REVIEWED BY JOANNA POWELL
MEMOIR
"Hang with me," Deen cracks in her tasty tell-all, "and even if you're from New Jersey, you'll be lovin' grits." At the very least, readers will be lovin' this ruin-to-riches story from the queen of butter-and-mayo cuisine. In her signature bubbly, down-home drawl, Food Network star and cookbook author Deen depicts her desperate days as a struggling mom with two kids, her debilitating battle with agoraphobia and her eventual rebirth as a successful restaurateur in Savannah. She spills some "hard secrets," confessing to bad parenting, an affair with a married man and—gasp!—still smoking, but her honesty is winning. Now about those grits....
