Sonderbooks Book Review of The Secret Ingredient

Reviewed February 25, 2002.
St. Martin’s Press, 2002. 323 pages.

This book is silly and cute. Elizabeth Baskin has been married for six years. Alas! Her wonderful husband has changed. He no longer pays attention to her. He doesn’t care about his own appearance. He works long hours, and doesn’t have energy for her. Where is the wonderful man she married?

Elizabeth’s job is a professional stickler. She inspects top-class hotels to see if they measure up to the highest of standards of America’s Most Luxurious Properties. She plays “Torture the Concierge,” making up ridiculous demands to see if the concierge can meet them. Her job involves much travel, and she can’t help but wonder if her husband even notices she is gone.

Elizabeth wants to save her marriage. So when she hears of a mysterious doctor who can prescribe herbs that will change her husband back to the man she married, she can’t resist. She makes the appointment and puts the magic herbs into her husband’s orange juice.

As you can imagine, things don’t work out quite as she expected, and the results provide lots of laughs. I must warn you that this book is a little bit raunchy, but I was willing to overlook that for the way it poked fun at being too critical of your spouse and the nice reminder that no one is perfect. After all, you wouldn’t really want them to be.

Reviews of other books by Jane Heller:
Lucky Stars
An Ex to Grind

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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

****The Secret Ingredient*

by Jane Heller