The Secret Ingredient (Delacorte Books for Young Readers) by Stewart Lewis, $17.99
As with every good summer read, this novel brings a girl, sixteen-year-old Olivia, together with a gorgeous guy named Theo, who works at her dad’s restaurant, only to have him disappear without explanation. He will only reappear at a time when Olivia’s life is complicated, and that entanglement is only one of the joys of a great summer read. Yet this novel is richly layered and so it offers readers substance even as it entertains.
The novel opens with Olivia living in Silverlake, Los Angeles, with her dads, Bell and Enrique, and her problematic musician brother, Jeremy. When Olivia discovers that Bell’s restaurant, FOOD, is in trouble, she applies for a job at a casting agency. The day of her interview, Olivia meets a psychic in an elevator who warns her that this summer will be pivotal. Soon after, Olivia stumbles upon a vintage cookbook with handwritten notes in the margins and rekindles her relationship with Theo who happens to come in to the casting agency. Their crush heats up. As Olivia reads the notes in the cookbook and cooks the recipes, she forms a kinship with the previous owner and becomes increasingly aware of the emptiness she feels without a mother. When Olivia discovers her birthmother’s name and address, there’s nothing to stop Olivia from meeting her.
This perfect story of summer romance provides readers layers that also make it a thoughtful and compelling story. While Olivia recognizes the strong family bonds and loves her family, flaws and all, she also questions what it would be like to have a mom. Her adoption and search for her birth mother and the reality of being brought up by gay parents weighs on her. The economic uncertainty of her father’s restaurant adds another layer. The layers all make this a compelling book that requires readers to consider the complexity of real lives. Stewart Lewis does an admirable job of working the layers realistically. Olivia’s birth mother is real when she admits she wasn’t ready to be a parent and her own life is complicated. Olivia’s fathers are portrayed realistically as parents feeling the crush of economic problems that lead to bicker and worry despite their love for each other and their family. This is a marvelously complex and engrossing novel, that will compel readers because it portrays difficult relationships honestly and lovingly. Olivia is a talented, yet realistically flawed character who will steal a reader’s heart.
Nothing is easily resolved, and that keeps readers making connections to their own messy lives. While some story threads may be left untied, the loose threads simply make this novel feel more real. The importance of family shines through in the way Olivia recognizes that family, no matter how complex, is connected by unconditional love and acceptance in the most trying times.
When Stewart Lewis isn’t writing novels such as The Secret Ingredient or You Have Seven Messages, he is a singer-songwriter and radio journalist. He lives in Washington, D.C. Visit him at StewartLewis.com.