Stacey Ballis”Good Enough To Eat’ just that

Sometimes the cover of the book is what draws you in, and the cover of “Good Enough To Eat,” by Stacey Ballis, is one dandy illustration — it is, in fact, good enough to eat. But the story inside surpasses the beauty of the cover tenfold with a charmingly written tale that touches the heart and tickles the funny bone.

Melanie Hoffman used to be a big girl, incredibly heavy and not very happy with herself. So with a lot of work and a lot of therapy Melanie manages to lose half her body weight to become the woman she wants to be. Unfortunately the woman she has become is not the woman her husband wants, and Melanie’s louse of a husband leaves her for a friend — who happens to weigh as much as Melanie used to.

Yep, he's a chubby chaser.

A former lawyer, Melanie found her passion in opening a gourmet takeout store that specializes in providing healthy, scrumptious food for the health-conscious, and the store is a success. Melanie is happy to be working with her friends Kai, a young gay chef, and Delia, a sassy black woman with a lot of soul. But as well as things are going, Melanie faces an unexpected financial setback and is forced to take on a roommate — in the form of the quirky and impetuous Nadia.

Things are going well at the store, and Melanie finds companionship with Nathan Gershowitz, a loving filmmaker she met in, of all places, the Holocaust Museum. But there is something holding Melanie back, something inside that keeps her from enjoying her new bliss, and it’s that missing element that reminds her that her journey to happiness is ongoing and it’s up to her to continue on the path to her ultimate dreams.

“Good Enough To Eat” is Stacey Ballis’ fifth book, and it is an absolute joy to read. I enjoyed how each chapter title reflected a dish that was mentioned in that particular segment of the story, and the recipes at the end of the book are a delightful gift and include healthy recipes as well as the decadent originals from which they were converted. This is definitely one of the most appealing books of the fall book season.