** spoiler alert ** 
 4.5 stars! This is my Food for Thought Book Club's June selection, and I *devoured* it most rapidly. The subject matter was fascinating to me, right up my alley. Just before she turns 9, Rose learns that she can taste the feelings and emotions of a cook when she eats the food they made. I watch plenty of reality cooking television, and I often hear the chefs talk about how they put "love" into their food. I've long felt that feeding people is a special kind of joy, a certain way of sharing your love and feelings with them, so to read a book including just such a concept was such a bonus for me. Alas, poor Rose has great difficulty with her 'gift', for her mother is a deeply unfulfilled, unhappy sort that presents the image of a happy and doting mother to her family. Rose can taste the sadness of certain cafeteria workers at school, she tastes the anger in the cookie maker that hates his job. Because of all this unasked for stimuli, she turns to processed food that is made largely with machines (and then she can determine which factory the food and its components came from). I felt so attached to Rose, and now when I cook I take an even greater note of my mood during the process. Highly recommended!