A review by mandyherbet
Consumed by Caroline Hamilton

2.0

I was so excited about this book - the cover blurb drew me in and I feel as if it was a bit of 'bait and switch' in some ways.
Amelia has had an unloving childhood and has thrown her heart into food and cooking. In searching out the recipe for the 'perfect' sauerkraut, she meets Katarina who takes her in as her 'Vassalissa' and teaches her all about food and cooking.
After Katarina dies, Amelia inherits everything, including her history and personality. This is one of the areas where I felt the book fell down a bit. I liked the idea of a shared history and this amazing inheritance but I felt as if this should have taken up more of the book than it did. The whole idea felt a bit rushed.
The other issue I had was that I didn't find Amelia to be an entirely sympathetic character. When she decides to commit murder to avenge Katarina's death, I didn't understand why she chose the fat man, why she hated him so much. In all my suspension of disbelief, this whole section annoyed me.
I would have liked this book to be longer to make the part after Katarina's death more engaging.