In the early '90s, Giulia Melucci moved out of the Brooklyn home where she was raised full of romantic hopes and her mother's excellent Italian cooking. She dreamed of finding the perfect guy, but fresh ingredients were scarce. After nearly twenty years of New York City dating she had nothing more than a slew of broken relationships under her belt. Well, that and a heap of delicious recipes, which she shares along with stories of her doomed amorous adventures.

An affectionate alcoholic, a classic New York City commitment-phobe, a hipster aged well past his sell date, and not one but two novelists with Peter Pan complexes - no matter what their fatal flaw, Giulia has cooked for them. She suffers each disappointment with resolute cheer (after a good cry) and a bowl of pastina (recipe included), and has lived to tell the tale so that other women may find a better recipe for love - or at least go to bed with something good to eat.

You will laugh along with Giulia as she manages to find the lighter side of each disappointment as you swoon over her irresistible culinary creations. Mix one part humor, a dash of sarcasm, and lots of heart - then devour this story of a woman looking everywhere for love . . . and finding it on the stove.

Giulia Melucci was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, where she still lives, but in a more fashionable neighborhood. She is the former VP of PR for Harper's Magazine, and previously worked at Spy Magazine, Atlantic Monthly Press, Viking, Dutton, and Scribner.