I woke up today and it was another cloudy, obstinate Alaska winter day, the sky grey, the light that restless shade that makes you want to eat too many carbs, not because you’re hungry but because something in your stomach protests the long siege of winter.

Then I opened up my email and found this: A five-star review of Dolls Behaving Badly from one of the book bloggers I respect the most: Julie Valerie.

Valerie, who is also finishing up her own book, cleverly listed five reasons she chose Dolls as one of her favorite reads of 2013. Here is number four:

Four: Authentically Flawed Characters
The characters are so utterly flawed and realistic you half expect them to walk off the page and take a bite of your sandwich. An eclectic ‘family’ is formed in the book with characters so unique and quirky, you’ll read because the character arcs are so interesting.

Carla is visited at odd times and in odd places by the ghost of her Polish grandmother, who typically leaves her with some advice and a recipe for Polish baked goods (the recipes are included in the book – love that – and whatever you do, don’t skip the instructions for baking). My three favorite recipes (you’ll know why): Gramma’s Communion Wafers from Chapter 12, Barry’s Peanut Butter Cookies from Chapter 14, and Gramma’s Chrusciki (Angel Wings) at the end of the book.

Francisco, an anthropologist, courts Carla by giving her ancient human bones. Bones. Hhmmm… What do they mean?

Carla, a painter, is haunted not only by her Gramma, but by a painting of a woman running with a box. What’s in the box? Why is she running? And why does Carla drill vaginas into dolls, turning them into erotic, often satirical art for an adult website? Is she making a statement about sex or using sex to make a statement?

Read the rest on Julie Valerie’s Book Blog.