Rating: 
Summary: Fun & food!!
Review: An easy reader that is lots of fun both for the story and relationships as well as the food and some recipes (few, but interesting). It is a great book to read during the gloomy winter weather!
Rating:
Summary: An Adventurous Trip to the Beach
Review: I am a small business owner (although my business has nothing at all to do with restaurants or food) and I enjoyed the adventurism of the Blanchards' escape to the Caribbean. It is at once inspiring and humbling to read their tale of hard work and rewards. Of course, they encounter their share of challenges along the way, but the way they describe them as well as their recovery makes the book a worthwhile read. I recommend it!
Rating: 
Summary: A Mind Trip to the Beach
Review: Reading this book was like taking a trip to Anguilla in my mind, each sitting bringing lovely images of the sun, beach, food, local life. On the same level as Under the Tuscan Sun or the Provence books (complete with recipes scattered throughout), this book is a great account of the experiences of a foreigner adapting to a new culture/setting. Those who have travelled to the Caribbean will surely laugh out loud at some of the more typical experiences (both good and bad) that the Blanchards have in moving to and opening their restaurant. Ultimately, the story is a love letter to the island of Anguilla and its residents. I hope to travel there soon and dine at Blanchard's too!
Rating:
Summary: What a little salad dressing will do...
Review: The Blanchards' book transported me back to this unique island in the Carribeean that I happen to have grown to love over the years. For an "arm chair" traveler this is a first class ticket. First, the description of the culture, people and scenic charm of the island is true and told with with humor and irony.
What a surprise to find it...really thinks it beats Frances Meyer and Tuscany at that game. They did a great job making salad dressing...which I always bought...and I am sure they don't need to be modest about their struggle to establish a "world class" resturant as well as assimilate into this very tight community that is a former British colony. Whenever we are on Anquilla it is the people that top the list, next come the best beaches in the world. A great read with a recipe or two that aren't too complicated to try. Great for that rainy afternoon this summer.
Rating:
Summary: live through the Blanchards
Review: I loved the book so much, I read it slowly so it would last longer. I wish that I had the capital the Blanchards had in order to do what they did. This book will really appeal to those who love to cook or are involved in the restaurant business. I bought it because I love the Caribbean and it satified me.
Rating:
Summary: unanswered questions....
Review: I just finished reading A trip to the Beach. It was awesome but I coulda done without their constant references to having lots of money. I mean they spent thousands on the supplies to build a beach restaurant that's not all that big. And they built it mostly themselves or so they say. (I have my doubts here...) And when a hurricane destroys it all a year later they go back to Anquilla (rhymes with Vanilla) to rebuild it all. No mention of insurance or where the money came from. Whatever. It's a beautiful dream, but something got lost in the translation of this true story. I think humbleness got lost. But it was like taking a little trip to somewhere new and I never left my own Jacuzzi bathtub. And that's a [inexpensive] trip!
Rating:
Summary: Rum punch anyone?
Review: Talk about carpe diem... that's what the Blanchards did: They uprooted themselves from cozy Vermont and settled their new home in their own form of paradise. Their courage is admirable and exciting to read about. The Blanchards are people I'd love to hang out with on a Carribean island. It's definitely a great book to read in the winter months to keep you warm!
Rating: 
Summary: Dreamy, overall an okay read
Review: There was a lot of fluff writing in this book. The idea of the book is very solid and, at the same time, whimsical. They have an awesome life story to tell, but the writing itself doesn't do the story justice.
Rating:
Summary: If you don't live in paradise, read this and weep !
Review: having moved to the Abaco islands in the Bahamas only 7 months ago, after spending 28 years in England, and the last year working for a US investment bank in the heart of London, this book really made me think how similar Anguilla was to the northern Bahamas. The way the locals talked in their broken English, the no-rush mentality, the awesome beaches and scenery, the power outages, the expense of imported goods etc made me feel like I'd written the book myself - I could identify with so many issues the Blanchard's come across.To "outsiders" this book seems like a fairy tale, and unless you visit for longer than a touristy week or two, you'll probably never experience this tranquil side of life as the Blanchards did. I'm going to write my own book of the Bahamas right now...
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful and funny book...
Review: Having lived in the Caribbean for almost five years and having recently visited Anguilla, I found the Blanchard's tale to hit extremely close to home. Their descriptions of island life were both hilarious and surprisingly similar to my own. I throughouly enjoyed this book and wish they would write a sequel!
|
