Serena by Ron Rash - Book Review and A New Recipe!

Yayyy happy Friday!! I am so excited that it’s finally Friday! I hope everyone has a fun filled weekend planned!! We’re going to date night tonight which I’m super excited about, we’re hoping to take the boat out tomorrow morning, just depends on the weather and we plan to grill out Saturday night. Sunday we’ll just lounge around and relax, maybe go for a hike later in the evening.

So if you remember a few months back I mentioned some books I was going to read before they hit the big screen. One of them was Serena by Ron Rash. Well, I haven’t forgotten about it, it has just taken me this long to get through it. It was SO. SLOW. The synopsis was actually really exciting but it was way more of a huge snooze fest. I’ll give you a recap of the book and my review below; there are some spoilers so stop reading if you plan to read the book! Here I am cozied up in bed last night, finishing it up! By the way, I don’t think I’ve ever shared this but the picture hanging up on our wall is one we purchased in the Dominican Republic in May 2012!

So this book is weird as hell, it’s about newlyweds Serena and George Pemberton moving to North Carolina to run a lumber farm. Upon their arrival they are greeted by a homeless looking girl and her father, the homeless girl is knocked up and says George is the baby daddy, George doesn’t deny this. The girl states that George should be helping her out because she’s dead broke and he is really rich. He refuses to offer her anything, the homeless girls’ dad gets pissed and tries to attack George, George kills the dad...I know right!? The next hundred pages are about nothing; running a lumber farm is hard, people die. There are snakes and it gets really cold. Serena and George have a steamy sex life; Serena purchases a bald eagle and wears it on her shoulder like a parrot. Serena proves she is smarter and stronger then all of the other men in the book. George murders one of his head foremen because he was too close to the cookie jar.  They pretty much murder anyone who looks at them wrong. Then Serena gets pregnant, but she has a miscarriage that vanishes the chance of her ever having kids. Serena does not like this, she sends her henchmen to murder her husbands’ bastard child, but her attempts are thwarted, she then suspects that her husband is protecting the child and his mother. Serena doesn’t like this even more, she lures her husband into the forest and leaves him to die. YIKES. Serena then takes over the lumber farm and becomes super rich and wealthy. The end.

This actually ended up being really depressing, so many people died and really for no reason at all but $$$. I was really excited for this book but was really let down in the end. As with The Fault In Our Stars I feel like the movie will be much better than the book. Although I don’t plan on seeing TFIOS until it hits RedBox. Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper will not disappoint and will hopefully get some nominations out of it! Here is one of the few images they've released from the movie!

Anyway, next topic!! I am so excited for our lunch today; I made these delicious sandwiches last night that I think you’re going to love! Try them out some time! Here’s what you’ll need for two people:

2 whole wheat pita pockets

1/3 cup mayonnaise (I use the olive oil kind)

1/3 cup light sour cream

1/4 cup tomatoes

4 lettuce leaves

1 avocado, pitted and sliced

1/2 tsp chipotle pepper

2 chicken breasts

1 lemon (need 2 tbsp fresh squeezed juice)

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tbsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

Salt & pepper (few sprinkles)

The sauce: combine the sour cream, mayo, chipotle pepper and oregano into a small dish and mix well.

The chicken: season with salt & pepper, cumin, basil and lemon juice. Cook in a sauté pan with the olive oil. Remove from heat and let cool. Chop into small pieces.

The assembly: lay your pita pockets flat and spread a generous layer of the mayo/sour cream sauce on it. Place lettuce leaves and avocados on each pocket. Place 1/3 cup of the chopped chicken onto each pocket, top with tomatoes.  Fold and enjoy! Doesn't this look so yummy!