I seem to be on a run of books written by bossy people - first Joel Salatin and now Mireille Guiliano. I liked a lot of this book (I've not read her 'French women don't get fat' yet) - the parts about eating seasonally and the recipes particularly. But other bits seemed to shout 'smugness' at me in a loud (French-accented) voice. It's lovely that the author has homes in Provence and New York and that she is on good terms with the proprietors of a two-starred Michelin restaurant. But I could probably have continued living my single-homed existence just as happily if I hadn't known about those things.

And the instructions on how to wear scarves in various ways weren't useful without diagrams. I'm not sure they would have been useful with diagrams either, to be honest. Maybe I'm just never going to be a big scarf-wearer. ( )

http://thenovelworld.com/2011/09/12/french-women-for-all-seasons-mirelle-guilian... ( )

I've read the first book and liked it better. Both advocate a very sensible approach to life and eating, most of which I strongly agree with and some of which I have put into practice in my own life. I think this one falls into snobbish territory. I'm not sure why the author felt the need to tell me patients (the flower) are overdone in landscape, but it's a turn off. If you can ignore the needlessly specific fashion advice and incessant french phrases, there's some good information here. ( )

very preachy and full of generalizations with a 'besserwisser' attitude ( )

More sensible ideas to maintain a healthy weight. ( )