Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews

In Deep Dish, Mary Kay Andrews tells the story of two Southern cooks in an all-out war to win a spot in the Cooking Channel's lineup. I jumped at the chance to read the book because I desperately needed a light read, and I love cooking and numerous Food Network shows.

Andrews' characters are both funny and complex. Gina Foxton has a show on Georgia public television, Fresh Start With Regina Foxton, and if she doesn't get the Cooking Channel show, she's out of a job. Her loser of a boyfriend and producer, Scott, slept with the wife of the show's sponsor, who learned of the tryst and pulled the sponsorship. Meanwhile, Tate Moody has a successful hunting, fishing, and cooking show on the Southern Outdoors Network, Vittles, and his overbearing producer, Val, wants to take his success up a notch.

When Gina meets Tate's dog, Moonpie, and accidentally lets him lose on the Vittles set, it's obvious the two will be rivals. Their animosity prompts the Cooking Channel to create a reality show, Food Fight, that takes them to Eutaw Island for a three-day competition. The winner will get their own show on the network. The plot is pretty predictable, but it's a funny, romantic story that kept my interest until the very last page. I love Southern fiction, and Andrews has a great sense of humor.

While Scott and Val were annoying, I couldn't get enough of D'John, Gina's gay makeup and hair stylist, and Lisa, Gina's tough younger sister who is pretty wise despite her wild antics. Gina and Lisa's mom also is a riot. She leaves phone messages for the girls that start out with, "This is Mrs. Birdelle Foxton calling," and I was delighted to finally "meet" her in the last scene. In addition to the entertaining cast of characters, Andrews does a great job describing the cooking show segments, from the planning of the recipes to last-minute replacements and doctoring for the cameras. And though the book definitely is light reading, it does make you think about finding your true self and figuring out what you want in life. I really enjoyed Deep Dish and would recommend it for readers who like some laughs, fun characters, a hilarious plot, and much talk about food and television.

Mary Kay Andrews was a guest on Book Club Girl's radio show last night. You can check it out here if you missed it.

Deep Dish also was reviewed by:

Savvy Verse & Wit
Peeking Between the Pages
Booking Mama
Redlady's Reading Room


If you've also reviewed it, let me know in the comments, and I'll add your link!

Disclosure:  I received a free copy of Deep Dish from HarperCollins for review purposes.