Newlywed kitchen is always special. as a newly wed the bride has to cook her speciality dish to satisfy the guests and family members...... a wonderful book for the new bride......

As a newlywed this cookbook really jumped out at me. I had also seen it at a few stores and thought it would be a GREAT bridal shower gift. Some really great recipes to create with my new husband. After being on the dreaded wedding diet this was a huge help getting us back into flavourful foods and a little outside our normal dinner routines. This will now be my go to wedding shower gift.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for allowing me to preview this book. This is a neat book is not only a cookbook, but has encouragement, stories, tips, ideas, budget planning, etc., for the newlyweds in your life. This is a perfect engagement or wedding gift, and I plan on getting a copy for my own sister who is getting married at the end of the year. This book is also written from a Christian point of view, but that is a plus for me.

This book would make such a sweet wedding present. It’s more than a cookbook - it has wisdom and advice for marriage and practical tips for the kitchen.

It truly helps encourage your kitchen to become the heart of your family. It is more like a workbook and has great spaces to fill in for your own marriage and family.

This book was not for me. It seems to be designed for very young newlyweds who are embarking on their own for the first time. The information was extremely basic, and there was only a handful of recipes included. The photography was unappealing, and it seems that most of the images used were stock photos. Moreover, though it is called "The Newlywed Kitchen' it speaks only to the bride. All mention of alcohol is absent, so perhaps its is directed at those who choose to abstain (or cannot yet drink). For example, when advising on place settings for the registry there is no information about wine glasses.

If you have ever lived on your own and know how to put food on the table, then this book will do nothing for you. It advises you to visit foodnetwork.com or allrecipes.com to find recipes. I do not need a book to teach me how to Google.

I'm not saying that there is no audience for this book. If you are a devoted, twenty-year-old, Christian woman embarking on your own for the first time, you might find some helpful advice and appreciate the bible quotes peppered throughout.

If, however, the traditional rigidity of a very strict, Christian lifestyle does not appeal to you, this is not your book. My fiancé is not "my secret weapon" to be deployed in the kitchen as the author might have me believe. He is my partner and equal. Also, there is only one non-white couple in the entire book out of several pictures.

Also, there is a full-page section of lettering that says "Don't be surprised if you get pounded!" There is a description of what the author means by this, but for a Christian newlywed book, this phrasing is unfortunate (but hilarious).