole or 2 %)
1/4 cup butter (salted or unsalted, whatever you have on hand)
2 cups pastry flour, (though all-purpose flour can be substituted)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1 cup of good quality jam. (I prefer homemade strawberry.)

Preheat oven to 325

This recipe works best with a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment. Beat eggs for five minutes. Add one cup of sugar. Mix until just combined then add the 3/4 cups of sugar and continue mixing for another 4-5 minutes until light and pale yellow.  Add vanilla and stir on low.

Sift together dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to the egg mixture until combined.

Heat the milk and butter in a small saucepan on low heat until the butter is melted. Don’t allow mixture to get too hot.  Mix into the batter until combined. Pour the batter into two greased and floured 8" round cake pans.

Bake until the cake is light golden brown and the middle springs back when touched.  Remove from oven and place pans on wire racks for ten minutes. Turn out onto the cooling racks and cool completely.  Stand in pans for 10 minutes. Then turn out onto wire cooling racks and cool completely.

Add about a cup of jam to the top of one of the cakes and place the other on top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with freshly whipped cream.

Summerset Abbey

Reminiscent of Downton Abbey, this first novel in a new series follows two sisters and their maid as they are suddenly separated by the rigid class divisions within a sprawling aristocratic estate and thrust into an uncertain world on the brink of WWI...

Rowena and Victoria, daughters to the second son of the Earl of Summerset, have always treated their governess’s daughter, Prudence, like a sister. But when their father dies and they move in with their uncle’s family in a much more traditional household, Prudence is relegated to the maids’ quarters, much to the girls’ shock and dismay. The impending war offers each girl hope for a more modern future, but the ever-present specter of class expectations makes it difficult for Prudence to maintain a foot in both worlds.

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