Grade: B+

I have been trying to get my hands on a Mia King book since I first found out about the hugely popular author a few months ago. She is well known in the blogging circles for her books which combine topics like marriage, parenting, career and self identity and much more.

In Sweet Life, which I was lucky enough to find a copy of in my local library, King tells the story of Marissa Price who drops everything to move to Hawaii with her husband Paul and their daughter Pansy after Paul lands a job at a hotel on the main island but needs to start right away. Leaving behind a high powered career for the laid back lifestyle of a stay at home mom, Marissa who is very driven and career oriented, had a pretty hard time adjusting to her new life in “paradise” – and the move did not come without its set backs and compromises.

Although Wisconsin and Hawaii are about as different as night and day, their very fast move to a completely new place was a topic I could relate to intimately. We moved to a new state where we knew nobody last year and although we love it here, it hasn’t been an entirely easy transition. The descriptions of their whirlwind move had me nodding along and laughing (and kind of wishing my move had come with a tropical island, but…) at the culture shock of such a fast move.

Unfortunately for Marissa, their move was definitely way more of an adjustment than ours – shortly after arriving in Paradise, Marissa and Paul’s already existent marriage problems came to a major head and they quickly find themselves on the path to divorce, entering the dating world and trying to deal with money problems on their own – in Hawaii of all places. It’s not really until everything falls apart that Marissa tries to adapt to her new home and find a way to make things work.

A big theme in this book was first impressions and how they are usually wrong. Marissa has to learn the hard way that judging people and places based off of first impressions has the potential to lead to disaster and at the very least can prevent you from meeting amazing people and experiencing new things.

I was very quickly sucked into this book and devoured it in record time. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a great, classic chick lit book – especially parents as a great light read style book about moms isn’t always easy to find – and this one is fantastic.

A major bonus to an already sweet tale was a sampling of Hawaii-inspired recipes like a chocolate lava cake which I made this weekend. Their recipe was for 6 people but I adapted it for the perfect little dessert for two and it was absolutely delicious!

Here’s our adaptation on a quick and easy homemade chocolate lava cake:

From Chef Keoni Chang, Foodland Super Market Ltd. (Sweet Life by Mia King)

• Serves: 2
• Recipe can be made one day ahead. Just cover and refrigerate and bake for 14 minutes instead of 11.

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 3.5 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2.5 tablespoons flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450. Butter two 3/4 cup souffle dishes or custard cups.
2. Stir chocolate and butter in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until melted. Cool slightly.
3. Whisk eggs and egg yolk in large bowl to blend. Whisk in sugar, then chocolate mixture and flour.
4. Pour batter into dishes, dividing equally.
5. Bake cakes until sides are set but center remains soft and runny, about 11 minutes.
6. Run a small knife around the cakes to loosen.
7. Immediately turn cakes out onto plates. Serve with ice cream and fresh raspberries.